Dutch employment law governs how the relationship between employer and employee arises, what applies while it lasts, and how it ends. This page covers the beginning and the middle: the contract, the clauses, terms of employment, holiday and pay. For the end of the employment relationship we have separate pages.
Your situation: where to read on
| Your situation | What it turns on | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| You are being dismissed, or dismissal is looming | which route your employer must follow and what you can do about it | dismissal |
| You have been given a settlement agreement | the content of the agreement, your unemployment benefit position and the cooling-off period | settlement agreement |
| You want to know what you are entitled to on dismissal | the statutory payment, how it is calculated and its cap | transition payment |
| You have been summarily dismissed | the urgent cause, the requirement to act without delay and the short limitation period | summary dismissal |
| You are ill and there is a dispute about reintegration or dismissal | the prohibition on notice, continued payment of wages and the role of the company doctor | dismissal and illness |
| Your fixed-term contract is ending or will not be renewed | the chain rule, the notification duty and when a permanent contract arises | fixed-term contract |
| You work through an employment agency | the phases, the agency clause and successive employership | agency workers |
| Your wages are unpaid, late or incomplete | the statutory increase, interest and claiming arrears | wage claim |
| You were injured at work | the employer’s duty of care and its liability | workplace accident |
When is there an employment contract?
There is an employment contract where one party undertakes to perform work in the service of another, for wages, for a certain period — regardless of what the document is called. The definition is in Article 7:610(1) of the Dutch Civil Code. Three elements: work, wages and being “in the service of” another, in practice called authority. A heading saying “contract for services” or “model agreement” changes nothing.
The Supreme Court elaborated the test in the Deliveroo judgment (24 March 2023, ECLI:NL:HR:2023:443): the court first establishes which rights and obligations the parties agreed, and only then assesses whether these meet the statutory definition. All circumstances count together, including the nature and duration of the work, how working hours are determined, how far the work is embedded in the organisation, whether the work must be performed personally, how and how much is paid, whether the worker bears commercial risk, and whether they act as an entrepreneur in the market.
The law also gives the worker two presumptions. Article 7:610a DCC: anyone who performs work for another for remuneration weekly, or at least twenty hours a month, for three consecutive months is presumed to do so under an employment contract. Article 7:610b DCC: after three months the agreed working hours are presumed to equal the monthly average over the preceding three months — the anchor for anyone whose contract says twelve hours while they structurally work thirty (the presumption of working hours).
Why this matters more now: since 1 January 2025 the Dutch Tax Administration again enforces fully on the classification of working relationships, and since 1 January 2026 fines can also be imposed. Note that the tax assessment and the employment-law assessment do not run in parallel: anyone who wants their employment-law position established must bring that claim themselves.
What must an employment contract contain?
The law does not require an employment contract to be in writing, but it does oblige the employer to inform the employee in writing or electronically about a long list of matters (Article 7:655 DCC): the parties’ names, the place of work, the position, the starting date, for a fixed-term contract the end date, holiday entitlement, the termination procedure including notice periods, the wage and its components and how often it is paid, working hours — and where these are largely unpredictable, the guaranteed paid hours and the days and hours on which you can be called in — whether you join a pension scheme, and the applicable collective agreement.
Some clauses are valid only if agreed in writing: the probationary period (Article 7:652(2)), the non-compete clause (Article 7:653(1)), the penalty clause (Article 7:650(2)) and the unilateral variation clause (Article 7:613). If such a clause is not on paper, it does not in principle exist.
How long may a probationary period be?
A probationary period must be agreed in writing, must be the same length for both parties, and may be at most two months in a permanent contract, one month in a contract longer than six months but shorter than two years, and two months in a contract of two years or more (Article 7:652 DCC).
In three situations no probationary period may be agreed at all (paragraph 6): in a contract of six months or less; in a follow-on contract with the same employer, unless it clearly requires different skills or responsibilities; and in a follow-on contract with an employer who must reasonably be regarded as the successor of the previous one — the situation of an agency worker taken on directly. If the end is not set on a calendar date (“for the duration of the project”), a maximum of one month applies (paragraph 5).
An exception that is often missed: a collective agreement may derogate from the one-month rule for fixed-term contracts (paragraph 7). So if a one-year contract states a two-month probationary period, first check which collective agreement applies. If the clause does breach the article it is void in its entirety (paragraph 8): an over-long probationary period is not reduced to the permitted length, it falls away completely. Notice given during such a “probationary period” therefore lacks a valid basis (dismissal during probation).
