In short: a fixed-term contract of six months or longer must be followed by written notice at least one month before the end date, stating whether it will be continued and on what terms. This is the aanzegplicht (notification duty) of article 7:668 of the Dutch Civil Code. An employer that says nothing owes an aanzegvergoeding of one month of salary; an employer that is late owes a proportionate part. The contract itself still ends on the agreed date.
Not renewing a fixed-term contract means letting a temporary employment contract expire on its agreed end date instead of offering a new one. Under Dutch law that contract ends by operation of law: the employer needs no permission from the UWV, no order from the subdistrict court and no reason. What the employer does owe is written notice one month in advance under the aanzegplicht, and in almost every case a transition payment (transitievergoeding). Miss the notice and compensation follows, but the end of the contract itself stands.
How a fixed-term contract ends under Dutch law
A fixed-term contract (arbeidsovereenkomst voor bepaalde tijd) ends automatically on the date the parties agreed. No notice of termination is required and no dismissal procedure applies. That is the practical difference with a permanent contract, where the employer must first obtain permission from the UWV on economic grounds or after long-term illness, or ask the kantonrechter (subdistrict court) to dissolve the contract on one of the grounds listed in article 7:669 of the Dutch Civil Code. None of that machinery is triggered when a temporary contract simply expires.
Because the contract ends by operation of law, the employer does not have to justify its decision. The reasons vary: a project has finished, the budget has gone, the position was always meant to be temporary, or the fit was not right. There is no statutory duty to share the reason and no test a court applies to it. In practice most employers do explain, and it is sensible to put the explanation in the same letter that contains the statutory notice, because a decision that is never explained invites the suspicion that the real reason was one the law does not allow.
Two obligations survive the automatic ending, and they operate independently of each other. The first is the aanzegplicht. The second is the transition payment. An employer can give flawless written notice and still owe a transition payment, and it can pay the transition payment in full and still owe compensation for notifying too late. Employees frequently assume the two are alternatives; they are not.
The aanzegplicht: written notice one month before the end date
Article 7:668 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code requires the employer to inform the employee in writing, no later than one month before the contract ends, whether the contract will be continued and, if it will, on what terms. Both elements matter. An employer that writes only that it intends to continue, without saying on what salary, for what duration and in what role, has not fully complied with the duty.
The duty applies to fixed-term contracts of six months or longer. A contract of exactly six months falls within it; a five-month contract does not. Three situations are excluded. The duty does not apply where the contract does not end on a calendar date but on the completion of a project or the return of a colleague, because the end date cannot then be calculated a month in advance. It does not apply to a contract containing an uitzendbeding (temporary-agency clause), under which the contract ends when the hirer ends the assignment. And no compensation is owed where the employer has been declared bankrupt, has been granted a suspension of payments (surseance van betaling) or has been admitted to the statutory debt restructuring scheme; the position of employees in that situation is set out in our article on the rights of employees when the employer goes bankrupt.
The notice must be in writing. A letter is the safest route, but an e-mail is generally accepted provided the employer can show that it reached the employee. What does not count is a corridor conversation, a remark in a team meeting or a message the employer cannot prove was received. The burden of proving that timely written notice was given rests on the employer, which is precisely why an oral notification is so expensive.
An employer may give the notice at the very beginning by stating in the contract itself that it will not be continued after the end date. That is permitted and it removes the risk of forgetting. It does not lock the employer in: an employer that later changes its mind is free to offer a new contract anyway. Finally, and this is the point most often misunderstood, the aanzegging is not a termination. It does not end the contract, it does not shorten it, and giving it late does not lengthen it.
What the employer owes when the notice is late or missing
An employer that gives no notice at all owes compensation equal to the salary for one month. An employer that gives notice late owes a proportionate part: one day of salary for every day of delay. That is the aanzegvergoeding of article 7:668 paragraph 3 of the Dutch Civil Code. It is a fixed statutory consequence, not a penalty a court weighs up: the employee does not have to prove any loss, and the employer cannot escape it by showing that the employee already knew the contract would end.
