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: 1 September 2026.

See also: Is your employer not paying your wages? Read about the obligation to continue paying wages, or go to our employment law page. We can also discuss your case in Dutch or Turkish.

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My employer is not paying my wages: what should I do now?

Give your employer written notice of default, allow a short period to pay after all, and in that same letter expressly claim the statutory increase and the statutory interest — because those two run from the moment the payment is late, even if you only claim them later. Do that in writing and keep a copy. Calling is fine for finding out what is going on, but a telephone conversation produces no evidence and interrupts no period.

The order that works best in practice:

1. First check what exactly is wrong. Has the whole wage not been paid, part of it, or only an allowance? Put your payslip next to your bank statement. Without that distinction you do not know what you are claiming, and a vague claim is rarely paid quickly.
2. Ask for the reason, in writing. Sometimes there is a payment problem, sometimes a deduction has been made you knew nothing about, sometimes there is an administrative error. The answer determines your route: with an error an e-mail will do, with a deliberate deduction it becomes a question of whether that deduction is permitted at all.
3. Send a formal demand. A short, businesslike letter or e-mail: which amount, over which period, payment within for instance seven days, claiming the statutory increase under article 7:625 of the Dutch Civil Code and the statutory interest. Also state that you reserve all your rights — that interrupts the limitation period.
4. Stay available for your work. If you are still working, keep turning up and report sick if you are ill. Staying away because you are not being paid is one of the few ways of weakening a strong case yourself.
5. Gather your documents now, not later. Employment contract, all payslips, time records, rosters, the collective agreement, and all message and e-mail traffic about your hours and your pay.
6. If it is not resolved within two weeks, have it assessed. With a wage claim interim relief proceedings are often possible, and that route is short. Waiting costs you no rights — the limitation period is years — but it does cost you money and, with an employer in payment difficulties, prospects of recovery.

Two things you should not do today. Do not sign a settlement agreement or an "arrangement about the outstanding amounts" as long as you do not know what you are entitled to — with that you as a rule give up the statutory increase and the interest, and sometimes more. And do not resign out of frustration: that affects your right to benefit and it does not solve the payment problem.

How much extra can I claim if my wages are paid late?

If your pay as fixed in money is not paid by the third working day after the payday, then — if the non-payment is attributable to the employer — you are entitled to a statutory increase of 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. That is set out in article 7:625(1) of the Civil Code. It is the strongest means of pressure employees have and at the same time the least used, simply because virtually no one knows it exists.

Source: article 7:625 of the Dutch Civil Code, wetten.overheid.nl.

This is how the scale builds up:

Working day after the day on which payment should have been made	Increase built up
1st up to and including 3rd working day	none — this is the statutory period of grace
4th working day	5%
5th working day	10%
6th working day	15%
7th working day	20%
8th working day	25%
each following working day	another 1% each time
from about the 33rd working day	50% — the statutory maximum, it does not go higher

Note what it does and does not say. The increase runs over working days, not over calendar days. It is tied to the payday that follows from your employment contract or collective agreement, with as its statutory framework article 7:623 of the Civil Code: the pay must be paid after each pay period has ended, and that period is not shorter than a week and not longer than a month. And it only applies if the non-payment is attributable to the employer — an employer who makes it plausible that nothing can be held against it escapes.

What does the increase run over? Over the pay fixed in money. That is wider than the bare monthly salary: in the case law the increase is also awarded over the holiday allowance and over the payment for holiday days not taken. In a judgment of the Limburg District Court (ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2017:1518) the subdistrict court expressly held that according to settled Supreme Court case law the statutory increase can also be awarded over the holiday allowance and over the payment for holiday days not taken, and it awarded the increase in addition over arrears of pay and over unpaid overtime. Pure expense allowances as a rule fall outside it: the Roermond District Court rejected the increase over a travel allowance in its judgment (ECLI:NL:RBROE:2012:BV3736), because the statutory increase concerns pay fixed in money and travel expenses are not pay.

The court may reduce it — and often does. The last sentence of article 7:625(1) of the Civil Code gives the court the power to limit the increase to an amount that appears fair to it in view of the circumstances. In practice much use is made of that; reduction to 25% or 10% occurs regularly, and sometimes to nil. What that weighing turns on was put by the ‘s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal (ECLI:NL:GHSHE:2017:3357): the starting point for the assessment is that article 7:625 of the Civil Code is intended as an incentive for the employer to pay the wages on time. The less excusable the employer’s conduct, the less room for reduction.

