Recap: Dormant employment
Dormant employment exists after an employee has been unable to work for 104 weeks and the obligation to pay salary has ended. Employers often opt to keep the employment dormant because a transition payment is due if they give notice of termination.
Holiday accrual during dormant employment
Although Dutch law links accrual of holiday entitlements to the right to salary, in August 2025 the Gelderland District Court ruled that this is contrary to European law and that employees also accrue holiday hours during dormant employment. European law provides that employees (including incapacitated employees) accrue holiday hours during their full employment, regardless of whether they are entitled to salary. The Gelderland District Court phrased this as follows:
“Sick employees accrue full holiday hours during the entire period of illness and not just during the first two years, regardless of whether they perform work and regardless of whether they are entitled to salary.”
In other words, the mere fact that an employee is employed entitles them to holiday accrual.
Since then, there have been several lawsuits on the question of whether employees accrue holiday hours during dormant employment, with different outcomes. The Noord-Nederland District Court, for instance, ruled that an employee in dormant employment cannot claim paid holidays, since the employee is not entitled to salary during dormant employment. In this regard, the District Court...
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