The basis for the calculation is the salary fixed in money for one month. That is a narrower basis than the one used for the transition payment, which also takes holiday allowance and certain structural components into account. For employees with variable hours, the average number of hours over the relevant period is used. The compensation is gross and is taxed as wage.
The deadline is the part that catches people out. Under article 7:686a paragraph 4 of the Dutch Civil Code, the right to bring a claim for the aanzegvergoeding lapses three months after the day on which the obligation to notify arose. Because that obligation arises one month before the end date, the employee has in practice roughly two months after the contract has ended in which to act. This is a vervaltermijn, a period of lapse, not an ordinary limitation period: it cannot be interrupted by a demand letter and the court applies it of its own motion. Only filing a petition (verzoekschrift) with the kantonrechter stops the clock. A polite reminder to the former employer, however well drafted, does not.
The sensible sequence is therefore short and firm. Put the claim to the employer in writing within days of the contract ending, give a payment deadline of two weeks, and diarise the lapse date. If payment has not arrived well before that date, file. Many employers pay on the first written demand once the statutory basis is set out clearly, because the amount is fixed and the defence is thin.
The transition payment when a temporary contract is not renewed
An employee whose fixed-term contract is not continued at the initiative of the employer is entitled to a transition payment from the first day of employment, under article 7:673 of the Dutch Civil Code. Since the Balanced Labour Market Act (Wet arbeidsmarkt in balans) took effect on 1 January 2020 there is no longer a minimum period of service: a contract of a few months produces a small entitlement, but an entitlement all the same. The employer must calculate and pay it without being asked.
The statutory formula is one third of the gross monthly salary for each full year of service, with a proportionate amount for the remaining part of the employment, calculated over its actual duration rather than in rounded years. There is a statutory ceiling, which is adjusted every year by ministerial regulation and is replaced by one year of salary where the employee earns more than the ceiling. Because that figure changes annually, check the current amount with the government rather than relying on a number quoted in any article.
There are exceptions. No transition payment is owed where the ending is the result of seriously culpable conduct by the employee, where the employee has reached state pension age, where the employer is bankrupt or in a suspension of payments or debt restructuring scheme, or where the employee was under eighteen and worked no more than twelve hours a week. Nor is a payment owed where the contract does not continue on the initiative of the employee: an employee who declines an offered renewal has ended the employment relationship, not the employer. That is why an offer of renewal, even one the employee has no intention of accepting, changes the financial picture and should always be put in writing by both sides.
The transition payment should be settled with the final payslip, together with untaken holiday and accrued holiday allowance. If it is not paid, statutory interest runs from one month after the day the employment ended. The claim itself lapses three months after the day the contract ended, again under article 7:686a paragraph 4 of the Dutch Civil Code, and again only a petition to the kantonrechter interrupts that period. Note that this three-month clock runs from a different starting point than the one for the aanzegvergoeding, so the two deadlines rarely fall on the same day.
When non-renewal turns into a permanent contract: the chain rule
The chain rule (ketenregeling) of article 7:668a of the Dutch Civil Code converts a series of temporary contracts into a permanent one. As soon as more than three consecutive fixed-term contracts have been concluded, or the chain has lasted longer than thirty-six months, the last contract counts as a contract for an indefinite period. Contracts count as consecutive if the gap between them is six months or less; a longer interval breaks the chain and the counting starts again. A collective labour agreement may extend the permitted number of contracts and the total period within the limits the statute allows, and may shorten the interval for genuinely seasonal work, so the applicable CAO must always be checked before the calendar is trusted.
The chain also follows the employee across employers in cases of successor employment (opvolgend werkgeverschap). An employee who first works through an agency and is then taken on directly to do substantially the same work does not start with a clean sheet: the agency contracts count. The same applies after a transfer of undertaking or a reorganisation into a new legal entity. Employers who count only their own contracts are the ones who discover, too late, that the contract they thought they were letting expire was in fact permanent and could only have been ended through the UWV or the kantonrechter.
