In practice, it sometimes happens that a new employee performs some work before the employment contract has formally started. This can lead to the question of when the probation period begins to run in that case.
The Amsterdam Court ruled on this matter last month. Employee was to start on June 1 with his employment contract which included a probation period of one month. In fact, he actually started working two weeks earlier, but did not receive any wages during those weeks. He received unemployment benefits throughout the month of May. The employer dismissed him on June 30th citing the probation period. The employee took the position that the probation period had already started in mid-May when he began working. The employee was right in the subdistrict court, but the Court dismissed his claims. Because he had not received any wages, there was no employment contract as of June 1, so the probationary period ran from June 1 to June 30.
