Written by Onur Arslan, employment lawyer at Arslan Advocaten. Registered in the areas-of-law register of the Netherlands Bar for employment law and personal injury. Last updated: 31 August 2026.
Who is my employer if I work through an employment agency?
The employment agency is legally your employer, not the company where you work. That is who you have your employment contract with, that is where your pay comes from and that agency is the one that ends the employment. The company where you actually work is called the hirer.
That distinction determines who you need to go to:
| Subject | Who to go to |
|---|---|
| Pay, contract, dismissal | the employment agency |
| Safety on the shop floor | the hirer |
| Workplace accident | both, each on its own ground |
| Work instructions and rosters | in practice the hirer, but formally on behalf of the agency |
| Level of pay and allowances | the agency, but derived from the hirer’s collective agreement |
| Holiday days and leave | the agency |
| Health and safety, risk assessment and protective equipment | the hirer, with a duty of care of the agency’s own |
The legal term for this triangle is the agency employment contract: an employment contract under which the employer places you at the disposal of a third party, to work under that party’s supervision and direction. Article 7:690 of the Dutch Civil Code describes it as the employment contract under which the employee is placed by the employer, in the course of the employer’s profession or business, at the disposal of a third party in order to perform work under that third party’s supervision and direction pursuant to an assignment given by that party to the employer. That construction explains why you are sometimes sent from pillar to post: the agency points to the hirer ("they decide whether you are still needed"), the hirer points to the agency ("we are not your employer"). Legally both answers are half true, and that is exactly where rights get lost.
In practice this means: a letter about pay, contract or dismissal you send to the agency, even if the conversation on the shop floor was with the hirer. A report about unsafe work or missing instruction you address to the hirer, with a copy to the agency — and that last part is not a formality, because as your employer the agency has to assess for itself whether it may still let you work at that site.
What do phases A, B and C mean?
The phase determines how much security you have. In phase A your work can stop at very short notice; in phase C you in principle have the same protection against dismissal as a permanent employee. You move up automatically — the agency does not have to do anything for that.
| Phase | What it is | Agency clause | Security |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | initial phase, counted per week worked | usually yes — the assignment can end quickly, but since 1 July 2023 no longer because of illness | low |
| B | fixed-term contracts with the agency | in principle no longer | medium: the contract runs until the end date |
| C | contract for an indefinite period | no — full protection against dismissal | high |
The length of the phases is set out in the Collective Agreement for Agency Workers. Contrary to what is often thought, the ABU and the NBBU do not differ here: the NBBU agreement contains substantively the same terms of employment as the ABU agreement. There is, however, a change coming on 1 January 2028.
| Now (2026-2028 agreement, until 1 January 2028) | From 1 January 2028 | |
|---|---|---|
| Phase A | 52 weeks worked | 52 weeks worked |
| Phase B | a maximum of three years | two years |
| Number of contracts in phase B | a maximum of six agency employment contracts without an agency clause | a maximum of six fixed-term agency employment contracts |
| Break after which the count starts again | more than six months | more than 36 months (the statutory interval) |
For agency workers who have reached the state pension age a different rule applies from 2028: phase B then lasts four years, likewise with a maximum of six contracts.
How can you see which phase you are in?
Your phase is in principle stated on your agency employment contract and on your payslip. Look for the letter A, B or C, often in the heading of the contract or with the contract details on the slip. If it is not there, that is in itself a signal: the agency is supposed to inform you about your legal position.
If you cannot find it, reconstruct it yourself:
- Gather all your contracts and payslips from this agency, from the first to the last.
- Set out the weeks worked, including the weeks with few hours — in phase A every week in which you worked in principle counts, regardless of the number of hours. The agreement counts in weeks worked, with no lower limit on the number of hours; paid holiday weeks count as well. Because only weeks worked count, phase A can in practice last longer than 52 calendar weeks.
- Note down every break and how long it lasted.
- Count the number of separate contracts you were given after phase A.
If your own count differs from what the agency says, that is the heart of your case. A difference of a few weeks can be the difference between "the assignment has ended" and "you were already in phase B and the contract simply continues".
What happens if there is a break?
Breaks are the hinge of the whole system. A short pause as a rule simply continues to count; only after a break of a certain length does the count start again. Under the agreement that applies until 1 January 2028, that is a break of more than six months between two agency employment contracts; if the break is shorter, counting simply continues. From 1 January 2028 the statutory interval of 36 months applies. Paid holiday weeks are not a break: in phase A they simply count as a week worked.
What you need to know: an agency that "just doesn’t offer you anything for a month" and then asks you back may be deliberately aiming for a reset. Whether that stands up legally depends on the length of the break and on whether there was a genuine reason for it. Do not let yourself be sent away with "you simply start again from scratch" without having done the arithmetic yourself.