And the employer cannot contract this right away. Article 7:625(2) of the Civil Code provides that this article cannot be departed from to the employee’s detriment. The Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal held (ECLI:NL:GHARL:2018:1473) that article 7:625 of the Civil Code is mandatory law and that the employer was not free to depart from it in general terms and conditions, so that that provision was void. If your contract or staff handbook states that the statutory increase is excluded, that clause is in principle worthless.

By way of illustration. An employee always receives his salary on the last day of the month. In March the payment fails to come; only a good two months later does the employer transfer the amount after all, without any further explanation. The employee is relieved and leaves it at that. Legally, however, the matter is not over: besides the wages themselves, the statutory increase has in principle built up over that period, which after a default of this length runs up against the statutory maximum, and so has the statutory interest. Both are independent entitlements that do not disappear because the principal sum was eventually paid. What the court ultimately awards of it depends on the question of reduction, and that in turn depends on why payment was not made. This is an example situation illustrating the rule, not a case of our firm.

Can I claim statutory interest as well as the statutory increase?

Yes: the statutory increase and the statutory interest are two different things and can be claimed alongside each other — the increase is an incentive to pay on time, the interest is the compensation for the fact that you had to do without your money for a while. The basis for the interest is article 6:119(1) of the Civil Code: the damages for delay in the payment of a sum of money consist in the statutory interest over the time the debtor has been in default.

The statutory interest for non-commercial transactions is 4% a year, set on 1 January 2026 in the Decree determining the statutory interest. That percentage changes periodically; with an older arrears check it for the years concerned separately. Source: Decree determining the statutory interest, wetten.overheid.nl, and the Dutch government, "How high is the statutory interest?".

Two points that make a difference in practice:

• You do not have to give the employer notice of default first before the interest starts running. For the payment of wages a particular period applies, and article 6:83 of the Civil Code allows default to arise by operation of law in that case as soon as that period has expired. The Noord-Holland District Court put it in its judgment (ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2022:6264) in such a way that in an employment relationship an agreed period for performance of the obligation to pay wages applies and that the employer must pay without a formal demand as soon as the claim has arisen. Sending a formal demand is therefore sensible as evidence and as pressure, but is in principle not necessary for the interest to run.
• Interest on interest. Article 6:119(2) of the Civil Code provides that after each year has ended the amount over which interest is calculated is increased by the interest due over that year. With arrears going back years, that adds up.

In addition you can claim the reasonable costs of obtaining payment out of court (article 6:96(2)(c) of the Civil Code). The statutory scale from the Decree on compensation for extrajudicial collection costs, and the compulsory fourteen-day letter, are written as mandatory for the case where the debtor is a consumer. With a wage claim the debtor is in fact the employer, which usually acts in the course of a profession or business; that scale then works as a guide to what is reasonable, not as a mandatory maximum. How much can be awarded in your case therefore depends on what collection work was actually done.

How long do I have to claim arrears of pay?

A wage claim in principle becomes time-barred after five years, counted per pay period separately from the day after the one on which that period became due — but around the end of an employment there are in addition forfeiture periods of two or three months, and those are much shorter and cannot be interrupted. That distinction is the most dangerous point on this whole page, because people who know they "have five years" meanwhile lose a payment that is irrevocably gone after three months.

Limitation of the wages themselves. Wages are paid by the month, four weeks or week and thereby fall under article 3:308 of the Civil Code: claims for payment of everything that must be paid by the year or by a shorter period become time-barred on the expiry of five years after the start of the day following the one on which the claim became due. So each monthly period becomes time-barred independently. With a structurally low payment running over years, that means in practice that you can reclaim the last five years and no longer the older part.

Interrupting is simple. A written communication in which you unambiguously reserve your right to performance in principle starts a new period running. One clear letter or e-mail per period is enough; it does have to reach the employer, so keep the proof of sending.

The forfeiture periods around the end of the employment. Article 7:686a(4) of the Civil Code causes the power to file an application with the subdistrict court to lapse:

What it concerns	Period
Compensation for irregular termination, the fixed damages, and the application to set the termination aside or for fair compensation in the case of an unjustified dismissal	two months after the day on which the employment contract ended
The transition payment	three months after the day on which the employment contract ended
The notification payment with a fixed-term contract	three months after the day on which the duty to notify arose

A forfeiture period is something fundamentally different from a limitation period: it cannot be interrupted by a mere letter, and the court tests it of its own motion. So an application must actually be before the subdistrict court. More about the dismissal side of this can be read on our page on dismissal.

