Legal Advice Employment Contract – www.rechtswinkel.nl

Questioner

The following is the case. A month before the end of my employment contract, the director verbally proposed an extension of 16 hours instead of 24 hours. I agreed to this. Now, a few days before my agreement expires, I have not yet received a new agreement to sign. What are the rights and obligations from the employer and for me?

Lawyer

You have an agreement for a new period, only for 16 instead of 24 hours. However, you cannot prove this if there were to be a dispute. I advise you to confirm the appointment by email and ask for a new employment contract, although it is not absolutely necessary to record it in this way, because just adjusting the hours is enough.

Lawyer

Your employer has made you an offer that you have accepted, creating a legally valid new agreement. The problem, however, may be that you will have to prove that your employer's offer and your acceptance of it actually took place. By law, your employer must inform you in writing at least one month in advance whether they are prepared to continue the employment contract and under what conditions (Article 7:668 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code). The requirement for written notice has not been met, so you are entitled to the statutory notice compensation of one month's salary in any case. I advise you to confirm to your employer by email, to be on the safe side, which offer your employer has made you and that you have accepted it. Then you have to wait and see how he responds to this. If he does not respond and the employment contract is tacitly extended, it is clear that these conditions have been accepted. If he denies it, I advise you to claim the statutory notice compensation as explained above.