And if I change employment agency?
With a new agency the phase count in principle starts again — unless there is successive employership. That is the most important exception and the reason the section on successive employership below is so decisive. If you keep doing the same work for the same hirer and only the agency on the payslip changes, there is good ground to argue that the rights you have built up move with you.
If you really do change both work and client, you as a rule start at the bottom again. That feels unjust after years of agency work, but it follows from the system: the phase belongs to the employer, not to the occupation.
Which collective agreement applies is stated in your agency employment contract — usually the ABU or the NBBU agreement. As regards the length of the phases and the rules on notice that now makes no difference: there is one Collective Agreement for Agency Workers, and the NBBU agreement contains substantively the same terms of employment as the ABU agreement. Older information in which the ABU and the NBBU have different phase lengths is out of date.
What exactly is an agency clause, and how do I recognise it?
An agency clause is a clause providing that your employment contract ends automatically as soon as the hirer stops the assignment — without notice, without a dismissal permit and without a court. It is the most far-reaching clause you can come across as an agency worker, and it is in virtually every contract in phase A as standard.
The statute only permits this in a defined initial period; after that the clause can in principle no longer be used. Under article 7:691(3) of the Civil Code the agency clause loses its force as soon as you have performed work for the employer in more than 26 weeks. That period can be extended by collective agreement to a maximum of 78 weeks (article 7:691(8)(a) of the Civil Code). The Collective Agreement for Agency Workers makes limited use of that: the agency clause can only be applied in phase A, and phase A lasts 52 weeks worked. In phases B and C the clause cannot be used.
How do you recognise it in your contract?
Look in your agency employment contract for the following wordings:
- "agency clause"
- "the agency employment contract ends by operation of law"
- "at the request of the hirer"
- "the agreement ends because the placement ends"
- "phase A" in combination with "with agency clause"
If one of these sentences is in there, you are as a rule working with an agency clause. If there is nothing about it, or it explicitly says "without agency clause", your contract counts as an ordinary fixed-term contract that runs until the end date.
When does it no longer apply?
| Situation | Effect on the agency clause |
|---|---|
| You have moved up to phase B or C | the clause in principle lapses |
| The maximum period has expired (statutorily 26 weeks, extended by collective agreement to the end of phase A: 52 weeks worked) | the clause loses its force and can no longer be invoked |
| The clause is not in your contract | there is no clause; the contract continues |
| You have fallen ill | since 1 July 2023 the placement — and with it the agency employment contract — does not end during incapacity for work; the clause cannot then be invoked. During illness the agreement does still end on the end date agreed in the contract |
| The hirer stops the assignment for a prohibited reason | reliance on the clause may in the circumstances be unacceptable |
That last point is in practice the most important and the least known. An agency clause is not a free pass. If your assignment is stopped shortly after you reported sick, reported your pregnancy, asked about arrears of pay or raised an unsafe situation, reliance on the clause may conflict with the prohibition on termination or with good employership. Then there is certainly something to be done — but you will have to raise it yourself, because the agency will not.
By way of illustration. An order picker in a distribution centre works in phase A with an agency clause. On Monday he twists his ankle and reports sick; on Tuesday the planner calls to say the hirer "no longer needs him" and that his contract has therefore ended. He assumes that is simply how agency work goes. But since 1 July 2023 the placement does not end during incapacity for work, so the agency clause cannot be invoked for that. The question is therefore not whether the agency may stop, but what the ground for the termination is and on what date it could fall under the contract. This is an example situation illustrating the rule, not a case of our firm.
What you should do straight away if your assignment stops: ask the agency in writing for the reason. Not by telephone. A written reason records the ground the agency will have to rely on later, and that is exactly what you need if the real reason turns out to be a different one.
What notice period applies to me as an agency worker?
That depends on your phase and on the agency’s collective agreement. In phase A with an agency clause the assignment often ends without any real notice period. In phases B and C longer periods apply.
There are three places where it can be set out: your agency employment contract, the collective agreement and the statute. What applies is not always what the agency says.
