Employer may not keep renewing temporary contracts

What changes?

Do you offer your staff temporary contracts? In future, you are not allowed to keep on renewing a temporary employment contract (a fixed-term contract).

If the temporary contract has been renewed three times, you may not offer the employee a new temporary contract for 5 years.

At present, that waiting period is 6 months. During this period, employees are often asked to quit or find other work for 6 months and then return. This is known as a revolving door arrangement.

The government wants to ensure that temporary contracts are only used for temporary work. And for employees to be offered a permanent contract sooner.

For whom?

• employers who employ staff on temporary contracts

When?

The change in law is expected to enter into effect on 1 January 2027.

Please note: The effective date of this measure is not yet final. Entry into force is subject to its passing through the Lower and Upper Houses (Tweede en Eerste Kamer) of parliament. After publication in the Staatsblad or Staatscourant (Government Gazette, in Dutch) the law can take effect.