Noord-Holland District Court, 15 January 2025, ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2025:136
This case centres on whether an employee is entitled to payment for overtime worked, despite the provision in the employment contract stating that overtime is deemed to be included in the salary.
Facts
The employee started working for his employer on 1 October 2022. During his employment, the employee worked extra hours on the employer’s instructions. Although the employment contract states that compensation for overtime is deemed to be included in the salary, the employee nevertheless claimed payment for the overtime. The employee also claimed payment of holiday allowance over the entire duration of the employment contract and reimbursement of expense claims.
The employer disputed payment of overtime, since the employment contract includes a provision stating overtime is included in the employee’s salary. In addition, the employer argued the employee had received compensation in the form of “time off in lieu”. The employer also argued the employee had repeatedly and substantially fallen short in performing his duties and had been unfit for work for a considerable period. The subdistrict court did not accept this and ruled that (excessive) overtime existed that qualifies for compensation. The employee’s claim was granted.
Ruling
The subdistrict court ruled that (excessive) overtime existed that does, after all, qualify for compensation. The overtime qualifies for compensation in this case because the subdistrict court considers 154 extra hours within a four-month period to be excessive overtime. An employer cannot reasonably expect an employee to perform significant amounts of extra work without receiving compensation for it. The employer had not sufficiently substantiated that the employee had already been compensated through “time off in lieu” because of his incapacity for work. The subdistrict court also granted the employee’s claim regarding holiday allowance and expense claims.
Conclusion
This ruling underlines that, even where an employment contract includes a provision stating overtime is deemed included in the salary, the amount of overtime an employee works must still be proportionate to the compensation reflected in the wage.
Do you have questions about overtime? Please feel free to contact one of our employment lawyers.
Click here for the full ruling (in Dutch).
