{"id":6051,"date":"2025-04-22T09:34:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T06:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/am-i-entitled-to-a-bonus-after-an-affair-with-a-coworkers-partner\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T15:46:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T12:46:26","slug":"am-i-entitled-to-a-bonus-after-an-affair-with-a-coworkers-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/am-i-entitled-to-a-bonus-after-an-affair-with-a-coworkers-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Am I Entitled to a Bonus After an Affair with a Coworker’s Partner?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

An inappropriate relationship, sexual text messages during work hours, and termination without severance pay\u2014it sounds like an exceptional case. Nevertheless, the subdistrict court recently ruled that a director was indeed entitled to his bonus despite serious culpable conduct. How does the court reconcile this with the dysfunction in the workplace? In this blog, we discuss the remarkable ruling by the Zeeland-West-Brabant District Court<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

The reason: an affair with a coworker’s wife<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The director of a company became involved in an affair with the wife of an employee at the same company. When that employee found out about the affair, he filed a complaint with management. Management launched an internal investigation, which revealed that the director had been exchanging frequent text messages with the woman, sending her sexual messages and photos, and even meeting with her during work hours. This behavior did not occur solely in a private setting, but also took place during work hours and even in the presence of clients. <\/p>\n\n

No separation between work and personal life<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

The director argued that he was able to keep his work and personal life separate. The small claims judge did not believe him. The text messages showed that even during a sales meeting, he was still texting the woman, telling her that she was \u201cconstantly on his mind.\u201d The judge also found his claim that he had worked enough hours outside of the affair to be implausible. <\/p>\n\n

The court\u2019s conclusion was clear: the director\u2019s conduct was seriously culpable. This justified his termination of the employment contract without a transition payment. <\/p>\n\n

Am I still entitled to a bonus? How does that work?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

Despite the serious misconduct, the small claims court judge ruled that the director was indeed entitled to his bonus. The reason? The bonus policy stipulated that the bonus was contingent upon meeting certain targets. The judge determined that these targets had been objectively met and that the company itself had not specified that such conduct would be grounds for denying the bonus. <\/p>\n\n

So this wasn’t a discretionary bonus contingent on good behavior or performance, but rather a performance-based scheme. And that result\u2014as bitter as it may sound\u2014was achieved. <\/p>\n\n

Lessons for Employers and Employees<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

This ruling demonstrates that it is important to clearly specify in bonus plans the circumstances under which a bonus may still be forfeited, including in cases of poor performance or misconduct. If such clauses are missing, an employee may still be entitled to financial compensation, even in the event of termination due to serious culpable conduct. <\/p>\n\n

For employees, this serves as a reminder that professional success does not shield you from the consequences of inappropriate behavior. The director lost his position and his reputation, despite having met his business goals. <\/p>\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

This case underscores the need for employers to carefully consider the terms of their compensation plans. An affair in the workplace and sending sexual messages during work hours are grounds for termination without severance pay. However, if the bonus plan is established as purely performance-based, it may still remain in effect under certain circumstances. Integrity is therefore not only a matter of behavior, but also of precise legal wording. <\/p>\n\n

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This blog was written by Stijn Blom, Esq., an employment law attorney at Arbeidsadvocaat.nl B.V. Stijn has extensive experience in employment law and assists employers and employees on a daily basis with a wide range of employment law issues. From dismissal cases to drafting watertight agreements and policies\u2014with his practical and personalized approach, he helps employers and employees move forward. Want to learn more? Visit Stijn’s page<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Arbeidsadvocaat.nl is happy to help you if you have any questions about bonuses. Please feel free to contact us <\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

April 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction An inappropriate relationship, sexual text messages during work hours, and termination without severance pay\u2014it sounds like an exceptional case. Nevertheless, the subdistrict court recently ruled that a director was indeed entitled to his bonus despite serious culpable conduct. How does the court reconcile this with the dysfunction in the workplace? In this blog, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":6054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"navigation_state":true,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclude"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arbeidsadvocaat.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}