Is my non-compete clause valid?
A non-compete clause is in principle only valid if it was agreed in writing with an adult employee in a contract for an indefinite period; in a fixed-term contract it is possible only if the employer sets out in writing why it is necessary because of compelling business interests (Article 7:653(1) and (2) DCC).
Many clauses fail on those formal requirements. A clause in a one-year contract without reasons lacks validity, and a standard line — “given the nature of the business” — is vulnerable: the reasoning must be about your role, not about the sector.
Even a formally valid clause does not always hold. The court may annul it wholly or in part if the employee is unfairly disadvantaged in relation to the employer’s interest to be protected (paragraph 3(b)). Partial annulment is a realistic outcome: shortening the duration, limiting the geographical scope, or restricting it to specific competitors.
Two provisions are regularly overlooked. Paragraph 4: the employer can derive no rights from the clause if the end of the contract is the result of its own seriously culpable acts or omissions. Paragraph 5: if the clause significantly impedes you from working elsewhere, the court may order the employer to pay equitable compensation for the duration of the restriction (non-compete and non-solicitation clauses).
Do I have to repay study costs when I leave?
Where the training is one the employer is obliged by law or collective agreement to provide so that the work can be done, it must be free of charge, and a clause charging those costs to you or setting them off against your wages is void (Article 7:611a(2) and (4) DCC). Compulsory training also counts as working time.
Outside that category a study-costs clause remains possible in principle, but case law sets requirements: it must be clear which costs are recoverable and over what period, and the repayable amount should decrease the longer you stay. Have your training assessed before you sign (repaying study costs).
A separate article sets out when you do and do not have to repay study costs on leaving, with a sample letter.
Does a collective agreement apply to me?
A collective labour agreement (cao) can apply to you in three ways: your employer is a member of an employers’ organisation that concluded it; the agreement has been declared universally binding for the whole sector; or your contract declares it applicable. Which agreement applies is one of the items the employer must tell you under Article 7:655 DCC.
A collective agreement typically adds to the statutory minimum: a pay structure with scales and increments, job evaluation, allowances for irregular hours, overtime and shift work, working and rest times, holiday days above the statutory minimum, a top-up to statutory sick pay, and sometimes its own dismissal procedure.
Job evaluation is an underrated topic. Your salary follows from your scale, and your scale from how your job is classified. If you structurally perform tasks belonging to a heavier job, there are grounds to ask for reclassification; most collective agreements have an objection procedure with time limits. Wrong classification works through into your pay, your pension accrual and later into your transition payment.
Can my employer change my terms of employment unilaterally?
Only if there is a written unilateral variation clause and the employer has such a weighty interest in the change that your interest must yield to it by standards of reasonableness and fairness (Article 7:613 DCC). Without such a clause, a change is a proposal.
Whether you must accept it is assessed under the Stoof/Mammoet test (Supreme Court 11 July 2008, ECLI:NL:HR:2008:BD1847): are there changed circumstances that justify a proposal, is that proposal reasonable in all the circumstances, and can acceptance reasonably be required of the employee? The question is not whether the employer has a good reason, but whether the specific proposal — including any transitional arrangement, phasing-out or compensation — is reasonable for this employee.
Silence is not consent, but object in writing and in time: an employee who accepts a reduced allowance for years without protest is evidentially weaker than one who recorded an objection on the first payslip.
How many holiday days do I have, and when do they lapse?
The statutory minimum is four times the agreed weekly working hours per year — twenty days on a five-day week (Article 7:634 DCC) — and those statutory days lapse six months after the end of the calendar year in which they accrued, unless you were reasonably unable to take them (Article 7:640a DCC). Days above the statutory minimum, granted by contract or collective agreement, are not subject to that six-month rule; for both types the claim becomes time-barred five years after the end of the year of accrual (Article 7:642 DCC).
- You decide in principle when you take holiday: the employer sets it in line with your wishes unless there are serious reasons against it, and if it does not state those reasons in writing within two weeks of your written request, the holiday is fixed as you asked (Article 7:638(2) DCC).
- The employer must enable you to take the statutory minimum each year (Article 7:638(1) DCC). An employer who never urged you to take leave stands weaker when invoking lapse.
