The situation
Peak-season hiring plans and the contract histories of returning staff
An online-retail distribution centre near Tilburg and a second one outside Prague take on about 300 extra staff from October to January each year. Many come back every season on new fixed-term contracts. This year a returning worker in Tilburg asked whether she is now on a permanent contract, and the HR lead needs a note for both sites before hiring starts.
Both countries limit chains of fixed-term contracts, but they count them differently, treat the gap between seasons differently, and Dutch collective agreements can change the count. The hours go on applying the rule to real worker histories and writing a hiring rule site managers can follow.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- EU law requires limits on successive contracts
- The Fixed-term Work Directive requires member states to prevent abuse of successive fixed-term contracts through objective reasons, a maximum total duration or a maximum number of renewals. Each country chooses its own mix.
- The Netherlands: three contracts in three years
- Under Dutch law a chain of fixed-term contracts becomes permanent after more than three contracts or more than three years, and a gap of more than six months breaks the chain. A collective agreement can shorten that gap for recurring seasonal work, under conditions.
- The Czech Republic: three years, repeated twice
- Czech law limits a fixed-term employment relationship to three years and allows it to be repeated up to twice. A gap of more than three years between contracts starts a new count.
- Dutch notice and payment at the end
- Dutch law requires written notice, at least a month ahead, of whether a fixed-term contract of six months or more will be renewed, and a transition payment is due when the employer does not renew. Shorter seasonal contracts fall outside the notice duty.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Distribution centres in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic hire the same seasonal staff from October to January each year, with eight to nine months between contracts. After how many contracts or years does a worker become permanent in each country, and does the gap between seasons break the chain?
You start with
Peak-season hiring plans and the contract histories of returning staff
- 01
Upload the contract histories
Add an export of returning workers’ contract dates. azta reads it and refers back to the rows it used.
File upload· Pro - 02
Research the chain rules
Ask how each country counts successive fixed-term contracts and the gaps between them. azta cites the Directive, the Dutch Civil Code and the Czech Labour Code.
Cited research· Free - 03
Check the rule at the right date
Open the cited provisions in the reader and confirm the version in force when each contract was signed.
Atlas statute reader - 04
Draft the hiring rule
Ask for a note per site with the rule, the workers who need individual review and the end-of-contract steps. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A note with the hiring rule for fixed-term contracts at each site
What you get
A note with the hiring rule for fixed-term contracts at each site
HR note · draft
Seasonal contracts 2026: hiring rule for both sites
Tilburg. The gap between seasons is more than six months, so under the statutory rule each season starts a new chain, and our collective agreement does not change that. Workers who also worked the spring promotion have a gap of under six months and remain in the same chain; HR reviews these individually.
Prague. A fixed-term contract may run up to three years and be repeated twice. Seasonal contracts count towards that limit unless more than three years pass between them, so a worker returning for a fourth season needs a check of their history before a new contract is offered.
End of contract. In Tilburg, the seasonal contracts run for less than six months, so the written renewal notice is not required, but the transition payment is due when we do not renew.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
22 minutes a month
At €75 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 16
- Capacity at your rate
- €1,215
- More seasonal hiring notes a quarter
- 0.7
- Return on Pro
- 3.8×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoSources azta searches here
- EUR-Lex · Curia
- wetten.overheid.nl
- Rechtspraak.nl
- e-Sbírka
What stays with you
- Each worker’s contract history from your HR system.
- The collective agreement that applies, which you upload.
- The decision to offer a permanent contract.
Frequently asked questions
- Can azta check each worker’s history?
- Upload the contract history and ask. azta applies the rule to each line and refers back to the rows it used. The decision stays with HR.
- Does it cover Czech agreements to perform work?
- Yes. Ask about them and azta researches their hour limits and reporting duties, with the provisions.
- If the Dutch rules change, will the note be current?
- Legislation is indexed daily, and each citation shows whether the provision is in force on the date you ask about.
