Netherlands - 2019
+ show references
- Civil Code [CC], Book 7, title 10 1822, as subsequently amended and updated until July 1st, 2017
(Book 7 Particular agreements,Title 7.10 Employment agreement)
Date: 01 Jul 2017; view website »
- Dismissal Regulations (DR)
Date: 01 Jul 2015; view website » (view in NATLEX »)
- Collective Redundancy Notification Act [CRNA], 24 March 1976, as subsequently amended in July 2015
(Wet melding collectief ontslag - available only in Dutch)
Date: 01 Jul 2015; view website »
- Equal Treatment Act, 1994 as last amended in 2015
(Algemene Wet Gelijke Behandeling)
Date: 01 Jul 2015; view website »
Maximum probationary (trial) period: 2 month(s)
Remarks:
- Art. 7:652 (3), (4) and (5) CC.
Probationary period shall be, as a maximum, 2 months when the contract is of indefinite duration or concluded for more than 2 years, and 1 month if the employment contract is concluded for less than 2 years but more than 6 months. If the contract is concluded for less than 6 months no probationary period is possible.
Fixed term contract (FTC):
- FTC regulated: Yes
Remarks:
- Art. 7:668, Art. 7:668a and Art. 7:667 CC.
- Valid reasons for FTC use: no limitation
- Maximum number of successive FTCs: 3
Remarks:
- Maximum 3 successive contracts concluded at intervals of less than 6 months: Art. 7:668a(1)(b) CC. (3 months, if agreed by collective agreement, for working activities which cannot be performed by the same employee for more than 9 consecutive months).
For persons, who have reached the legal retirement age, up to 6 consecutive FTCs are permissible.
This limitation does not apply to employment contracts concluded with teachers of vocational guidance courses, or concluded with persons under the age of 18, who do not work more than 12 hours per week.
- Maximum cumulative duration of successive FTCs: 24 month(s)
Remarks:
- Applicable to successive contracts concluded at intervals of less than 6 months: Art. 7:668a 1) CC. (3 months, if agreed by collective agreement, for working activities which cannot be performed by the same employee for more than 9 consecutive months).
For persons, who have reached the legal retirement age, up to 48 months of consecutive FTCs are permissible.
This limitation does not apply to employment contracts concluded with teachers of vocational guidance courses, or concluded with persons under the age of 18, who do not work more than 12 hours per week.
- % of workforce under FTC: 20.6 %
Remarks:
- Source: Eurostat, as of second trimester 2016.
The figure refers to the percentage of employee with a contract of limited duration (= temporary job) of total number of employee aged 15-74 years.
Eurostat data are based on the following definition:
"A job may be considered temporary if employer and employee agree that its end is determined by objective conditions such as a specific date, the completion of a task or the return of another employee who has been temporarily replaced (usually stated in a work contract of limited duration). Typical cases are: (a) persons with seasonal employment; (b) persons engaged by an agency or employment exchange and hired to a third party to perform a specific task (unless there is a written work contract of unlimited duration); (c) persons with specific training contracts."
Notes / Remarks
In the Netherlands, as part of anti crisis measures, a new Act, which came into force in July 2010, temporarily extended the possibility to conclude fixed-term contracts with young workers up to 27 years The Act allowed for concluding a total of four, rather than three successive fixed-term employment contracts with regard to this group and for maximum duration of four years rather than three. The Act expired in January 2012. As a result, those specific rules for young workers are no longer applicable.