A fixed-term employment contract in the Netherlands ends by operation of law on the agreed date. No dismissal permit from the UWV, no application to the subdistrict court, no notice of termination: when the term runs out, the contract is over. That is why employers reach for it, and why employees have markedly less security under it than under a permanent contract.
What the automatic ending does not mean is that the employer has nothing to do. The duty to notify the employee in advance, the chain rule that converts a series of temporary contracts into a permanent one, and the limits on probationary periods and non-competition clauses all apply, and each of them carries a price for getting it wrong.
What is a fixed-term employment contract?
A fixed-term contract, also called a temporary contract, is entered into for a limited period: six months and a year are the usual choices, but a few months or several years are equally possible. At the end of the term the contract expires without either party having to act.
The end does not have to be a calendar date. A contract can also be concluded for the duration of a project, or to cover a colleague on long-term sick leave until that colleague returns. In those cases the ending must be objectively determinable – the completion of the project, the return to work – so that it does not depend on the will of the employer or the employee. A vaguely described end is the single most common drafting fault in this type of contract, and it turns a temporary contract into something a court may read as open-ended.
How many temporary contracts may follow one another?
The chain rule decides when a temporary contract becomes a permanent one. Under the rule as it currently stands, an employer may conclude a maximum of three successive temporary contracts over a maximum of thirty-six months. Exceed either limit and the last contract is automatically a contract for an indefinite period.
Contracts count as successive if the employee has been out of service for six months or less between them. Breaking the chain therefore requires an interruption of more than six months – a calculation that employers routinely get wrong by a matter of days.
Two refinements matter in practice. A collective labour agreement may depart from the statutory limits, in either direction, so the applicable CAO is the first document to read rather than the last. And where there are successive employers, the chain carries over: this arises on a company takeover, and equally where an employee first works through an employment agency and is then engaged directly to do the same or similar work. The employer changes; the count does not restart.
What changes under the More Security for Flexible Workers Act?
This area of law is about to shift, and contracts being drafted now will still be running when it does. The More Security for Flexible Workers Act was passed by the House of Representatives on 12 May 2026 and by the Senate on 7 July 2026, and was published in the Staatsblad on 15 July 2026.
The core of the reform for temporary contracts takes effect on 1 January 2028. The rule of three contracts stays as it is. What changes is the interval: the six-month break that currently resets the chain becomes three years. In practice that ends the familiar construction in which an employee is brought back after a seven-month gap on a fresh series of temporary contracts. Pupils and students keep the six-month interval, and seasonal work can be kept at three months by collective agreement.
The same act reshapes the zero-hours contract into a bandwidth contract, and brings changes to the position of agency workers slightly earlier: equal pay under the Waadi applies from 31 December 2026, with the remaining Waadi amendments following on 1 January 2027. Contracts concluded before the new rules take effect continue under the old law until their end date.
What may and may not go into a temporary contract?
The content of a fixed-term contract largely mirrors that of a permanent one, but three clauses behave differently.
The probationary period
A probationary period is not always permitted. In a contract of six months or less it cannot be agreed at all. In a contract of more than six months but less than two years, the maximum is one month. From two years upwards, and in a contract without an end date, the limits are two months and one month respectively. A probationary period that exceeds what is allowed is void in its entirety – not reduced to the lawful maximum – which means a dismissal during it has no basis.
The interim notice clause
Without an interim notice clause, a fixed-term contract cannot be terminated early by either side. Including one is usually wise, and the notice period should be stated expressly. It is worth remembering that the clause cuts both ways: it allows the employee to leave early just as much as it allows the employer to end the contract.
The non-competition clause
Since 1 January 2015, a non-competition clause may in principle not be included in a fixed-term contract. The exception is narrow: the clause is valid only if it is accompanied by a written statement of reasons showing that it is necessary because of substantial business or service interests. A boilerplate justification will not survive scrutiny, and a clause without any motivation is simply void.
How does a fixed-term contract end?
The contract ends when the agreed period expires or the project is completed. For contracts of six months or longer, however, the employer must give written notice – the aanzegging – no later than one month before the end date, stating whether the contract will be continued and, if so, on what terms.
Failing to do so costs one month’s salary; giving notice late costs a pro-rata amount. The burden of proving that written notice was given in time rests on the employer, which is why registered post, or an email with delivery and read confirmation, is worth the small effort involved. The obligation applies even where continuation is obvious to everyone, and it is the most frequently overlooked duty in this entire area.
When does a temporary contract become permanent?
Conversion happens automatically, by operation of law, once the chain rule is exceeded – either because a fourth successive contract is concluded, or because the series has run beyond thirty-six months while the intervals stayed within six months. No document records the change; it simply is the case, and the consequence is that ending the relationship now requires a dismissal permit or a court order.
The chain rule does not apply to everyone. It leaves out apprenticeship contracts under a BBL vocational programme, employees under eighteen working no more than twelve hours a week, agency workers with an agency clause, and interns. Employees who have reached the state pension age fall under a separate regime, under which six temporary contracts in four years are permitted.
Frequently asked questions
Does a temporary contract have to be terminated?
No. It ends automatically on the agreed date. What the employer must do, for contracts of six months or longer, is notify the employee in writing at least a month in advance whether it will be continued. That is a notification, not a termination.
What happens if the employer forgets the aanzegging?
The contract still ends, but the employer owes compensation of one month’s salary, or a proportionate part of it if the notification was merely late. The claim is subject to a short limitation period, so an employee who wants to rely on it should not wait.
Can a temporary contract be ended early?
Only if the contract contains an interim notice clause, or in the event of summary dismissal for urgent cause. Without such a clause, ending the contract early is a breach, and the party in breach may owe compensation equal to the salary for the remaining term.
Does a break of six months really reset everything?
Under the current rules, yes: an interruption of more than six months breaks the chain. From 1 January 2028 that interval becomes three years, which will make the construction largely unusable for regular work.
Can a pregnant employee’s contract simply be left to expire?
Letting the term run out is lawful in itself, but the reason for not renewing is not beyond review. Declining to renew because of pregnancy or chronic illness is prohibited discrimination, and the employee can challenge it even though the contract ended by operation of law.
Advice on temporary contracts
Most disputes about temporary contracts are the result of drafting rather than of conflict: a probationary period a week too long, an interval a few days too short, an aanzegging sent by ordinary email. A model contract drawn up once and used properly prevents nearly all of them, and it is considerably cheaper than the claim that follows a mistake. Our guide to Dutch employment law sets the temporary contract in its wider context. Do you have questions about a fixed-term contract, or would you like one drawn up or reviewed? Please contact Law & More; our employment lawyers are happy to help.
