Dutch employment law is built on a premise that surprises anyone arriving from an at-will jurisdiction: an employer cannot end a contract at will, and the consequences of getting the process wrong fall on the employer.
This guide covers contract types and the rule that converts them, working time and leave entitlements, the employer’s health, equality and data duties, and how a job is lawfully ended.
Contracts And The Chain Rule
The substantive law sits in Book 7, Title 10 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek, supplemented in most sectors by a collective agreement - a CAO - that can improve on it and sometimes replaces parts of it entirely.
A contract can be agreed orally, but the employer must confirm the essential terms in writing: role, pay, hours, start date, place of work, and which CAO applies.
The ketenregeling, or chain rule, is the provision most often tripped over: after three successive fixed-term contracts, or once successive fixed-term contracts have run for more than three years, the next one is by operation of law a permanent contract.
A gap of six months or less between contracts does not break the chain, so the common tactic of a short pause simply does not work.
A CAO may extend the limits to six contracts over four years, and seasonal work has its own shorter interruption period.
A probationary period must be in writing to exist at all, and is capped at one month for contracts under two years and two months for longer ones.
No probationary period is permitted in a contract of six months or less, and an oral agreement to one is void.
Flexible forms are regulated rather than free: a min-max contract guarantees a floor of hours, and an on-call worker must be summoned at least four days in advance and be paid for the call-out if it is cancelled inside that window.
After twelve months the employer must offer an on-call worker a contract for fixed hours based on the previous year’s average.
Genuine self-employed contractors fall outside all of this, but the classification is tested on the substance of the relationship, not on the label on the contract.
An employer with fifty or more employees must establish a works council, the ondernemingsraad, which holds consent rights over a defined list of decisions including working hours and pension arrangements.
Hours, Pay And Leave
The Arbeidstijdenwet caps a working week at 60 hours, with a maximum average of 48 hours over sixteen weeks - a ceiling, not a norm, and most full-time roles run 36 to 40.
A shift of more than 5.5 hours carries at least a 30-minute break, and there must be 11 consecutive hours of rest between shifts.
Holiday allowance - vakantiegeld - is a statutory minimum of 8 per cent of gross annual salary, normally paid in May or June, and it is in addition to salary rather than part of it.
Statutory paid leave is at least four times the weekly hours, so 20 days for a five-day week, and CAOs commonly add more.
Statutory days expire six months after the year in which they accrued unless the employee could not reasonably take them; contractual days above the minimum have a five-year limit.
The minimum wage is set by the Wet Minimumloon and has been expressed as an hourly rate since January 2024, which removed the old anomaly that a 40-hour week paid less per hour than a 36-hour one.
Rates are revised twice a year, in January and July, and reduced youth rates apply below 21.
Under the Wet Arbeid en Zorg, partners receive one week of fully paid leave after a birth plus up to five further weeks at 70 per cent from UWV, and both parents can take up to nine weeks of paid parental leave at 70 per cent in the child’s first year.
Sick pay is the obligation with the largest financial tail: the employer must continue paying at least 70 per cent of salary for up to two years, and must actively pursue reintegration throughout.
Fail the reintegration obligations and UWV can extend the payment duty by a third year.
Safety, Equality And Data
The Arbeidsomstandighedenwet requires every employer to hold a written risk inventory and evaluation, the RI&E, with an action plan attached.
It is the first document an inspector asks for, and not having one is itself the offence.
Employers must be contracted to a certified arbodienst or company doctor for sickness guidance and reintegration advice.
The Algemene wet gelijke behandeling prohibits discrimination on religion, belief, political opinion, race, sex, nationality, sexual orientation and civil status, with separate statutes covering age, disability and working hours.
Complaints go to the College voor de Rechten van de Mens, whose opinions are formally non-binding and are in practice given considerable weight by courts.
Employee data is governed by the GDPR as implemented by the UAVG, enforced by the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.
Two rules catch employers repeatedly.
Consent is almost never a valid basis for processing employee data, because the imbalance of power means it cannot be freely given; and an employer may not ask an employee what is wrong with them when they call in sick.
Only the company doctor may process health data, and all HR receives is a fitness-for-work assessment and an expected duration.
Ending The Relationship
Notice from an employee is one calendar month unless the contract says otherwise.
Employer notice scales with service: one month under five years, two months under ten, three months under fifteen, and four months at fifteen years or more.
A fixed-term contract of six months or longer requires written aanzegging at least one month before it expires, saying whether it will be renewed and on what terms - miss it and the employee is owed up to a month’s salary.
Dismissal requires one of the grounds listed in Article 7:669 and prior permission from either UWV, for redundancy and long-term incapacity, or the kantonrechter for personal grounds such as underperformance or a broken working relationship.
Underperformance is the ground courts refuse most often, because it requires a documented improvement plan with real support and time, not a file assembled after the decision was taken.
Summary dismissal for an urgent cause - theft, fraud, violence - must be given immediately on discovering the facts, and any delay defeats it.
Certain employees are protected from dismissal outright: those on sick leave, pregnant employees and those on maternity leave, and works council members.
In practice most terminations are settled by a vaststellingsovereenkomst, which sidesteps the permission route entirely, and the employee has fourteen days to withdraw their signature without giving a reason.
The agreement must state that right; if it does not, the period extends to three weeks.
The transitievergoeding is due in essentially every employer-initiated termination, from the first day of employment, at one-third of a month’s salary per year of service and pro rata for part years.
A court can add a billijke vergoeding where the employer is seriously culpable, and that award has no statutory ceiling.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does a fixed-term contract become permanent?
After three successive fixed-term contracts, or once successive fixed-term contracts have exceeded three years, whichever comes first.
A break of six months or less between contracts does not reset the chain.
What are the working time limits?
A maximum of 60 hours in any week and an average of 48 over sixteen weeks, with a 30-minute break after 5.5 hours and 11 hours of rest between shifts.
Is holiday allowance really on top of salary?
Yes - at least 8 per cent of gross annual salary, normally paid in May or June, and separate from your statutory holiday days.
How long must an employer pay a sick employee?
At least 70 per cent of salary for up to two years, with an active reintegration duty throughout.
UWV can extend the duty by a further year where the employer’s reintegration efforts fall short.
Can an employer just dismiss someone?
No - a statutory ground is required, plus permission from UWV for redundancy and long-term incapacity or from the subdistrict court for personal grounds.
Most terminations are instead agreed by settlement, which carries a fourteen-day right of withdrawal for the employee.
What severance is owed?
The transition payment, from day one of employment, at one-third of a month’s salary per year of service.
A court may add uncapped fair compensation where the employer was seriously at fault.
