The employer’s decision to no longer call upon an employee on a zero-hours contract to carry out work must be regarded as an unlawful termination of the employment contract. The employee has been in service since 1 October 2024. After August 2025, the employer ceased to call him in to work. The employee raised this issue with his employer and requested payment of outstanding wages, a transition payment and a fixed sum in damages. The employer refuses to pay, arguing that the employment contract has not been terminated, but that they have merely stopped calling the employee to work.
Unfair termination
The employer’s continued failure to call the employee in for work amounts to a termination of the employment contract. As the employee did not consent to this and the notice period was not observed, this constitutes an unlawful termination. Where an employment contract has lasted for at least three months, it is presumed that the agreed working hours in any given month are equal to the average number of working hours per month over the three preceding months. The employee has demonstrated that he consistently worked more hours than the zero hours stipulated in the contract. The employer has not rebutted this presumption and has not submitted any reliable records of hours worked. The subdistrict court therefore bases its decision on the alleged working hours of 43.5 hours per week, as substantiated by timesheets.
Wages and allowances
The compensation for wrongful termination and the transition payment are awarded. The outstanding wages for July and August and the accrued holiday pay, plus the statutory increase, are also awarded. Statutory interest on these amounts is also awarded. The claim for wages from September 2025 to 24 November 2025 is dismissed. The employee did not make themselves available for work after starting a new job. The employer must provide correct gross/net payslips within one month, on pain of a penalty payment of €50 per day up to a maximum of €1,000.