| Your situation | What as a rule applies |
|---|---|
| Phase A with an agency clause | the agreement can end as soon as the assignment stops. If the placement has lasted more than 26 weeks worked, the agency must give notice of the termination at least ten calendar days in advance — including during incapacity for work. If the agency does not observe that notification period, it owes you a payment equal to the basic pay over the days not observed, unless it offers you suitable work in that period. If the placement lasted less than 26 weeks worked, this period does not apply |
| Phase A without an agency clause | the contract runs until the end date; under the collective agreement it can be terminated early with the statutory notice period, unless that has been excluded in writing and expressly |
| Phase B | fixed-term contract. The collective agreement reverses the main rule: early termination is in fact possible with effect from the next working day observing the statutory notice period, unless that has been excluded in writing and expressly. If the contract is shorter than the statutory notice period, early termination is not possible in any event |
| Phase C | contract for an indefinite period; termination only through the UWV or the subdistrict court, with the statutory notice period |
| You give notice yourself | if you have an agency clause, you report your request to stop to the agency at the latest one working day in advance. Without an agency clause the same statutory notice period applies as for the agency. If the agency relies on the exclusion of continued payment of wages, you may terminate with immediate effect |
Two things that often go wrong. First: an agency that says "you are not needed tomorrow" while you are in phase B with a contract running for another four months. That is not a valid termination — the contract continues and you are in principle entitled to pay over the remaining period, provided you hold yourself available. Second: the offer to stop "by mutual consent". That is a settlement agreement, and you do not sign it without someone having looked at it; you can forfeit your unemployment benefit rights with it.
→ *In detail: Notice period for agency workers: what are your rights?*
What happens if I fall ill as an agency worker?
This has changed on one important point. Since 1 July 2023 the agency clause can no longer be invoked because you are ill. Since then the collective agreement provides that the placement does not end during incapacity for work, and that the agency employment contract therefore does not end either. Until 17 March 2023 the opposite still applied: an agreement with an agency clause was deemed to have ended by operation of law immediately after the report of illness. Anyone reading older information — or dealing with an agency still working on the old rule — should be alert to this.
Note the limit: during illness your contract does still end on the end date agreed in the agency employment contract.does If that happens, you fall back on a sickness benefit through the UWV instead of on continued payment of wages by your employer. In practice that makes a considerable difference in income.
Without an agency clause — in phases B and C — your contract continues and the ordinary continued payment of wages during illness in principle applies, whereby part of your pay continues to be paid for as long as you are ill and the contract lasts. The statutory floor is 70% of the pay for a maximum of 104 weeks, with you keeping at least the statutory minimum wage applicable to you for the first 52 weeks (article 7:629(1) of the Civil Code). If your agency work has fallen away and you then fall ill, the collective agreement increases that: 90% of the basic pay for the first 52 weeks (with the statutory minimum wage as a floor) and 80% for the 53rd up to and including the 104th week.
So check first of all whether there is an agency clause in your agreement. That one clause determines everything that comes after it.
The practical route: who do you report to?
Always report to two parties: to the employment agency and, as soon as your contract ends, to the UWV. This is where it goes wrong most often, and it costs people money.
- Report sick to the employment agency, on the first day of illness, in the way set out in your contract or the staff handbook. Often by telephone before a particular time. Then confirm the report in writing — a message or e-mail with the date and time is enough. Without proof of your report of illness you are in a weak position.
- Report it to the hirer as well, so that no story arises that you simply did not turn up.
- Does your contract end because of the report of illness? Then the agency must in principle report you to the UWV as leaving employment while ill. Do not assume that happens. Ask in writing for confirmation and, if necessary, report to the UWV yourself. The agency must report you as leaving employment while ill on the last day of the employment; if that day falls at a weekend or on a public holiday, the UWV must have the report on the next working day. If the agency does not do so in time, it risks a fine.
- Apply for the sickness benefit if the agency does not do it for you. Do so quickly. If you fall ill within four weeks after the end of your employment, you must report to the UWV at the latest on the second day of your illness.
- Stay reachable for the occupational health service or the UWV’s absence guidance. Missing an appointment can result in a sanction on your benefit.
- Keep everything: the report of illness, the confirmation, the UWV’s decision, every letter.
Amount and duration
| Subject | What as a rule applies |
|---|---|
| Amount of the sickness benefit | as a rule 70% of your daily wage. The daily wage is calculated over the social-insurance pay in a reference period of one year ending on the last day of the month before the month preceding your first day of illness. In a number of cases — including pregnancy and childbirth and organ donation — the benefit is 100% |
| Top-up from the collective agreement | if you are incapacitated for work at the moment your phase A contract ends by operation of law on the agreed end date, the agency tops up your sickness benefit to 90% of the benefit daily wage for the first 52 weeks and to 80% for the 53rd up to and including the 104th week. The agency may withhold a contribution for that of at most 0.30% (office/administrative) or 0.70% (technical/industrial) of your basic pay, and never so far that you end up below the statutory minimum wage |
| Maximum duration | the sickness benefit lasts a maximum of two years, that is 104 weeks, after which the work-capacity assessment follows |
| Waiting days | the collective agreement still has one waiting day, but only in one specific situation: if your agency work has fallen away and you then fall ill, the first day of incapacity for work counts as an unpaid waiting day (article 7:629(9) of the Civil Code). The two waiting days that older versions of the collective agreement had are no longer in it. Under the Sickness Benefits Act itself there are in principle no waiting days, with a limited number of exceptions — including precisely the situation in which you fall ill on the day your agency employment contract ends |
| Effect on the phase | in phase A, weeks worked and paid holiday weeks count; whether and how a period of illness works through in that count depends on your situation — have that assessed |
An important point to watch with the daily wage: if you have worked varying hours, a period with few hours can structurally depress your benefit. Check the daily-wage calculation in the UWV decision and object if it is wrong — a short objection period applies: six weeks after the day on which the decision was made public (article 6:7 of the General Administrative Law Act).
