NL: More security for flex workers: what does the new bill mean?

 

On 19 May 2025, the Bill on More Security for Flex Workers (Wetsvoorstel meer zekerheid voor flexwerkers) was submitted to the House of Representatives by the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment. The aim of the bill is to offer flexible workers, such as employees with a fixed-term employment contract and on-call and temporary workers, more security in terms of work and income. This blog discusses the most important intended changes from the bill.

Zero-hour contracts

Under the bill, zero-hour contracts are no longer allowed; the reason for this is that zero-hour contracts do not offer employees sufficient security to be economically independent. According to the explanatory memorandum, the same applies to very generous min-max contracts, where a small number of hours is guaranteed as income, but where very wide availability is required without income security in return.

The bill stipulates that the scope of work must be agreed in the employment contract and that this scope must be greater than zero hours. In order to counteract the aforementioned very wide availability, the maximum number of hours may not exceed 130% of the minimum number of hours per unit of time. The time unit of the scope of work may not exceed one quarter.

In order to maintain the flexibility of a zero-hour contract where this is desired, an exception has been made for pupils and students, because for them it is not work, but study and training that are the main activity. An exception is also made for young people under the age of 18 who work an average of a maximum of 16 hours per week so that flexibility is also maintained for such side jobs.

Chain rule

In short, the chain rule means that a fixed-term employment contract is converted by operation of law into an employment contract for an indefinite period (i) after three employment contracts; and/or (ii) after a period of 36 months (three years), including interruptions of up to 6 months, has been exceeded. In the event of an interruption of more than 6 months, a new chain will start.

A significant change will be made to the latter: the interruption period of – now – 6 months will be extended to 60 months. This means that the possibilities of offering a fixed-term employment contract are further restricted. The possibilities to deviate from the chain rule in a collective labour agreement will also be limited under the bill.

Temporary employment contracts

Temporary workers will also be better protected. The bill first aims to shorten the first phase (Phase A) to 52 weeks. During that period, an employer can still conclude an unlimited number of temporary contracts, include a temporary employment clause (which terminates the contract if the hiring company stops the assignment) and exclude the obligation to continue to pay wages (which means that employees are not paid if there is no work). In addition, the second phase (Phase B) will be shortened to six contracts in two years. The legal position of a temporary worker will then be uncertain for a total of three years, where it is now five and a half years.

Equal working conditions for temporary workers

Pursuant to the Placement of Workers by Intermediaries Act (Waadi), the employment agency must grant the temporary worker the same terms of employment as those granted to employees who work in the same or equivalent positions in the service of the hiring company. However, this does not currently cover all employment conditions. This means that temporary workers are often cheaper for a hiring company than employing regular employees. The bill aims to change this: the other terms of employment must also be at least equivalent.

Conclusion

The House of Representatives will consider the bill. It is not yet known whether and in what form the bill will be adopted; In any case, it is expected that this will not happen before 2027. The latest state of affairs can be found here.

 

For further information, please contact:

Ron Andriessen, Partner

Labré advocaten, Amsterdam

e: ron.andriessen@labre.nl

t: +31 20 3052030

 

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