Structural bonus counts toward vacation pay

Employers may need to include more than just the base salary when paying out unused vacation days. The subdistrict court in Alkmaar recently ruled (ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2026:3678) that a structural bonus forms part of the vacation pay and must therefore be included in the calculation when paying out unused vacation hours. The employer’s share of the pension contribution, on the other hand, did not need to be included.

What was the case about?

The employee had worked as a managing director for three years and, at the end of his employment, still had over 367 unused vacation hours. The parties subsequently disputed which wage components should be included in the calculation for the payment of those hours. According to the employee, not only the gross hourly wage but also the vacation allowance, year-end bonus, bonus, and the employer’s share of the pension contribution should be included.

The employer, however, argued that only fixed wage components (hourly wage, vacation allowance, and year-end bonus) should be included, and that the bonus was too sporadic and discretionary to form part of the vacation pay.

Bonus Turns Out to Be a Structural Wage Component After All

The subdistrict court judge did not agree. According to the judge, the bonus was closely linked to the employee’s position and performance as well as to the company’s results. Because the employee had received a bonus in two of the three years of service, the judge ruled that the bonus had a structural character. The defense that the award was a discretionary power did not sufficiently refute this. Consequently, the bonus had to be included in the value of the vacation hours.

Conversely, the employer’s share of the pension contribution did not need to be included, as this amount was paid directly to the pension insurer and was not withheld from the employee’s wages. The court considered, among other things, that if the employee had taken vacation, he would not be entitled to payment of this allowance. The employer’s share of the pension contribution is therefore not a component of wages that must be included in the calculation of vacation hours.

What does this mean for employers?

This ruling once again demonstrates that courts take a critical view of variable compensation when calculating vacation hours. Even bonuses that are formally “discretionary” may, in practice, still be classified as a structural wage component if they are paid out regularly or are linked to the employee’s position and performance. It is therefore advisable for employers to carefully verify which wage components must be included when calculating the final settlement.