Employment contract

An employment contract (arbeidsovereenkomst) is an agreement between an employee and an employer. It contains the agreements between the employer and employee which form the conditions of employment (arbeidsvoorwaarden).

Fixed-term and permanent contracts

You can offer an employee a:

• fixed-term contract (a temporary contract), or a
• contract for an indefinite period (a permanent contract)

Contracts can be agreed on in writing or verbally.

If someone works for you every week for 3 months, or at least 20 hours per month, you usually have an employment contract with that person, even if you have not explicitly agreed this with your employee. In this case, you must comply with the rules of employment law, for example on minimum wage and dismissal.

When should an employee receive a permanent contract?

You cannot extend temporary contracts indefinitely. An employee must receive a permanent contract after 3 consecutive temporary contracts, or after 3 years of temporary contracts. This applies unless other arrangements have been made in the collective labour agreement (Collectieve Arbeidsovereenkomst, CAO). Find out what consecutive contracts are, and what conditions apply (in Dutch).

Written statement of employment details

As an employer, you must give your employees clear information on the most important terms of employment. You must do this in writing. When you must provide the information depends on the type of information.

Within 1 week after your employee starts working for you, you must provide:

• the name and place of residence of the employer and the employee
• the location(s) at which the work is carried out. If you have multiple locations, you must state whether the employee has multiple workplaces, or if they may decide their place of work
• the employee's job title or the nature of the work
• the date on which the employee joined the company
• the duration and conditions of the trial period, if applicable
• if it concerns a fixed-term contract: the duration or the end date of the contract
• the amount of the salary, both the starting salary and the various components, and how and when the salary is paid
• in case of regular or predictable working hours:

  • the usual working hours (per day or per week)
  • the arrangements on working overtime and overtime compensation
  • the arrangements on swapping shifts
• in case of irregular or unpredictable working hours:

  • the statement that working hours are variable, the number of fixed hours (guaranteed hours), and the salary for extra hours
  • the days and hours an employee can be required to work (reference days)
  • up to how many days in advance you can call up your employee to work

Within 1 month after your employee starts working for you, you must provide:

• holiday entitlement and holiday allowance
• other types of paid leave and how you calculate the number of paid leaves
• procedural requirements, such as dismissal procedures, and the notice period when the employment agreement ends
• the type of employment contract, such as a temporary employment, payroll agreement, on-call contract, or permanent contract

You must also include this information if applicable:

• pension
• the Collective Labour Agreement (CAO)
• the training entitlement
• non-compete or non-solicitation clause
• when there are objective reasons for a ban on ancillary activities

Education

If the Collective Labour Agreement for your company states that your employees are entitled to education, you are required to fund their training. The employee must be allowed to receive training during working hours. The training must be counted as working time.

Regardless of the CAO, you also need to fund your employee’s education if it:

• is necessary to be able to do their job (such as a mandatory certificate, or to keep up to date with technological advancements)
• enables the employee to continue the employment agreement if their position disappears

You cannot add a refund scheme in the employment contract for education you are required to provide bij law or CAO.

Ancillary activities

You cannot prohibit your employee from working with other employers, outside of the established working time (ancillary activities, nevenwerkzaamheden ). You can only do so if you have objective reasons for it, such as:

• there is a risk to health and safety
• you need to protect confidential company information
• there is a risk to the integrity of government services
• the employee is in violation of a legal regulation
• you want to prevent conflicts of interests

Changing the employment agreement

Your employee may put in a request for:

• working more or less hours
• a change in working hours
• a change in workplace
• a more dependable employment agreement, such as a permanent contract

Your employee must submit a written request no later than 2 months before the requested change takes effect. You have to respond to the request in writing within 1 month. If you fail to respond in time, you must agree to the request and change the employment contract.

Do you have fewer than 10 employees? Then you must respond to your employee's request for a more dependable employment agreement in writing within 3 months. You must draw up your own arrangement for adjusting the working hours.

Equal treatment and pay

You must treat and pay your employees equally. Working conditions must be the same for all your employees. Discrimination based on religion, beliefs, political opinions, race, gender, age, disabilities, or any other grounds is unlawful.

Payroll employees have at least the same legal rights and working conditions as other employees in your company. If you hire employees from a temping agency or payroll company, you must inform them about your working conditions.