Two more shorter periods to know about. If the wages have been paid in a way the statute does not permit — for instance in kind where that is not allowed — then the claim arising from that becomes time-barred after just six months (article 7:621(3) of the Civil Code). And for holiday days a regime of their own applies, which is dealt with further down this page.

What may my employer deduct from my pay?

A clause giving the employer the right to withhold any amount from the pay is void, and it may only set off against a short list of claims set out in the statute — outside that, in principle nothing may come off your pay. The statute here works with two locks on the door: article 7:631 of the Civil Code prohibits the withholding clause, and article 7:632 of the Civil Code limits what may be set off.

Source: articles 7:631 and 7:632 of the Dutch Civil Code, wetten.overheid.nl.

The withholding clause (article 7:631 of the Civil Code). The first sentence of paragraph 1 is short and hard: a clause giving the employer the right to withhold any amount from the pay on payday is void. You can give your employer written authority to make payments in your name out of the pay to be paid — think of a trade union contribution or a savings scheme — but that authority is revocable at all times, and it does not apply to the part of your pay up to the amount of the statutory minimum wage. Paragraph 2 moreover declares void clauses by which you undertake to spend your pay in a particular way or to buy your necessities in a particular place or from a particular person.

Set-off (article 7:632 of the Civil Code). Except at the end of the employment contract, set-off by the employer of its debt in respect of the pay to be paid is only permitted against these claims:

What the employer may set off	The condition the statute attaches to it
Damages you owe the employer	a duty to pay damages must actually exist — see the next section, because that threshold is high
Fines you owe under article 7:650 of the Civil Code	the employer must issue written evidence stating the amount of each fine, the time, the reason and the provision breached of an agreement entered into in writing
Advances on the pay, provided in money	these must appear in writing
What has been overpaid on the pay	—
The rent for a dwelling, space, land or for implements, machines and tools that you use in your own business	only if these have been let to you by the employer by written agreement

There are three things not on that list that are nevertheless deducted in practice: till discrepancies as such, work clothing, and "administration costs".

The minimum-wage floor. Paragraph 2 of article 7:632 of the Civil Code provides that set-off does not take place on the part of the pay up to the amount of the statutory minimum wage, unless it has been agreed in writing in advance that set-off will take place against an advance. For fines a second limit applies in addition: per payment no more may be set off than one tenth of the pay fixed in money, and even then never below the minimum wage. The Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act reinforces that further: article 13(1) of that Act provides that the minimum wage is not susceptible to withholding or set-off by the employer. There is a limited exception, under which payment obligations designated by order in council — in practice these include housing and the health insurance premium — may be withheld with your written authority, subject to conditions and to a maximum.

A clause that is too wide can be challenged. Paragraph 4 of article 7:632 of the Civil Code declares voidable a clause by which the employer would obtain a wider power of set-off, whereby you are entitled to annulment in respect of each separate declaration of set-off. So you do not have to protest against the clause once, at the start: you can do so per deduction.

By way of illustration. A shop assistant sees an item "till discrepancy" on his payslip, plus an amount for a company phone with a cracked screen. His employment contract contains a sentence that the employer may set off loss and shortfalls against the pay. There are then two questions, and they stand apart from each other. The first is whether he owes that loss legally at all — for loss he causes to the employer in the performance of his work a high threshold applies. The second is whether the employer, even if the answer to that were yes, was allowed to deduct the amount from the pay on its own authority and whether in doing so it ended up below the minimum wage. A contractual provision giving the employer a wider power of withholding or set-off than the statute permits does not in principle stand. This is an example situation illustrating the rule, not a case of our firm.

If it concerns the last payment after your departure, look at what you can do about a missing or incorrect final settlement.

May my employer deduct a fine or damage to company property from my pay?

For loss you cause in the performance of your work you are in principle not liable, unless that loss is the result of your intent or conscious recklessness — and a fine is only permitted if a series of strict formal requirements has been met. These are the two items on which most of the unjustified deductions are made in practice.

