26 May 2025
It is up to employers to decide whether or not to renew a fixed-term employment agreement. There can be various reasons for not extending an employment agreement: the employee may not fit well within the team, their performance may not meet expectations, or there may simply not be enough work available.
An employer is not required to provide a reason for not renewing an employment agreement. In principle, this is also permitted if the employee is incapacitated for work. However, when deciding not to renew due to illness, it is essential that the employer acts with due care.
A recent court case concerned an employee who had joined an organisation on a fixed-term employment agreement on 14 September 2020. After her contract ended, the employee claimed, among other things, a fair compensation. Her claim was based on the argument that the employer had acted in violation of the Equal Treatment Act on the grounds of disability or chronic illness (Wgbh/cz) by not renewing her contract because of her chronic illness (breast cancer). The key question was whether the employer had acted in a seriously culpable manner by failing to extend her employment contract for this reason.
The subdistrict court ordered the employer to prove that the employee’s illness had played no role in the decision not to renew her contract. The employer submitted a written statement from an HR officer, asserting that the employee’s illness had not been a factor in the decision. However, the records also showed that no warning signals had been given to the employee about a possible non-renewal. She had been performing well, and there were no issues concerning her conduct.
The HR officer further claimed that management had other reasons for not renewing the contract, however, shewas unable to explain what those reasons were. The judge concluded that the employer had failed to demonstrate convincingly that the employee’s illness had not played a role in the decision-making process.
As mentioned, an employer is not obliged to provide reasons for non-renewal of an employment contract, but in the assessment of the evidence, this does carry weight. Especially since it was clear in this case that the employee had been performing well. On this basis, the court concluded that there had been prohibited discrimination on the grounds of a chronic illness, and that the employer was seriously at fault for not renewing the employment contract. The employer was therefore ordered to pay the employee fair compensation of €10,000. This compensation took into account the seriousness of the employer’s misconduct, the employee’s loss of income, as well as the emotional distress she had suffered.
Rechtbank Zeeland-West-Brabant, 5 juli 2024, ECUI (verkort): 6680.
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