Your temporary contract wasn't renewed: what are you owed, and by when?

Your employer must tell you in writing at least one month before your contract's end date whether it will be renewed, or pay you compensation for failing to do so. Separately, you are usually entitled to a transition payment (transitievergoeding) even when the contract simply ends and isn't renewed — from your very first working day. Both claims have a hard three-month deadline after the contract ends.

What you can do now

• Check your contract for the exact end date and count back one month: did you get written notice by then?
• Save the message (email, WhatsApp, letter) your employer sent about renewal — or the fact that nothing arrived.
• If nothing arrived in writing, or it arrived late, calculate one month's gross salary (or a pro-rated part).
• Note the date your contract actually ends — you have three months from that date to claim the transition payment, and roughly three months from a month before the end date to claim compensation for a missing notice.
• If you were let go before the agreed end date, check your contract for a written "early termination" clause before assuming it's allowed.

Does my employer have to tell me in time if my contract will be renewed?

Yes — for a contract of six months or longer with a fixed end date, your employer must tell you in writing, at least one month before that date, whether the contract continues and on what terms. This is the aanzegplicht (notice obligation), from article 7:668 of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW). It doesn't apply if your contract is shorter than six months, or if it has no calendar end date (for example, "until the project is finished"). A text message or email counts as written; a conversation in the hallway does not.

What am I owed if my employer said nothing, or said it too late?

If your employer gave no notice at all, you are owed one month's gross salary; if the notice was late, you are owed a proportional amount for the days it was late. This follows from article 7:668, paragraph 3, BW. Two weeks late is roughly half a month's pay; one day late is one day's pay. You must claim this from the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) within three months of the date the notice obligation arose — that is, roughly two months after your contract actually ends. This is a strict deadline (vervaltermijn): it cannot be paused or extended, and it exists independently of any transition payment you may also be owed.

Am I entitled to a transition payment if my contract simply isn't renewed?

Yes, in principle — a transition payment (transitievergoeding) is due even when a temporary contract runs its course and your employer chooses not to continue it, from your first day of employment. This is set out in article 7:673, paragraph 1, sub a, BW. The amount is one-third of a month's salary per year worked, pro-rated for shorter periods (article 7:673, paragraph 2), capped at roughly €102,000 for 2026 or a year's salary if that's higher. Earlier contracts with the same employer, separated by gaps of six months or less, count towards this. You must claim it within three months of your contract's end date (article 7:686a, paragraph 4, sub b) — miss that, and the right is gone regardless of how clear your case is.

By way of illustration. An employee's one-year contract ends and the employer simply lets it lapse without any written notice. He assumes that because the ending itself was legal, nothing more is owed. In fact two separate questions apply here: whether written notice was given at least a month beforehand, and whether a transition payment is due because the employer chose not to continue the contract. Both can produce a claim, independently of each other. This is an illustrative example, not a case handled by our firm.

Can my employer end my temporary contract before its end date?

Only if your contract contains a written clause allowing early termination — and even then, your employer still needs permission from the UWV (the employee insurance agency) or a court decision to dissolve it. Without such a clause, article 7:667, paragraph 3, BW means your employer cannot simply end things early; the contract normally runs its full course. A valid dismissal during a probationary period, or summary dismissal for a genuinely urgent reason, are the narrow exceptions.

What if I was let go early and there's no such clause in my contract?

Then the termination is very likely invalid, and your employer generally still owes you wages for the remainder of the agreed term. Read your contract for a sentence such as "this agreement may be terminated early by either party, subject to the statutory notice period" — if it's missing, an early ending needs your written agreement (a settlement agreement, with your fourteen-day right to reconsider), a court dissolution, or a valid dismissal in your probationary period. If none of those applied to your situation, act quickly: a challenge based on an invalid early ending is also subject to a strict deadline.

When it goes wrong

• Relying on a verbal promise. A supervisor saying "we'll extend you" in the corridor is not written notice under the law — and won't stop the contract lapsing if nothing follows on paper.
• Missing the three-month deadline. Both the notice compensation and the transition payment lapse completely once the deadline passes; there is no extension, no matter how strong the claim.
• Assuming no transition payment is due because the contract "just ended". That is one of the most common and costly misunderstandings — the payment is usually still owed.

Talk to us

Call +31 70 450 0300 or send your documents through arslan.nl/en/contact. The first conversation is free and confidential. We have six offices across the Netherlands and speak Dutch, Turkish, Polish and English.

For the full explanation — the ketenregeling, exceptions, calculations and case law — see our in-depth guide on temporary contracts not being renewed.