Common mistakes in the case of illness
- Reporting sick only to the hirer. The hirer is not your employer; formally that report does not count.
- Reporting orally and putting nothing in writing. Later it is your word against the agency’s.
- Waiting for the agency to arrange something with the UWV. Often it does not happen, or happens too late.
- Carrying on working at half strength without recording it. You then build up no demonstrable period of illness.
- Reporting yourself "better" straight away on recovery to save the assignment. That can overturn your whole benefit position.
- Signing a settlement agreement while ill. That can affect your benefit; always have it assessed first.
Do I get the same pay as an agency worker as the permanent colleagues?
In principle yes — but since 1 January 2026 the rule is no longer called "hirer’s pay". The Collective Agreement for Agency Workers 2026-2028 speaks of equivalent pay, and that is more than a change of name. Where the old hirer’s pay worked with a closed list of pay elements that each had to be right separately, the new rule tests the overall package.
The collective agreement distinguishes two categories of terms of employment at the hirer:
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Essential terms of employment | pay and other allowances; and working hours, including overtime, rest periods, night work, breaks, the length of holidays and working on public holidays |
| Non-essential terms of employment | all other terms of employment at the hirer |
The test is applied at two levels: the overall package of essential terms of employment must be at least equivalent, and the overall package of essential and non-essential terms of employment must be at least equivalent. What that means in practice: if an essential term of employment is applied differently to you than to the permanent colleague, the disadvantage must be compensated within the essential terms of employment — not with a non-essential one. The other way round is allowed.
So your pay is still not determined by what the employment agency would like to pay, but by what the permanent colleague in an equal (or equivalent) job receives. This remains the most underpaid right in the whole agency sector, simply because few agency workers know that they have it.
Two things that must not disappear in the process. Advantages you derive precisely from the agency collective agreement — for instance a higher grading because the agency has to take your relevant work experience into account — may not be set off against the equivalence test. And per client the agency can also choose, under article 8(1) of the Placement of Personnel by Intermediaries Act, simply to apply the same terms of employment as apply at the hirer.
Pension runs through the agency sector’s pension fund (StiPP). The waiting period was abolished on 1 July 2023: you build up from the first working day. Waiting periods of 26 or 8 weeks that you come across in older information no longer apply.
How do you check whether you are being paid correctly?
- Ask the hirer or the agency which collective agreement applies at the hirer and in which job group you have been placed. You are entitled to that — without that information you cannot check your own pay.
- Compare your hourly wage with the scale from that collective agreement, for your job and your years of experience.
- Check the allowances. If you work evenings, at weekends or in shifts, that as a rule carries an allowance that a permanent colleague would also receive.
- Check the reservations. Holiday allowance, holiday days and any short-absence and public-holiday reservations are usually shown as separate pots on your payslip. They should go up and they should be paid out when you leave employment.
- Watch out for deductions. See the section on migrant workers below.
If it is not right, it is rarely a small amount. A structurally low grading over two years soon adds up, and arrears of pay are in principle simply claimable — with the statutory increase and statutory interest if the agency pays late. The statutory increase in article 7:625 of the Civil Code runs up from the fourth working day after the day on which the pay should have been paid: 5% a day for the fourth up to and including the eighth working day and 1% for each following working day, with a maximum of half the amount due. The court can reduce the increase to an amount that appears fair to it in view of the circumstances — in practice that often happens.
What is the difference between agency work, payrolling and secondment?
Agency work, payrolling and secondment resemble one another, but only with genuine agency work may the agency regime with its phases and agency clause be used. With payrolling you in principle have the same legal position as the client’s permanent employees. That difference can determine your whole case.