- Falling ill during holiday does not in principle count as holiday (Article 7:638(8) DCC) unless you agree; a written arrangement is possible, but only at the expense of non-statutory days (holiday days during illness).
During illness the rules differ: read about holiday days during illness, accrual and the six-month expiry period.
What leave is there besides holiday?
| Type of leave | Duration | Payment |
|---|---|---|
| Emergency and short absence leave | a short period, calculated equitably | with continued pay (Article 4:1 Wazo) |
| Short-term care leave | at most twice the weekly working hours per twelve months | 70% of pay, at least the minimum wage (Articles 5:1–5:6 Wazo) |
| Long-term care leave | at most six times the weekly working hours per twelve months | unpaid (Articles 5:9–5:10 Wazo) |
| Pregnancy and maternity leave | from six weeks before the expected date of birth; maternity leave ten weeks from the day after the birth, topped up to at least sixteen weeks in total | benefit via UWV (Article 3:1 Wazo) |
| Partner’s birth leave | once the weekly working hours, within four weeks of the birth | with continued pay (Article 4:2 Wazo) |
| Additional birth leave | at most five weeks, within six months of the birth | unpaid; UWV benefit of 70% of the daily wage (Articles 4:2a–4:2b Wazo) |
| Parental leave | at most twenty-six times the weekly working hours per child | unpaid, with a UWV benefit of 70% for up to nine weeks if taken in the child’s first year (Articles 6:1–6:3 Wazo) |
Source: Work and Care Act (Wet arbeid en zorg), wetten.overheid.nl.
What if there is no work, or I am not called in?
The main rule is that the employer must continue to pay wages even if you did not perform the agreed work, unless not working should reasonably be for your account (Article 7:628(1) DCC). A lack of work or orders is in principle the employer’s risk. Derogation is possible only in writing and only for the first six months (paragraph 5); any other clause to the employee’s detriment is void (paragraph 10).
For on-call workers Article 7:628a DCC adds protection: at least three hours’ pay per call-out; a call-in period of at least four days, failing which you need not attend; retention of pay if the call is withdrawn or changed within those four days; and, each time the contract has lasted twelve months, a written offer of fixed working hours equal to the average over those twelve months (zero-hours contracts). If wages still fail to arrive, that is a wage claim, with the statutory increase of Article 7:625 DCC as leverage.
The employer’s duty of care in a workplace accident
The employer must organise and maintain the workplace, tools and equipment, and take such measures and give such instructions as are reasonably necessary to prevent the employee suffering harm in the performance of their work. If you are injured anyway, the employer is liable unless it proves that it complied with those obligations, or that the damage was largely the result of your intent or deliberate recklessness (Article 7:658(1) and (2) DCC). The burden of proof therefore lies largely with the employer, and the duty of care cannot be departed from to the employee’s detriment.
When should you involve an employment lawyer?
- When you receive a settlement agreement — before you sign; the cooling-off period is short and your unemployment benefit depends on the wording.
- On summary dismissal: the time limits here are measured in days, not weeks.
- When dismissal or a wage stop arises during illness.
- When a non-compete clause blocks you from a new job.
- When wages, overtime or holiday allowance are structurally underpaid.
- In reorganisations and collective redundancies.
Is there no dismissal on the table yet, but a reprimand in your file? Read how to object to a formal warning from your employer.
Frequently asked questions
My contract says “contract for services” — can I still be an employee?
Yes. What is decisive is not the heading but whether work, wages and authority are in fact present.
If the probationary period is invalid, is the dismissal invalid too?
In principle yes: an invalid probationary period is not reduced to the permitted length but falls away entirely, so notice given in it lacks a valid basis.
Do my holiday days really lapse after six months?
Only the statutory days, and only if you were reasonably able to take them. An employer who never reminded you stands weaker.
I have signed a settlement agreement — can I still withdraw?
You can revoke within fourteen days of signing without giving reasons; if the employer did not mention that right in the agreement, the period is three weeks.
Contact us directly
For a free, no-obligation first assessment, call us:
- Amsterdam — 020 747 00 55
- The Hague — 070 4500 300
- Rotterdam — 010 311 5500
- Utrecht — 030 747 0038
- Eindhoven — 040 711 3099
This page is published under the responsibility of Onur Arslan, employment lawyer at Arslan Advocaten, registered in the Netherlands Bar’s register of legal practice areas for employment law and personal injury. Last updated: 13 September 2026. This page is general information and does not replace individual legal advice.