News item | 07-07-2025 | 12:30 PM
The government wants to make it clearer when people are an employee and when work can be done as a self -employed person. The applicable criteria are stated in the law. Someone who earns less than 36 euros per hour should also receive a stronger legal position as a self -employed person. They will soon be able to make it easier to be an employee and rely on the corresponding rights. This is stated in the Bill Clarification Assessment of employment relationships and legal presumption (VBar) that the cabinet has submitted to the Lower House today.
Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Eddy van Hijum: “You have to give work for certainty. About your income and your future. With this bill we make clearer what the distinction between working as a self -employed person or as an employee. If you are managed in your work and you do not run an entrepreneurial risk, then you are an employee and then you are entitled to the certainty and if you are doing all that is the space for it. From people who work against a lower salary via a self-employed construction. “
Clarification
The bill clarifies the criteria about when someone is an employee and when someone works as a self -employed person. For example, there are criteria that determine whether someone is controlled in the work. For example, whether the client determines when and how the work should be done. Other criteria test whether the work is done at your own risk. It is also examined whether someone behaves outside of work as an entrepreneur, for example by recruiting new customers. The bill clarifies these criteria, but does not change it in terms of the current judicial judgments. By clearly establishing what is being tested in this new law, the government wants to offer more clarity. For example, workers, employers and implementing organizations know better where they stand.
Presumption
In addition, self -employed people who earn less than 36 euros per hour will soon be able to claim to be an employee and rely on the corresponding rights. If the self -employed person has appealed to the suspicion, then it is up to the employer to prove that there is no question of an employment contract and work is being done as a self -employed person. About 15% of self -employed people who deliver their own work fall under this limit. With this ‘legal presumption of employment’, the legal position of low -paid self -employed people is strengthened and false independence is being reduced.
If there is an employment contract and therefore apparent independence, these people are still entitled to the benefits that every employee has, such as pregnancy and sick leave, dismissal protection, unemployment benefit and a safety net in the event of incapacity for work. The employer must pay the premiums and taxes due for this. Implementing organizations cannot rely on the legal presumption.
The hourly rate under which the legal presumption applies is adjusted every year to the rise in the minimum wage. The amount is rounded up to whole euros, so that employers know where they stand. The amount of 35.43 euros (reference date 1 January 2025) is therefore rounded up at 36.00 euros.
False independence
In 2024, the Netherlands had 1.3 million self -employed people. That number is a doubling of the 630,000 self-employed people in 2003. In some cases, there is false independence: people who work in a self-employed construction, while there is actually an employer because of the nature of the work. Although there are no hard figures available, the ministry has estimated the number of false self -employed persons at 200,000. False independence is first and foremost problematic because it leads to unfair competition between both workers and companies. It also has social security if people who are actually an employee no longer contribute through a self-employed construction. And finally, false independence exploits exploitation.
BACKGROUND PRICTION
The VBAR bill is the second major bill of the labor market package offered to the Chamber. The reform of the labor market follows from the advice of the Borstlap committee from 2021 and the agreement that cabinet, trade unions and employers concluded in 2023. The objective of this package is to provide workers more certainty and at the same time to ensure that entrepreneurs can easily adapt to changing circumstances. This bill contributes to the government’s goal to ensure more clarity, a more than playing field and better enforcement when working with the self -employed.
Progress Law Treatment
If the House of Representatives agrees with the proposal, the bill will continue to the Senate. If the Senate also agrees, the bill will take effect on July 1, 2026. There is no transitional law. This means that after the law entry into force, it is immediately in force and people can rely on it.