| Form | Who finds the employee | Legal position | Characteristic signs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency work | the agency, with an allocation function on the labour market | agency regime: phases, possibly an agency clause | you were recruited through the agency, you work for varying clients |
| Payrolling | the client itself; the agency only does the administration | in principle equal to the client’s employees, without an agency clause and without the agency’s phase advantage | you were found by the client itself and then "placed" with an agency |
| Secondment | the secondment agency | often an ordinary contract with the agency, sometimes for an indefinite period | you are employed by the agency and are placed on projects |
| Contracting / works contract | the contractor delivers a result, not people | its own employer, no placement at another’s disposal | the contractor has its own direction and supervision on the shop floor |
Why this matters
Payrolling is regulated separately by statute precisely to prevent the agency regime being used for work that is not genuine agency work. Article 7:692 of the Civil Code defines the payroll contract as the agency employment contract in which the assignment between employer and third party has not come about in the course of bringing supply and demand together on the labour market, and in which the employer may place you at another’s disposal only with that third party’s consent. In short: the agency did not recruit you — the client had already found you and merely put you on a different payroll, and you are exclusively tied to that client. The difference in regime is large: article 7:692a(1) of the Civil Code expressly declares article 7:691 not applicable to the payroll contract. So there is no agency clause, no widened chain rule and no extended exclusion of continued payment of wages. Only for the first six months can the duty to continue paying wages be departed from, subject to conditions (article 7:692a(2) of the Civil Code). If you in fact work as a payroll employee but your contract is headed "agency employment contract phase A with agency clause", that label is not decisive. The actual situation counts, not the heading of the contract.
The practical question to ask yourself: who actually found me? Did you apply to the company itself, were you taken on and only then told that you would be on the payroll "through an agency"? Then there are good starting points for arguing that this is not agency work. That can mean: no agency clause, no phase system, and therefore far more protection against dismissal than you thought you had.
Who is liable for a workplace accident as an agency worker?
Usually both the hirer and the employment agency. The hirer is responsible for a safe workplace — instruction, protective equipment, safe machines — even though it does not employ you itself. The employment agency remains your employer and has a duty of care of its own.
So you can pursue both parties. As an agency worker you are not in a weaker position in that respect than a permanent employee, even though it often feels that way.
In fact: agency workers demonstrably run more risk, and that is legally relevant. You are new at the site, do not know the customs, more often get the work others do not want to do and are less quick to refuse. The hirer’s duty of care is therefore not lighter but heavier: it has to take into account that you do not yet know the risks. The basis is set out in article 7:658(4) of the Civil Code: anyone who, in the course of their profession or business, has work performed by someone with whom they have no employment contract is liable for the loss that person suffers in the performance of their work on the same footing as an employer. That also means the same division of the burden of proof: the hirer is liable unless it shows that it complied with its duty of care, or that the loss is to a significant extent the result of your own intent or conscious recklessness. So you do not have to prove that the hirer did something wrong. For these claims the statute moreover expressly designates the subdistrict court as the competent court.
What to do immediately after an accident:
- Get medical help and have the complaints recorded — even if it "is not that bad".
- Report the accident to the hirer and to the employment agency, in writing.
- Ask whether the accident has been reported to the Netherlands Labour Authority; Under article 9(1) of the Working Conditions Act the employer must report occupational accidents resulting in death, permanent injury or admission to hospital to the Netherlands Labour Authority immediately. It must in addition keep a list of reported accidents and of accidents involving more than three working days of absence.
- Take photographs of the situation and note down who was present.
- Ask for the safety instruction and the risk assessment that applied to your workplace.
- Report sick following the route above — the employment-law side and the personal-injury side run alongside each other.
→ *In detail: Workplace accident as an agency worker: who is liable?*
When am I entitled to a permanent contract?
By two routes: the phase system or successive employership.
If you go through phases A and B, you automatically end up in phase C — a contract for an indefinite period with the employment agency. Automatically here really does mean automatically: nothing has to be signed. If the agency keeps treating you as though you were still in phase B, that does not change your legal position.
If you go to work for the hirer itself, or another agency takes over the work, your earlier period may count. That is called successive employership.
Successive employership in detail
There is in principle successive employership if the successive employers must reasonably be regarded as each other’s successors as regards the work performed. Article 7:668a(2) of the Civil Code adds to that in so many words: "regardless of whether there is insight into the employee’s capacity and suitability". That is an important point, because it is exactly the other way round from what is often claimed. Under the old law the new employer had to have insight into your capacity and suitability; since the Work and Security Act that is no longer a requirement. All that matters now is whether the work has stayed the same. An agency that says "we did not know you, so you start again" is therefore relying on a criterion that is no longer in the statute.
Note one thing: the collective agreement may depart from this to the employee’s detriment (article 7:668a(6) of the Civil Code), and with agency employment contracts that is also possible for article 7:691(5) of the Civil Code (article 7:691(8)(b) of the Civil Code). So always look in the collective agreement as well. The Collective Agreement for Agency Workers has an article of its own on successive employership.