Loss: article 7:661 of the Civil Code. An employee who in the performance of the agreement causes loss to the employer or to a third party to whom the employer is obliged to pay compensation is not liable to the employer in that respect, unless the loss is a result of intent or conscious recklessness. The circumstances of the case may, having regard also to the nature of the agreement, give rise to something different. Departure to the employee’s detriment is under paragraph 2 only possible by written agreement and only in so far as you are insured in that respect — a condition that is rarely met in practice. The Breda District Court summarised that (ECLI:NL:RBBRE:2010:BN2159) as meaning that article 7:661 of the Civil Code provides as mandatory law that the employee is in principle not liable for the loss caused by them to the employer, unless it is the result of intent or conscious recklessness.

The thinking behind it is that anyone working all day with someone else’s things will inevitably break something at some point, and that that business risk belongs with the undertaking and not with the employee’s salary. "Conscious recklessness" is moreover a heavy test: carelessness, a misjudgement or tiredness as a rule do not meet that threshold.

Note the scope: the Hague District Court held (ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2017:6067) that article 7:661 of the Civil Code is not limited to claims based on breach of contract, but must also be applied where there is a tort committed by the employee in the performance of the employment contract. So an employer cannot circumvent the protection by calling the claim something else.

Fines: article 7:650 of the Civil Code. A fine is permitted, but only within a tight framework:

• the employment contract must state the rules on breach of which a fine is imposed, and the amount of the fine (paragraph 1);
• the fine clause must have been entered into in writing (paragraph 2);
• the agreement must state precisely what the fine is destined for, and the fine may not, directly or indirectly, serve the personal benefit of the employer itself or of the person imposing the fine (paragraph 3);
• each fine is set at a particular amount (paragraph 4);
• within one week no more may be imposed on you in combined fines than your pay fixed in money for half a day, nor any individual fine that is higher (paragraph 5);
• any clause conflicting with these provisions is void (paragraph 6). Departure from paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 is only possible by written agreement, and only for employees who earn more per hour than the minimum wage applicable to them; even then the court remains competent to reduce the fine if it appears excessive to it.

So the fact that a fine "goes into the till" or to the employer itself already makes the clause vulnerable. And the employer has to choose: article 7:651(1) of the Civil Code prohibits it from both imposing a fine and claiming damages in respect of the same act.

Work clothing and tools. Clothing you need to do your work is a business asset. Article 7:632 of the Civil Code contains no basis for deducting the cost of it from your pay, and withholding is only permitted under article 7:631 of the Civil Code with a revocable written authority and never below the minimum wage. A deposit for clothing or tools that is simply withheld from your pay therefore in principle lacks a basis. Only if you actually rent implements, machines or tools from your employer for use in your own business, and that has been arranged by written agreement, does the statute leave room for set-off.

An advance. This is the item that clearly is permitted. An advance on the pay provided to you in money may be set off, provided it appears in writing. And set-off against an advance is the only one that may also take place on the part of the pay up to the minimum wage — but only if that has been agreed with you in writing in advance.

What must be on my payslip?

Your employer is obliged to provide you, with every payment of the pay, with a written or electronic statement setting out the amount of the pay, the specified amounts of which it is composed, the specified amounts withheld from it and the statutory minimum hourly wage applicable to you. That is set out in article 7:626(1) of the Civil Code. The only exception is that the statement may be omitted if none of those amounts has changed compared with the previous payment.

Source: article 7:626 of the Dutch Civil Code, wetten.overheid.nl.

Paragraph 2 adds a second list to that. The statement also states:

What belongs on the payslip	Legal basis
The amount of the pay	art. 7:626(1) of the Civil Code
The specified amounts of which the pay is composed	art. 7:626(1) of the Civil Code
The specified amounts withheld from the pay	art. 7:626(1) of the Civil Code
The hourly wage to which someone of your age is entitled under the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act	art. 7:626(1) of the Civil Code
The name of the employer and of the employee	art. 7:626(2) of the Civil Code
The period over which the pay has been calculated	art. 7:626(2) of the Civil Code
The agreed working hours	art. 7:626(2) of the Civil Code
Whether there is an employment contract for an indefinite period entered into in writing	art. 7:626(2) of the Civil Code
Whether there is an on-call contract	art. 7:626(2) of the Civil Code

Three more points. An electronic payslip must be provided in such a way that you can save it and consult it later (paragraph 3), and your express consent is required for that (paragraph 4). The whole article cannot be departed from to the employee’s detriment (paragraph 5).

Why this is more than a formality. The duty to specify is precisely the instrument with which you can challenge a deduction. If an amount comes off without it being clear what for, the statement is not specified and the deduction cannot be checked. The Noord-Holland District Court held (ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2024:7864) that the employer is obliged to provide correct and complete salary specifications, and that a back payment that is not specified on the payslip at all does not meet that requirement.

