News item | 19-05-2025 | 09:05
Employees with a flexible employment contract receive more certainty about their income and their working time. For example, temporary workers are entitled to at least equivalent employment conditions as regular employees. There are stricter rules to prevent revolving door constructions with temporary contracts. And on -call contracts are replaced by contracts with a minimum number of hours that you are paid as standard and scheduled. That is stated in the ‘More certainty Flex workers’ bill that the government has offered to the Lower House today. It is the first major bill of the labor market package that is submitted to the Lower House.
Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Eddy van Hijum: “If you are sure of your income and your working hours, it gives peace. It creates room to make plans for the future. To perhaps buy a house or to found a family. The Netherlands has a lot of people with an uncertain employment contract, much more than the European average. There is also a lot of work in the Netherlands. Model with this bill, we immediately increase the existence of people.
Temporary workers
People who work through an employment agency are entitled to at least the same labor conditions as people who are regular. The phases of temporary work in which you can be fired every day are also shortened or not knowing how many hours you can work from one and a half years to one year. In this way, the bill provides more certainty for temporary workers and less exploitation through temporary employment constructions from, for example, labor migrants.
Revolving
The starting point of the new law is that temporary contracts are only intended for temporary work. After a temporary contract, employees must get a permanent employment contract faster. In the current law, no temporary contract may be given for six months after three temporary contracts. To combat revolving door constructions, this period in the new law will be replaced by a period of 5 years. In the collective labor agreement, only limited exceptions to this rule may be made.
On -call contracts
Instead of the zero -hour contracts there will be a bandwidth contract. It agrees minimum and maximum number of hours, with the difference being a maximum of 130%. This means that with a minimum of 10 hours the maximum is 13 hours. Calls that are above the maximum may be refused by the employee. And if more work is being done structurally, a contract with a higher number of hours must be offered. This change ensures more security for the employee about the income and the hours you are scheduled. The law does have an exception for side jobs for young people, students and students, they can continue to work on a call contract.
Entry into force
Now that the bill has been offered to the House of Representatives, the treatment can start. If the Senate also agrees after the House of Representatives, the law will enter into force on January 1, 2027. The equal reward for temporary workers can come into effect a year earlier, on January 1, 2026.
Together with a few other legislative proposals, this proposal is a reform of the Dutch labor market that must ensure more certainty for employees and more maneuverability for entrepreneurs. These legislative proposals stem from agreements that the government made in 2023 with trade unions and employers and are based on the report of the Borstlap Committee from 2020 and the SER advice from 2021.