Contract ended, but not finished yet?

When your appointment as a PhD candidate ends, you want your dissertation to be finished. However, that is not always the case. In fact, it is very common for PhD candidates to need more than those 4 years. 

Which rights do you have in this case? And can you still continue working on your dissertation? 

If your contract ends or if you are dismissed, you may be eligible for a WW or BW benefit (supplementary unemployment benefit). However, to be eligible for benefits, you are not allowed to work on your dissertation while you are unemployed, you must be available for other work, registered with the employment agency (CWI), and actively apply for (suitable) jobs. If you continue to work on your dissertation, it is assumed that you are performing work for which a reward may be expected, regardless of whether this work is paid or not. You do not meet the criteria for receiving benefits.

If you spend part of your time on unpaid work after your dismissal, you may be eligible for a partial WW benefits. You must be unemployed for at least five hours. You will need to indicate every month whether you have performed paid or unpaid work and for how many hours. Writing your dissertation is included in this. If you do not report your dissertation work, this is considered fraud. Writing your dissertation during your period of unemployment is therefore not as obvious as many supervisors and advisors make it seem. For more information see the website of the UWV

Contract extension

Sometimes you are offered an extension of your PhD contract to finish your PhD project. This is possible under the collective labour agreements, but is not always easy. 

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Who is involved in your application for contract renewal? It is not just your supervisor who decides on the extension of your contract. Such an application involves many different parties. 

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First, the application for renewal will be dealt with by your immediate superior. It helps if you already discussed and prepared your application for renewal with the significant actors from your department, such as your direct supervisors and university project managers. They may be consulted in the process of assessing your application. After this, your application will be provided with advice by the P&O-advisor at faculty level. Subsequently, the application is provided with financial advice by the controller or financial employee of the faculty. Finally, the application, together with all of the advice, is assessed by the faculty’s Operations Director (directeur bedrijfsvoering).

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If your contract expires and is not extended, your formal employment with the university ends. If this happens and your thesis is not yet finished, this could put you into a difficult position. But once your contract has expired, you can unfortunately no longer claim a great deal of the rights you had as an employee.

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 Courtesy privileges

It seems quite common for PhD candidates whose contracts expire to be offered a temporary 'courtesy privilege' by the university to complete their dissertation. This means that individuals who have no other formal relationship with the university are given permission to perform certain activities at the university without the university requiring any compensation, except for an expense allowance. This is offered in the form of a hospitality contract (similar to external and scholarship PhD candidates). 

Keep in mind that in this case, you do not have the same protections as an employed PhD candidate. Additionally, you shouldn’t be requested to carry out tasks such as teaching or student supervision. If you are expected to do formal work (including teaching, supervision, and actively doing research, whether for your PhD project or not), you should be offered an extension of your contract or another contract to compensate.