WILLEMSTAD – The Court of First Instance of Curaçao has dissolved the employment agreement of a lawyer who had worked for HBN Law & Tax since 2007, but rejected his request for more than XCG 634,000 in compensation after concluding that the circumstances leading to the breakdown of the employment relationship could not be blamed on the law firm.
The ruling was issued on August 31 and published September 1. The lawyer joined HBN's predecessor on January 1, 2007, initially as a trainee lawyer. From November 2010 onward, he worked as an attorney under a full-time employment agreement that included a fixed monthly salary and a revenue-sharing arrangement.
The employment relationship deteriorated following changes within HBN Curaçao. According to the judgment, a management change took place on January 1, 2023, with a new managing partner and Curaçao office manager assuming responsibility for the firm.
The lawyer reported sick on December 8, 2025, and has formally been considered 100 percent unable to work since then.
HBN and the employee entered mediation in 2026 in an attempt to resolve their differences, but the process ended without an agreement on June 10. Five days later, the lawyer filed a petition with the court requesting termination of his employment contract because of changed circumstances.
He requested that the court dissolve the employment relationship and order HBN to pay him XCG 634,524 gross in severance compensation. In addition, he sought €11,846.88 to compensate for the loss of health insurance previously paid by HBN for himself and members of his household, as well as XCG 25,863.75 related to the employer's contribution to his Ennia pension arrangement.
Following a hearing on July 9, the court gave the parties another opportunity to reach an amicable settlement. On July 29, however, both sides informed the court that those negotiations had failed and asked the judge to issue a decision.
The court ultimately agreed that the employment relationship had reached a point where it should be terminated and granted the lawyer's request to dissolve the contract.
However, the judge rejected the requested severance payment. The court concluded that although circumstances had changed sufficiently to justify ending the employment relationship, those circumstances were not attributable to HBN. The court therefore found no basis for requiring the firm to pay the compensation sought by the lawyer.
The decision brings an end to an employment relationship that lasted almost 20 years and shows that an employee who successfully asks the court to terminate a contract because the working relationship has broken down is not automatically entitled to compensation. The court must also determine whether the employer can be held responsible for the circumstances that made continued employment untenable.