Parliament agrees on new rules for flexible workers

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, has passed legislation aimed at giving workers on flexible contracts greater income security. The law will, among other measures, abolish zero-hour contracts and close loopholes that allow employers to keep staff on successive temporary contracts for long periods.

“This bill gives people more certainty about their working hours and income,” said Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Hans Vijlbrief. “When you know that, you can plan ahead.” If the Senate approves it as well, the law could take effect on January 1, 2028.

The proposal forms part of a wider labour market reform agenda launched in 2023 by former CDA minister Karien van Gennip. It was prompted by a report from a commission chaired by former senior civil servant Hans Borstlap, who warned in 2020 of an increasing imbalance between permanent and flexible work.

Zero-hour contracts will be eliminated completely. Employers must agree on a guaranteed minimum number of hours and pay accordingly. Any additional flexible hours will be capped within a 130% range, meaning that if someone is guaranteed 10 hours, their maximum working time would be 13 hours.

The required waiting period before an employer can rehire someone on a new sequence of temporary contracts will be extended from 6 months to 3 years, following an amendment in the Tweede Kamer. The original proposal set the interval at 5 years.

Temporary agency workers will be legally entitled to the same core employment conditions, such as holiday allowance, pension accrual, and training, as permanent staff in comparable roles. In addition, the flexible phase of agency work, during which workers have limited dismissal protection, will be reduced from 18 months to 12 months.

School pupils, students (averaging up to 16 hours of work per week), and AOW pensioner recipients are exempt from the ban and may continue to work on on-call contracts.