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On 8 January 2025, the Zeeland-West-Brabant court ruled in a case about the payment of vacation days at the end of an employment contract. The employee argued that he was still entitled to payment for outstanding vacation days, while the employer argued that the employee had a negative leave balance due to vacation days written off during illness.
The background of the case
The employee had been employed as a production worker since 4 March 2004 and earned EUR 2,400 gross per month excluding holiday allowance. On 28 October 2021, he became unfit for work and received WIA benefits from 26 October 2023. On 7 May 2024, the parties concluded a settlement agreement in which they agreed that the employment contract would end on 1 May 2024. Real discussion remained about the final settlement, in particular about the vacation balance, and the parties included in the settlement agreement that this issue would be submitted to the subdistrict court.
The employee claimed that he had 131.48 hours of vacation time left at the end of his employment, while the employer claimed that the balance was -61.02. The difference was caused by the deduction of vacation days during collective company closures in the summer and around Christmas, while the employee was unable to work during this period.
The legal ruling
By law, an employer can, in consultation with the employee, designate collective company closures as vacation days, but this must be agreed upon in writing. Specifically for sick employees, days of leave may not be automatically designated as vacation days without the explicit consent of the employee.
The subdistrict court ruled that insofar as a written agreement existed about mandatory vacation during collective company closures, the employer should have again explicitly asked the employee for permission to book these days as vacation during the period of illness, which did not happen. The subdistrict court ruled that the employee was entitled to payment of his vacation balance.
What does this ruling mean for employers and employees?
This ruling confirms that employers must be careful when deducting vacation days from sick employees. It is essential to:
- make written agreements about mandatory vacation days in the event of collective company closures;
- ask sick employees for explicit permission to deduct vacation days.
For employees, this ruling means that they should carefully monitor their vacation balance and can object if these vacation days are deducted without their consent during illness.
Do you have questions about vacation days, illness or the final settlement of an employment contract?
Then get in touch with Maria Ok. As an employment attorney in Amsterdam, I will gladly help explain your rights, obligations and calculations.