And you can enforce their issue. In the case law claims for the provision of payslips are awarded, reinforced where necessary with a penalty payment. The Rotterdam District Court did so for instance in a decision (ECLI:NL:RBROT:2019:8780), in which it held that under article 7:626 of the Civil Code the employer is obliged to provide payslips and awarded the application for that with a capped penalty payment. So if you receive no payslips, that is not a matter of having to keep asking.

Do I get paid if there is no work for me?

Yes: the main rule is that the employer must pay the pay fixed by unit of time even if you have not performed the agreed work, unless that failure to work should reasonably be for your account. That is article 7:628(1) of the Civil Code, and it is exactly the other way round from what popular wisdom ("no work, no pay") suggests. Since the amendment by which the old article 7:627 of the Civil Code lapsed, the risk of work falling away in principle lies with the employer, and it is for the employer to put forward why that should be different in your case.

Source: article 7:628 of the Dutch Civil Code, wetten.overheid.nl.

Situations that in principle are for the employer’s account: too few assignments, a breakdown, a closed branch, a supplier that does not deliver, a customer that cancels, or the mere circumstance that the employer does not roster you. The Midden-Nederland District Court rejected (ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2026:698) an employer’s defence that an employee could claim no salary over the months in which he had not worked, and held that it is not permitted for the employer to make the payment of wages dependent on whether income has been generated.

What you have to do yourself: stay available. The other side of this rule is that you must hold yourself willing and available to perform the work. If you do not, your position weakens considerably. So report your availability in writing as soon as a conflict arises, and repeat that if necessary. The Hague Court of Appeal held against an employee (ECLI:NL:GHSGR:2007:BB4961) that after recovery he had not reported to start work again and had also not declared himself available in writing or orally, while it had been up to him to do so.

Departure is possible, but limited. Paragraph 1 may be departed from in writing to the employee’s detriment for the first six months of the employment contract (paragraph 5). With successive contracts that exclusion can be agreed for a maximum of six months in total (paragraph 6). After that, extension is only possible by collective agreement, and then solely for roles the work of which is incidental in nature and has no fixed volume (paragraph 7). Any clause departing from this article to the employee’s detriment is void under paragraph 10. In short: if your four-year-old contract states that you are only paid for hours worked, that provision is in principle worthless.

If you are an on-call worker, then article 7:628a of the Civil Code gives you extra protection. If you work less than three hours in a call-out, you are entitled to pay over three hours. You do not have to accept a call-out if the employer does not make the times known in writing or electronically at least four days in advance. And if it withdraws the call-out within four days before the start after all, or changes the times, you are entitled to the pay you would have had if you had performed the work according to the call-out.

By way of illustration. An employee with a contract for twenty hours a week is no longer rostered for a number of weeks after a disagreement with management. He is told there is "no work for the moment" and sees his pay fall back to the number of hours he actually worked. Legally that is in principle the world upside down: not rostering is a circumstance on the employer’s side, and the main rule is then that the pay over the agreed volume simply continues. What the employee should above all do in this situation is report his availability for his hours in writing — because that is the point on which cases of this kind are in practice won or lost. This is an example situation illustrating the rule, not a case of our firm.

How much pay do I continue to receive if I am ill?

In the case of illness you in principle retain a right for 104 weeks to 70% of the pay fixed by unit of time, whereby for the first 52 weeks you keep at least the statutory minimum wage applicable to you. That is set out in article 7:629(1) of the Civil Code. Many collective agreements and employment contracts top that up to a higher percentage, especially in the first year; so always look in your own collective agreement first before assuming 70%.

Source: article 7:629 of the Dutch Civil Code, wetten.overheid.nl.

One procedural pitfall is more important with a wage claim during illness than all the substantive arguments together. Article 7:629a(1) of the Civil Code provides that the court rejects a claim for payment of wages during illness if the claim is not accompanied by an expert statement from an expert appointed by the UWV about your inability to perform the agreed or other suitable work. That is the so-called expert opinion, and without that document your case fails on a formal point. The exception in paragraph 2 only applies if the inability is not disputed or if producing the statement cannot reasonably be required of you. So apply for that opinion as soon as your employer stops paying your wages, and do not wait with it until the summons.

