Caroline Mehlem

Caroline Mehlem

Senior Associate | Attorney at law

Employment & Employee Participation

Caroline has considerable experience in guiding medium-sized to large national and international enterprises in every aspect of employment law, from individual dismissals and legal scans to complex reorganisations and company acquisitions. She also assists many educational institutions ranging from school districts to universities. In addition to ‘regular’ employment law, she also has a special interest in cross-border employment and education law.

Caroline is a highly motivated attorney who takes a solution-oriented approach underpinned by her strong interpersonal and decisive qualities. Her commitment, expertise and clarity inspire trust among her clients and colleagues. Caroline is French in origin and also has German, Spanish and English roots, making her multilingual – something which is of great practical benefit.

Education

Caroline studied Dutch law at Leiden University, majoring in International Law.

Career

Caroline has worked at De Clercq as an attorney since 2003, with a broad focus on employment law. She puts her multilingual background and international interest to good use in advising numerous international clients. She specialises in Education Law and Employment Law from a European perspective, and has completed mediation training, which also serves her practice well. As well as being an attorney, Caroline is a board member with the Technolab Leiden Foundation.

Caroline’s daily practice

On an almost daily basis, Caroline deals with matters such as individual dismissals, reorganisations, working remotely from abroad, expatriates, unacceptable behaviour and the investigation of this, and disability in the workplace. She also provides advice to companies at the policy level. Caroline acts as in-house counsel for a variety of companies, and values the opportunity to get to know her clients well. This often leads to fruitful collaborations that last for many years. The same applies to the educational institutions with which Caroline has long-term involvements with respect to employment law matters.

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The latest developments

Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation

Carelessness Does Not Constitute Grounds for a Right to Be Consulted

12 October 2026

The Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (the “Enterprise Chamber”) delivered its ruling on 28 April 2026 in a case brought by the Temporary Works Council (the “TOR”) of the Identification and Screening of Asylum Seekers Service (Dienst Identificatie en Screening Asielzoekers, “DISA”) (ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2026:1105). The Enterprise Chamber ruled that the TOR had no right to be consulted on the decision to treat the reorganisations at DISA and the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) as separate processes, without transferring personnel between them. According to the Enterprise Chamber, the decision concerned the allocation of public-law responsibilities between government services and therefore fell within the scope of the political primacy principle set out in Article 46d of the Dutch Works Councils Act (Wet op de ondernemingsraden, or WOR). Notably, however, the Enterprise Chamber described the decision-making process as “highly careless”. This finding did not lead to a different legal conclusion.

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Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation

The Self-Employment Act: When Does It Provide Legal Certainty?

8 October 2026

The government aims to provide greater certainty and clarity for self-employed professionals and their clients. To that end, on 1 October 2026, it submitted the draft Self-Employment Act (Zelfstandigenwet) for public consultation. The proposed Act seeks to answer a fundamental question: when can businesses engage self-employed professionals, and when can individuals work as self-employed professionals, with certainty that the relationship does not constitute employment? By establishing clear rules in advance, the government aims to create a safe harbour for those who meet and comply with these requirements. What exactly does the proposed Self-Employment Act entail, and what does it mean for businesses engaging self-employed professionals?

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Employment, Employee Participation & Mediation

A Camel Hunt at the Office? Don’t Forget the Works Council!

6 October 2026

Anyone who has followed the media recently will have noticed the same debate recurring: should employees be required to come into the office more often? The term “camel hunting” regularly comes up in this context. Employers are seeking to avoid a working week with two distinct “humps”, characterised by busy Tuesdays and Thursdays and near-empty offices on the other days.

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