A second trap sits in article 7:668 paragraph 4 of the Dutch Civil Code. If the employee simply carries on working after the end date and the employer accepts that without objection, the contract is deemed to be continued on the same terms for the same period, up to a maximum of one year. This tacit continuation (stilzwijgende voortzetting) is a real risk when a project runs a few weeks over, and the continued contract counts as another link in the chain. It is worth being precise about what causes it: failing to give the statutory notice does not extend anything, and never has. Only the employee actually continuing to work, with the employer allowing it, produces a new contract.
Limits on the freedom of the employer: discrimination, illness and pregnancy
The freedom not to renew stops where equal treatment law begins. The prohibitions on termination in article 7:670 of the Dutch Civil Code, which protect employees during illness and pregnancy, apply to termination by notice and not to a contract that expires of its own accord. An employer may therefore let the contract of a sick or pregnant employee run out on the agreed date. What it may not do is base that decision on the illness, the pregnancy or any other protected ground.
The Equal Treatment Act (Algemene wet gelijke behandeling), the Equal Treatment of Men and Women Act and the equal treatment legislation on disability and chronic illness all cover the decision to enter into or continue an employment relationship. A non-renewal because an employee is pregnant or has taken maternity leave is direct discrimination on grounds of sex. An employee who suspects this can ask the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (College voor de Rechten van de Mens) for an opinion, which is not binding but carries real weight, or go straight to the kantonrechter and claim damages.
There is also a route inside employment law itself. Article 7:673 paragraph 9 of the Dutch Civil Code allows the kantonrechter to award an additional fair compensation (billijke vergoeding) where the failure to continue the contract is the result of seriously culpable conduct by the employer. The threshold is high and the case law is demanding, but it is the provision that matters where an employer has, for example, engineered the end of a contract in reaction to an employee reporting a wrongdoing or asserting a statutory right. Employees in that position should collect the written record early, because these cases are won or lost on what was put in writing at the time.
Finally, a firm promise of renewal can matter. A concrete, unconditional commitment on which the employee has demonstrably relied can be enforced through the standards of reasonableness and fairness, although a vague expression of confidence about the future will not be enough. Claims of this kind are rarely straightforward and should be assessed on the documents before they are made.
Unemployment benefit after a contract that is not renewed
An employee whose fixed-term contract ends because the employer does not renew it is in principle not culpably unemployed and can apply to the UWV for unemployment benefit (WW-uitkering). The two main conditions are the weeks requirement and the loss of working hours. The weeks requirement is met by having worked in at least twenty-six of the thirty-six weeks before becoming unemployed. The loss requirement is met by losing at least five working hours a week, or at least half the hours for employees who worked fewer than ten hours a week. The claimant must also be available for work and registered as a jobseeker.
Apply on time. The application can be submitted from one week before the last working day and should be made no later than one week after the employment has ended; a late application can mean benefit is lost for the intervening period. The duration of the benefit depends on the employment history and is determined by the UWV, so no article can tell an individual claimant how long it will run.
One decision deserves care. An employee who is offered a renewal on essentially the same terms and turns it down may be treated by the UWV as culpably unemployed, with the result that no benefit is granted. That is a real consequence of saying no to a contract that is unattractive but not unsuitable. If the offered terms are materially worse than the original ones, a different position may be arguable, but the assessment should be made before the offer is declined rather than after.
What to do as an employee whose contract is not renewed
Start with the contract itself. Note the exact end date, establish whether the agreed duration is six months or longer, and check whether the contract contains an uitzendbeding or ends on an event rather than a date, because both switch off the notification duty. Then reconstruct the chain: list every contract with this employer, and with any predecessor for whom you did substantially the same work, together with the gaps between them. That calculation decides whether you are dealing with a temporary contract at all.
If the one-month point passes without written notice, do not chase it before the contract ends and do not accept an oral statement afterwards. Ask for confirmation in writing, and once the contract has ended, claim the aanzegvergoeding in a short written demand that names article 7:668 of the Dutch Civil Code, states the end date and sets a payment term. Diarise the lapse date at the same time. Register with the UWV in the week around your last working day, check the final payslip against the transition payment, the untaken holiday and the holiday allowance, and request a written statement of employment (getuigschrift), which the employer must provide on request under article 7:656 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Two things to avoid. Do not keep working past the end date without a signed new contract unless a tacit continuation is what you want, and do not let a negotiation about a possible new role run past the lapse date for your claims. Talks can continue while a petition is on file; they cannot resurrect a right that has expired.