It makes a difference in two respects:
| Subject | Without successive employership | With successive employership |
|---|---|---|
| Chain rule (when a fixed-term contract becomes permanent by operation of law) | the count starts again | the earlier contracts count |
| Transition payment | the build-up starts again | the earlier period counts in the calculation |
| Probationary period | a new probationary period is possible | a new probationary period is in principle not permitted |
| Notice period | based on the new employment | the earlier years can count |
Typical situations in which it arises:
- You work for years through agency X at factory Y and then go to work directly for Y.
- Factory Y switches to agency Z; you stay at the same machine, only the payslip changes.
- The employment agency is taken over by another agency.
- You are "transferred" from agency work to payrolling or the other way round, with the same work.
The revolving-door construction
Where it goes wrong: an agency that has you pause briefly to reset the count, or a hirer that takes you on as though you were new. Both are open to challenge. Breaks do not always count as a real break. Under the collective agreement that applies until 1 January 2028 the break must last more than six months before the count starts again; from 1 January 2028 that is more than 36 months. So a pause of a month does not put the counter back to zero.
The classic revolving door looks like this: you work for a while through agency X, are reported as having left employment, sit at home for a number of weeks, and are then put back through agency Z in exactly the same place. Formally you are then a new employee of a new employer, starting at the bottom in phase A again, with an agency clause and without protection against dismissal. In fact you were never away.
Signs that you are in a revolving door:
- After the switch you do the same work, in the same place, with the same manager.
- The hirer arranged the switch, not you.
- The break falls suspiciously shortly before the moment you would move up to a next phase.
- Your colleagues switched at the same time as you.
- You did not have to apply again or be trained in again.
By way of illustration. A packer works for a year and a half through one agency in the same warehouse. Shortly before she would move up to a next phase, she hears that the agency "is losing the assignment". She sits at home for five weeks and is then put back by another agency in the same department, with the same manager, without an interview and without any training-in time. The new agency puts her at the bottom in phase A. Legally it then turns on two things: whether five weeks is long enough to interrupt the count — it is not, that requires more than six months — and whether the two agencies are each other’s successors as regards the work performed. This is an example situation illustrating the rule, not a case of our firm.
If you recognise this, gather evidence while it is still there: rosters, e-mails, WhatsApp messages from the planner, badge data, names of colleagues to whom the same thing happened. A revolving-door case is won or lost on the actual continuity, and you prove that with everyday clutter, not with contracts.
Am I entitled to a transition payment as an agency worker?
You may well be. It depends on the way your contract ends and on your phase. Agency workers are often overlooked in this.
The main rule is that on termination at the employer’s initiative an employee is in principle entitled to a transition payment, regardless of the length of the employment. There is no longer a minimum period: the right arises from the first working day. The formula in article 7:673(2) of the Civil Code is one third of a month’s salary per year worked, and a proportionate part of that over a period shorter than a year. The payment is capped; that cap is indexed annually on 1 January, and if your annual pay is higher than that amount, your pay over twelve months serves as the cap. That applies to agency workers too — including where the contract ends by operation of law because it is not extended.
Where it comes unstuck with agency work:
- The agency does not mention it of its own accord. In practice the payment is often only made if you ask for it.
- The build-up is calculated too short, because earlier periods or earlier agencies have not been counted. See successive employership above.
- The end date is chosen in such a way that the build-up works out just a little lower.
- A forfeiture period applies: if you do not claim the payment within that period, the right lapses. That is not limitation but forfeiture — it is then really gone. The statutory forfeiture period is three months after the day on which the employment contract ended (article 7:686a(4)(b) of the Civil Code). For agency workers there is an important addition: the collective agreement gives you twelve months after the end of the agency employment contract to claim payment of the transition payment, and expressly provides that within those twelve months you keep your entitlement if you run up against the statutory three-month forfeiture period in the meantime. So do not let yourself be fobbed off with "those three months have passed" without the collective agreement having been consulted.
That last one is the most important sentence on this page for anyone who has just stopped: do not wait.
→ In detail: transition payment for agency workers
What can and cannot the employment agency do on dismissal?
What the agency may do depends entirely on your phase and on whether an agency clause applies. Outside those limits a termination is in principle not valid, however firm the announcement may sound.
| What the agency does | Is that allowed? |
|---|---|
| Stopping the assignment with immediate effect in phase A with an agency clause | as a rule yes, observing the notification period from the collective agreement |
| Ending a contract in phase B early without an early-termination clause | in principle not |
| Giving notice on a contract in phase C without UWV permission or rescission by a court | in principle not |
| Stopping the assignment shortly after your report of illness | may conflict with the prohibition on termination during illness |
| Stopping the assignment after a report of pregnancy | may conflict with the prohibition on discrimination |
| Not offering you any more work without terminating anything | the contract can simply continue; an entitlement to pay can remain in place |
| Having you sign under pressure for "mutual consent" | the agreement may be open to challenge; in addition a statutory reflection period of fourteen days applies after it is concluded, within which you can dissolve the agreement in writing without giving reasons (article 7:670b(2) of the Civil Code). If the employer has not mentioned that right in the agreement, the reflection period becomes three weeks. A clause excluding or limiting this right is void |
| Dismissing you because you asked about arrears of pay | may amount to detriment |
What do you do if there is a sudden stop?
