New law to give flexible workers more certainty over hours, income

Minister Eddy van Hijum of Social Affairs and Employment is working on a bill that will give workers with a flexible employment contract more certainty about their working hours and income, and quicker access to permanent contracts. His bill, 'More certainty for flexible workers’, aims to give this group more rights, RTL Nieuws reports.

The bill states that contracts with a minimum and maximum number of hours will replace the current zero-hour contracts. The conditions for temporary contracts will be stricter. And on-call contracts will henceforth come with a minimum number of hours.

Temporary contracts must only be for temporary work, according to the Minister. Currently, employers can’t give a worker another temporary contract for six months after three temporary contracts. Under the new bill, the no-temporary-contract period will be extended to five years. Temporary workers will also get the same regular rights as permanent employees.

Van Hijum hopes this will encourage employers using temporary contracts for permanent work to give their flexible workers permanent contracts. The zero-hour contract will continue to exist for students with a part-time job.

“The Netherlands has a huge number of people with an insecure employment contract, much more than the European average,” Van Hijum said. “A lot of work is also done through employment agencies in the Netherlands. And we see that this leads to abuses. For some companies and sectors, insecure work has become a revenue model. With this bill, we are directly increasing people’s security of existence.”