News item | 10-10-2023 | 15:49
Rogue employment agencies take advantage of vulnerable people. These agencies circumvent the rules and this leads to dire situations for migrant workers. Rogue agencies also have a financial advantage over their competitors who do take good care of their staff. To combat these abuses, the government is introducing a new admission system for temporary employment agencies. With better rules and better enforcement in a sector where many people depend on a temporary employment agency for work, housing, transport, health insurance and registration.
Minister Van Gennip’s bill was sent to the House of Representatives today.
Minister Karien van Gennip (Social Affairs and Employment): “Too often, migrant workers in the Netherlands are treated as second-class citizens. They sleep in poor conditions and work in dangerous places, with uncertain contracts. Rogue employment agencies abuse their vulnerable position and make money from it. This is unworthy of the Netherlands. This bill must ensure that these employment agencies take good care of their staff. This improves the position of migrant workers and ensures a level playing field for all employment agencies.”
Admission system
This bill introduces an admission system for employment agencies and other companies that provide workers. The core of this system is that these lenders may only operate on the market if they are permitted to do so. To do this, they must, among other things, submit a Certificate of Good Conduct, transfer a deposit of one hundred thousand euros, show that they pay the correct wages and pay their taxes properly. Periodic checks are carried out to ensure that employment agencies continue to adhere to the rules. Companies that use employment agencies, the so-called hirers, may only do business with employment agencies that are admitted to the market.
Dutch Labor Inspectorate
The Labor Inspectorate will monitor the obligations for hirers and lenders. The Labor Inspectorate will be expanded by 90 FTE for this purpose. The supervision means, among other things, that the Labor Inspectorate can impose fines on lenders who provide workers without authorization, and on hirers who hire workers from unauthorized lenders.
Admission will be suspended if the minister determines that a lender does not (no longer) meet the stated requirements and subsequently does not remedy the situation in time. Without permission, the lender may no longer make workers available.
Roemer
In developing the admission system, the government has worked closely with social partners from the Labor Foundation and the temporary employment sector. This bill also follows up one of Emile Roemer’s recommendations. In 2020 he wrote the report “No second-class citizen”, containing recommendations to improve the position of migrant workers. There are currently more than 15,000 employment agencies in the Netherlands and the admission system is expected to apply to them from January 1, 2026.