- Sign nothing. Not on the spot, not "for receipt", not digitally.
- Ask in writing for the reason and for the legal basis: which phase, which clause, which provision.
- Make yourself available in writing for work. One short e-mail: you are willing and available to perform the agreed work. This is the heart of a later wage claim and it costs you nothing.
- Ask for the final settlement: payment of reservations, holiday days, holiday allowance and possibly the transition payment.
- Apply for unemployment benefit at the UWV, even if you dispute the termination. Waiting costs you benefit.
- Watch the forfeiture periods. If you want to challenge the termination, a short period applies for going to the subdistrict court: two months after the day on which the employment contract ended, for an application to set the termination aside or to be awarded fair compensation (article 7:686a(4)(a) of the Civil Code). For the transition payment that period is three months (under b). This is the point at which most cases fail that were strong on the merits.
I am a migrant worker: what should I pay extra attention to?
If your housing, transport and health insurance run through the same agency as your work, far more is at stake at the end of the assignment than just your income. That is not a reason to do nothing — it is a reason to raise the alarm sooner, while you still have options.
Housing tied to the work
If you live in a property belonging to the agency or to a party connected with the agency, there is as a rule a separate housing agreement alongside your employment contract. If the work stops, your stay can be ended too — but not overnight. The collective agreement gives you a transitional period of four weeks after the end of the agency employment contract to leave the housing. During that period the rent stays at most the same as the rent during the employment, you pay weekly, and the agency may not require you to pay in advance. Moreover the agency must take account of special personal circumstances — for instance illness, or being unable to pay the rent through no fault of your own — and then offer an appropriate longer period, in which it is also weighed whether you can return to your country of origin.
What you can do: ask for the housing agreement on paper, keep it, and check what period it states. If you are put out on the street sooner than that period allows, that is a problem in its own right about which something can be done — but only if you act at once.
Deductions from your pay
In principle not all sorts of things may simply be deducted from the minimum wage. For certain costs, such as housing and health insurance, there is a limited exception, tied to conditions and to a maximum. There are exactly two of them:
- Housing: at most 25% of the gross statutory minimum wage. Conditions: it concerns a housing-association dwelling or housing that meets the quality requirements from the collective agreement, and you have given written authority for the deduction. The announced abolition of this arrangement on 1 January 2026 did not go ahead; the 25% arrangement still exists.
- Health insurance: at most a fixed amount a year — for 2026 € 2,098.80. So this is not a percentage but an amount. Conditions: a copy of the health policy, your written authority, and you are the policyholder yourself.
Everything outside that — fines, "administration costs", transport, tools, a deposit — may not be deducted from the minimum wage. Separate collective-agreement rules: the agency determines the maximum housing costs through the price-quality system (PKS, introduced on 1 January 2025); if the agency has not implemented the PKS, a maximum of 20% of the statutory minimum hourly wage times 40 applies. And if in a period of four weeks the agency could not deduct the housing costs in full because your pay was not sufficient, that debt must be compensated and it may not be set off later either.
Check on your payslip:
| What you look at | Why |
|---|---|
| The number of hours paid | does that match the hours you actually worked, including waiting time and compulsory attendance? |
| The hourly rate | does that match equivalent pay? |
| Housing deductions | is there a written authorisation and do you stay above the limit? |
| Health insurance deductions | the same |
| Deductions for transport, deposit, fines, tools | fines and deposits are far from always permitted |
| Reservations | are they going up and are they paid out? |
| Registration of the employment agency | At present the registration duty under the Placement of Personnel by Intermediaries Act applies: article 7a of that Act prohibits the placing of workers at another’s disposal other than by an undertaking registered in the Chamber of Commerce trade register with the activity "placing workers at another’s disposal". The hirer too may not engage an unregistered supplier. The admission duty under the Admission of Placement of Workers Act (Wtta) is not yet in force. The Act has been adopted (House of Representatives 15 April 2025, Senate 11 November 2025) and published on 24 November 2025, but enters into force on 1 January 2027; suppliers must report to the Netherlands Labour Supply Market Authority before that date, and the Labour Authority only starts enforcing on 1 January 2028. So check the Chamber of Commerce registration today, not an admission |
If too many or unjustified deductions have been made, the amount deducted in excess is in principle simply reclaimable — also afterwards, also if you have already left.