What to do as an employer that does not intend to renew
The whole risk is administrative, which is why it is so easily avoided. Keep a register of end dates with a reminder six weeks out, so the notice can be prepared, checked and sent before the one-month point. Send it in writing, keep proof of receipt, and make it say both things the statute requires: whether the contract will be continued and, if so, on what terms. Where the answer is no, a short explanation of the reason costs nothing and prevents the vacuum in which a discrimination claim takes shape.
Before offering anything, count the chain, including agency contracts and contracts with a predecessor employer. If the offer would create a fourth contract or push the total beyond thirty-six months, the result is a permanent contract, and that decision should be taken deliberately rather than discovered later. Make sure nobody carries on working after the end date without a new contract, because the tacit continuation rule does not care that the extension was unintentional.
Pay the transition payment with the final settlement rather than waiting for a demand; statutory interest starts running a month after the employment ends. Where the employee is ill on the end date, report this to the UWV in good time, because the employee then moves to the Ziektewet and, for employers that carry their own risk, the cost lands with the business. Our employment law guides set out the surrounding obligations in more detail.
The mistakes that cost the most
The most expensive misconception on the employee side is that a missed notification keeps the contract alive. It does not. The contract still ends on the agreed date, and the only consequence of the omission is a claim for compensation which itself expires within months. Employees who wait for the employer to sort it out usually wait past the deadline.
The most expensive mistake on the employer side is arithmetic. Miscounting the chain, forgetting an agency period, ignoring a gap of exactly six months or letting an employee work on for a fortnight after the end date all produce the same outcome: a contract that can no longer simply be allowed to expire. The second most expensive is relying on a conversation. Where there is no written notice, there is no proof of notice, and the fixed compensation follows almost automatically.
Both sides underestimate the lapse periods. Three months for the aanzegvergoeding counted from a month before the end date, three months for the transition payment counted from the end date itself, and two months for most claims connected to a dismissal: these are periods of lapse, applied by the court on its own initiative, and no correspondence suspends them. Anyone who is still negotiating as a deadline approaches should file first and negotiate afterwards.
Legal advice on a contract that is not renewed
Law & More advises employees and employers in the Netherlands on the end of fixed-term employment: assessing the notification duty and the chain rule, calculating and claiming the aanzegvergoeding and the transition payment, and litigating before the kantonrechter where a claim is disputed or a non-renewal is discriminatory. Because the statutory deadlines are short and cannot be extended, it is worth taking advice in the weeks around the end date rather than after it. Contact one of our employment lawyers to discuss your position.
Frequently asked questions
Does my employer have to give a reason for not renewing my contract?
No. When a fixed-term contract ends on its agreed end date, the employer is not obliged to give a reason for choosing not to renew it. The contract simply ends by operation of law on the expiry date.
What is the notice obligation (aanzegplicht) when a temporary contract is not renewed?
For temporary contracts of six months or longer, the employer must inform you in writing, at least one month before the end date, whether the contract will be renewed and on what terms. If the employer gives this notice late, they owe a notice fee for each day they are late, up to a maximum of one month’s salary. This obligation does not apply to contracts shorter than six months.
Am I entitled to a transition payment if my contract is not renewed?
In principle, yes. Every employee is entitled to a transition payment from their first day of work when the employer ends or does not continue the contract, unless the employee is seriously at fault or chose to end the contract themselves. The transition payment is taxable income.
Can I claim unemployment benefit (WW) after my contract is not renewed?
If you meet the conditions, you can apply for unemployment benefit (WW) through the UWV. It is advisable to register with the UWV in good time, ideally before your contract ends, so that any benefit can start without unnecessary delay.
What should I do if I receive notice of non-renewal verbally?
Ask your employer to confirm the decision in writing. Verbal notifications are easy to dispute later, and written confirmation protects your position regarding the notice obligation and any notice fee or transition payment you may be entitled to.
