On-call employees

An on-call employee (oproepkracht) only works when you, their employer, call them up. You have agreed this with your employee. There are different types of on-call contracts with different rules. 

What is an on-call contract? 

It can be hard to determine if someone works on an on-call contract. For example on a zero-hours or a min-max contract. To clarify if an employee has an on-call contract, the following conditions apply: 

• The employee is not paid for hours that are not worked.
• The number of working hours is not fixed within a period of a week, month, or year. This means they may work 20 hours one month and 30 the next.
• The employee's right to wages is therefore spread unevenly over that period.
• You must pay wages straight away. Your on-call employee does not have a fixed monthly salary. 

Is your employee's contract an on-call contract? Then you must report this in their wage slip. For on-call employees you pay a higher unemployment premium (ww-premie, in Dutch). 

Reference days in on-call contract 

You need to register reference days for your employees with an on-call contract. These are days or hours on which your employee can be required to work.

4 days' notice for on-call work 

You must give notice for on-call work at least 4 days in advance. You have to give notice in writing or electronically. For instance, by email or a phone messaging app. You must have clear agreements on how you can reach your on-call employee. If you call up an on-call employee less than 4 days before the work, the employee is not obliged to take the work. Do you cancel the call for work or change the hours within 4 days of the job? You must pay the original hours reserved for the work. 

Please note: the notice deadline for on-call work can be set at a minimum of 1 day, if stated in the employee's collective labour agreement (CAO). 

Fixed number of hours offered after on-call contract of 1 year 

You can employ someone on an on-call contract for a maximum of 1 year. After 1 year you must offer them a fixed number of hours (per week, per month, or per year) if you continue to employ them. You must offer them at least the average amount of hours they worked for you the previous year. And it must be at least on the same terms as the on-call contract was. The employee can accept your offer or choose to continue working on an on-call contract for a maximum of 1 year. 

For more information read the WAB factsheet: on-call measures - employers' information (in Dutch). 

Minimum wage for commission contract or other agreements for payment 

Do you pay an employee on the basis of a commission contract or assignment agreement? You do not have an employment contract them. They work for you only for the assignment or project. This agreement can be a commission contract or any other agreement for payment, such as a contracting agreement. You must pay them at least the minimum wage. 

Contract with a fixed number of hours per week 

If an on-call employee works at least 3 consecutive months for you, the average number of hours in that period is considered to be their guaranteed hours per month. This can result in a regular work pattern. Your on-call employee may demand an average number of working hours per week (in Dutch), an employment contract, or a higher number of guaranteed hours. 

Do you think this is an unreasonable demand? For example because the high number of working hours is due to a peak period? You must be able to prove this with written agreements or preceding working timetables. If you cannot reach agreement on this, the matter can be taken to court. 

Continued pay during sickness 

On-call employees are sometimes entitled to continued payment during sickness. Otherwise, they are entitled to sickness benefits (in Dutch). This depends on their type of contract. 

Continued pay during slow periods 

On-call employees are entitled to continued pay when their employer temporarily cannot offer work. How much, and for how long, depends on their type of contact. You can temporarily exclude your on-call employees' right to continued pay when you cannot provide them with work for up to 6 months, unless their collective labour agreement (CAO) allows otherwise. 

Holidays 

On-call employees also have the right to vacation days and holiday allowance. The holiday allowance is at least 8% of their gross annual salary. On-call employees build up leave hours on the number of hours they have worked. This is 4 times the average number of weekly working hours per year. If, for instance, an employee works 25 hours a week on average, they have a right to 4x25 hours of leave per year. You must pay these hours. 

Seasonal work 

Seasonal work is work that can only be performed for a maximum of 9 months per year due to its seasonal nature. The employee may not be kept on in the same job after the season has endeds. You can agree with your employees that no minimum or maximum hours are set in the collective labour agreement (CAO). You also do not have to offer a set number of hours if a seasonal worker is employed for longer than 12 months.