Language and information
You are in principle entitled to understand what you are signing. If you are given a contract or a termination proposal in a language you do not master, do not sign because it "has to be done". Ask for an explanation and for time. A signature under a document you could not read is not automatically invalid — but the circumstances in which you signed can carry weight.
Besides Dutch, our firm also holds meetings in Turkish and Polish. With agency work that in practice often makes the difference between a file that adds up and a file full of misunderstandings.
Things agencies sometimes claim that are not right
Many agency workers lose their rights not in court, but at the counter — because they take a statement to be correct. These are the statements you hear most often and why they are as a rule not right.
| What you hear | Why that is as a rule not right |
|---|---|
| "You are not an employee, you are an agency worker." | An agency employment contract is an employment contract. You are an employee of the agency. |
| "The hirer does not want you any more, so you have left employment." | Only with a valid agency clause. In phase B or C your contract simply continues. |
| "You are still in phase A." | Do the arithmetic yourself. Counting on happens automatically, even if the agency does nothing for it. |
| "You started again after the break." | That depends on the length of the break and on the reason for it. |
| "With a new agency everything starts again." | Not if there is successive employership. |
| "Agency workers are not entitled to a transition payment." | Incorrect as a main rule; often you are, but you have to ask for it yourself. |
| "You get the agency rate, not the hirer’s collective-agreement pay." | Equivalent pay in fact provides the opposite. |
| "You only have to report sick to us." | When the contract ends you have to come into view at the UWV as well. |
| "Just sign this, otherwise you get no final settlement." | Payment of pay and reservations is not a favour and cannot be bought off with a signature. |
| "This probationary period simply applies again." | With successive employership a new probationary period is in principle not permitted. |
| "You get no allowance, because you are an agency worker." | Allowances that a permanent colleague receives as a rule apply to you too. |
If you have doubts about one of these statements, ask for the written basis: which article of the collective agreement, which provision of the contract. That question alone often changes the answer.
Step-by-step plan: what to do if something goes wrong
- Gather your papers. All agency employment contracts, all payslips, the collective agreement the contract refers to, and any housing or transport agreements.
- Determine your phase, yourself, on the basis of the weeks worked and the contracts — not on the basis of what you have been told.
- Look for the agency clause. Is it in there, is it not in there, and did it still apply?
- Record your version of the facts while you still have it clear: dates, names, what exactly was said and by whom.
- Put everything in writing. Confirm every telephone conversation by e-mail. One line is enough.
- Make yourself available for work if the agency sends you home without a valid termination.
- Report to the UWV in good time — the Sickness Benefits Act in the case of illness, unemployment benefit when the work ends. Do not wait for the agency.
- Sign nothing whose consequences you cannot foresee, and use the reflection period if you have already signed.
- Watch the forfeiture periods. With dismissal and the transition payment short periods apply that cannot be repaired: two months for an application to set the termination aside or for fair compensation, three months for the transition payment (article 7:686a(4) of the Civil Code) — although the agency collective agreement gives you twelve months to claim payment of the transition payment. Objection to a UWV decision: six weeks.
- Have it assessed before you accept or sign anything.
Checklist
- Which phase is stated in your last contract?
- Is there an agency clause in it?
- Which collective agreement does the agency follow — the ABU or the NBBU?
- How long have you been working for this agency, including breaks?
- Have you worked for the same hirer before, through a different agency?
- Is your report of illness known to both the agency and the UWV?
- Keep contracts, payslips and correspondence about your assignment.
- Which collective agreement applies at the hirer, and in which job group have you been placed?
- Does your hourly wage match equivalent pay, including allowances and increments?
- Are your reservations for holiday allowance and holiday days visibly going up?
- Were you recruited by the hirer itself? Then there may be payrolling.
- Has a new probationary period been agreed after a change of agency?
- Are there deductions from your pay, and is there a written authorisation for them?
- Is your housing connected with your work, and what notice period applies to it?
- Have you received the notification or termination in writing, with a reason?
- Is a forfeiture period running somewhere that you can still meet?
Your situation in particular
| Situation | What it turns on | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| Notice period | what applies per phase and per collective agreement | Notice period for agency workers: what are your rights? |
| Transition payment | build-up, calculation and the forfeiture period | Transition payment for agency workers |
| Workplace accident | liability of the hirer and the agency | Workplace accident as an agency worker: who is liable? |
Have your situation assessed
Send us your agency employment contract and your last payslips. We will tell you which phase you are in, what applies and what you can do. The first meeting is free of charge.
Offices in The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Eindhoven. Besides Dutch we also speak Turkish and Polish — often relevant with agency work.
Call 070 450 0300 or send us your question via the contact form. We will tell you where you stand and what the next step is.
This page gives general information and is not legal advice on your own case.