Zero-hours contracts under Dutch law
A zero-hours contract (nulurencontract) is a form of on-call employment agreement under which the employer is not obliged to offer a minimum number of working hours and the employee is not obliged to accept every call. In the Netherlands, the zero-hours contract is a subspecies of the on-call contract (oproepcontract) regulated in Article 7:628a of the Dutch Civil Code, as amended by the Balanced Labour Market Act (Wet arbeidsmarkt in balans, WAB) which came into force on 1 January 2020.
Despite the absence of guaranteed hours, employees on zero-hours contracts enjoy the same fundamental employment rights as regular employees. They are entitled to the statutory minimum wage, annual leave (accruing on the basis of actual hours worked), and holiday allowance. They are also entitled to transition pay on termination after two years of employment.
The obligation to offer a fixed-hours contract in the Netherlands
One of the most significant changes introduced by the WAB is the obligation on the employer to offer a zero-hours or other on-call employee a contract with a fixed number of hours after 12 months of employment. The offer must reflect the average number of hours worked in the preceding 12 months. The employee may decline the offer, but the employer must make it. This rule aims to combat permanent insecurity for on-call workers.
Additionally, the employer must give the on-call employee at least four days' advance notice of a work call. If the call is cancelled within this notice period, the employee retains the right to pay for the hours they would have worked. This wage guarantee (loongarantie) prevents employers from scheduling and cancelling work at will without consequence.
The Balanced Labour Market Act defines a call employment agreement as a contract in which the extent of work has not been laid down as a fixed number of hours per unit of time, or in which the employee is not entitled to wages if no work is actually performed (Article 7:628a(8) of the Dutch Civil Code). By collective labour agreement the four-day notice period may be shortened but not to less than 24 hours (Article 7:628a(4) of the Dutch Civil Code). Seasonal sectors may be exempted from certain on-call rules by collective agreement under Article 7:628a(11) of the Dutch Civil Code.