Parental Leave Draws a Boundary Around the Renewal Decision

A temporary contract may end, but lawful leave must stay outside the employer’s reasoning.

Imagine the email arriving on Monday morning. An employee requests parental leave in writing. The founder reads it beside a crowded roster, unsettled customer work and a contract that expires in four months.

The first reaction is practical. Who will cover the hours? What happens to sales? What will this cost?

Those are fair business questions. Trouble starts when they quietly shape another decision: whether the employee should remain with the company. A fixed-term contract may end without renewal. Dutch law also protects an employee who invokes statutory leave rights. That protection starts with the request, not only with the later absence.

The management test is simple. Can the employer organise lawful leave without allowing temporary inconvenience to colour its view of the person taking it?

The decision needs its own ground

The Dutch Work and Care Act protects employees who invoke rights under the Act. Parental leave is therefore not a favour granted when business happens to be quiet.

Rijksoverheid states that an employee should request parental leave in writing at least two months before it starts. The employer cannot refuse the leave itself.

The employer can discuss how the hours are spread when the proposed arrangement would seriously disrupt the business. That distinction matters. An employer may address a roster problem and agree another distribution of hours. It should not turn that planning problem into doubt about commitment, ambition or suitability.

The same separation matters as a temporary contract approaches its end. A 2025 ruling by the North Holland District Court, ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2025:12360, confirmed that a fixed-term contract does not automatically become an indefinite one. The court considered the particular facts, timing and evidence before it.

For a small business, the useful question remains direct: would we make the same renewal decision if this employee had not requested leave?

That question does not force renewal. It forces a company to identify its real reason before operational pressure supplies an easier one.

Performance cannot arrive late

Small businesses often manage performance through conversation. A founder gives feedback while walking through the office. A sales manager mentions a missed target after a client call. Everyone knows there are concerns, until a dispute requires dates, examples and proof of what was actually said.

That informality becomes more dangerous when criticism turns concrete only after a leave request. Genuine performance concerns may exist. Their credibility depends on whether the company can show that expectations, support and earlier discussions existed before the renewal decision came into view.

A credible chronology should make ordinary business sense. When were targets agreed? Which results disappointed? What feedback did the manager give? Did the employee have a fair chance to respond or improve? When did the employee request leave? When did the company form its renewal decision?

This is not paperwork for its own sake. It is governance at human scale. Cover, customer continuity and workload belong in the leave discussion. Performance, budget and the future of the role belong in the renewal discussion.

When one manager must both fill an immediate gap and judge a contract renewal, mixed reasoning can arise without anybody naming it. A second reading by the founder, an HR adviser or another responsible colleague can bring the real rationale into view before it hardens into a decision.

Payroll tells part of the story

Leave also reaches payroll and cash. An employed partner has one working week of birth leave with full wage continuation by the employer. Up to five further working weeks of additional birth leave can follow within six months.

For additional birth leave, the UWV allowance is generally up to 70 percent of daily pay, subject to the statutory maximum. The employer applies to UWV, which normally pays the employer. In some cases, UWV can pay the employee directly.

Paid parental leave also carries an allowance of 70 percent of daily pay within the applicable limit. A collective labour agreement or employment arrangement may provide a top-up. The employer can apply after at least one working week of leave has been taken.

For the founder in the Monday morning scene, the perceived cost may differ sharply from the real cost. Payroll treatment, a possible top-up, temporary cover and UWV timing all require their own calculation. A vague feeling that leave is expensive is a poor foundation for a personnel decision.

The records should agree with each other. Leave hours, roster changes, the UWV application, payroll entries and any supplement should tell the same story. If they do not, the business loses sight of both its cash position and its obligations.

The market does not reward short thinking

Commercial pressure is real. CBS reported 95 vacancies for every 100 unemployed people in the second quarter of 2026. Collectively agreed wages were 4.0 percent higher in the third quarter than a year earlier.

The labour market has cooled from its recent peak. Replacing an experienced worker can still consume time, money and customer knowledge. A business that sees parental leave only as lost capacity may solve a short absence by creating a longer vacancy.

Colleagues notice these decisions too. They learn whether family responsibilities can be discussed openly or whether every request carries an unspoken career risk. That lesson stays in the company long after the roster has recovered.

The point is not that every temporary contract should be renewed. Nor is it that an employer must ignore performance, budget or a genuine change in the role. The point is to keep each reason in its proper place.

Back at the desk, the employee’s email still requires an answer. The company needs to discuss hours, arrange cover, calculate payroll and protect customers. It may also need to decide whether the contract has a future.

Those tasks can sit on the same calendar. They should not share the same reasoning.

Parental leave asks a company to absorb a temporary change in working life. Good governance asks something equally practical in return: decide what belongs to the absence, what belongs to performance, and what result the business is prepared to own.

The data, sourcing, and analysis behind this article were conducted by Linda Pavan Geraedts. AI was not used to identify sources, build the factual basis, or produce the analytical judgment contained here. AI was used only as a drafting aid. The final English text was personally reviewed, edited, and approved by Linda Pavan Geraedts before publication.

References

• Tijdelijk contract niet verlengd vanwege opname geboorte- en ouderschapsverlof: dat mag niet · Salaris Vanmorgen
• Rijksoverheid - Parental leave request and employer room to alter the schedule
• Rijksoverheid - Additional birth leave: duration, funding and employer payroll role
• UWV - Paid parental leave: allowance level and payroll exposure
• UWV - UWV application and payment control for paid parental leave
• Rechtspraak - Non-renewal of a fixed-term contract and the need for a real decision file
• CBS - Labour-market pressure and the cost of treating leave as a retention problem
• CBS - Payroll pressure remains material despite a cooler labour market