The full explanation of continued payment of wages, the wage sanction, the reintegration obligations and the Sickness Benefits Act is on our page on dismissal and illness.

Is your employer stopping the payment of wages or suspending it? Then read how you assess a wage stop or wage suspension during illness and what you respond to in writing.

I am being paid too little: the minimum wage and the collective-agreement scale

Your pay is bounded by two floors that exist alongside each other: the statutory minimum wage, and — if a collective agreement applies to you — the scale belonging to your job. Neither can be departed from to your detriment, not even if you agreed to it yourself. Being structurally underpaid is thereby simply arrears of pay, with the statutory increase and statutory interest on top.

The statutory minimum wage. Since 1 January 2024 the Netherlands has a statutory minimum hourly wage: there is one amount per hour worked, regardless of whether you have a 36-, 38- or 40-hour working week. As from 1 July 2026 that is, for employees aged 21 and over, € 14.99 gross an hour. For employees under 21 lower percentages fixed per age apply. Source: the Dutch government, minimum wage amounts. The amount is adjusted twice a year, on 1 January and on 1 July; with an older period check the amount that applied then.

Two consequences that are often overlooked. First: every hour worked counts, so including compulsory training-in time, compulsory attendance before the start of the shift and compulsory handover moments. Second: the minimum wage must be paid by bank transfer, and it is not susceptible to withholding or set-off — a net cash payment "under the table" is therefore contrary to the law in more than one respect.

The collective-agreement scale. If a collective agreement applies — directly, or because it has been declared generally binding — then it determines your job group and your increment. Grading that is too low is one of the most common forms of underpayment, precisely because it is invisible: payment is simply made neatly every month, only too little. So check the job description in the collective agreement against what you actually do, and note whether your relevant work experience was taken into account when you started.

Do you not know how many hours you actually have? Then article 7:610b of the Civil Code helps. If the employment contract has lasted at least three months, the agreed work in any month is presumed to have a volume equal to the average volume of the work per month in the three preceding months. The Supreme Court held (ECLI:NL:HR:2026:99) that a successful reliance on this legal presumption has the consequence that the employment contract entails a particular volume of work, and that it is then up to the employer to provide evidence to the contrary. If those three months are not representative, a longer reference period can also be taken; the Overijssel District Court applied that (ECLI:NL:RBOVE:2023:4498). This is the appropriate instrument if you structurally work more than your contract states.

If the discussion about being paid too little turns into a conflict about your job or your contract, look also at dismissal — a wage claim and a dismissal file often run into each other in practice.

Do I get holiday allowance, and are my untaken holiday days paid out?

You are entitled to a holiday allowance of at least 8% of the pay received from your employer, in principle to be paid out in the month of June, and at the end of your employment your untaken holiday days must be paid out in money. Both are independent wage claims: if they fail to come, you can claim them with the statutory increase and statutory interest.

Source: articles 15 and 17 of the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act, and article 7:641 of the Civil Code, wetten.overheid.nl.

Holiday allowance. Article 15(1) of that Act gives a right to a holiday allowance of at least 8% of the pay borne by the employer, plus of certain benefits during the employment, whereby the part above three times the minimum wage is disregarded. Article 17(1) provides that the allowance over the period up to and including 31 May is paid out in the month of June. Departure from that is permitted by written agreement or public-law rule, provided payment is made at least once a calendar year (paragraph 2). And paragraph 3 is the most important for this page: at the end of the employment the amount of holiday allowance is paid out to which you have acquired a right at that moment.

Holiday days. Each year you build up at least four times the agreed weekly working hours in holiday (article 7:634(1) of the Civil Code) — so with a five-day working week, twenty days. During your holiday you retain the right to pay (article 7:639(1) of the Civil Code). If your employment ends with outstanding days, you are entitled under article 7:641(1) of the Civil Code to a payment in money equal to the pay over a period corresponding with that entitlement, and your employer must issue you a statement of the period over which you still had an entitlement (paragraph 2).

Note the two different periods. There is a trap here that costs a lot of money:

Type of days	Period
The statutory minimum days (art. 7:634 of the Civil Code)	lapse six months after the last day of the calendar year in which they were built up — so in principle on 1 July of the following year — unless you were reasonably not in a position to take holiday (article 7:640a of the Civil Code)
Days above the statutory minimum	become time-barred after five years after the last day of the calendar year in which the entitlement arose (article 7:642 of the Civil Code)

By written agreement the six-month period can only be departed from in the employee’s favour; many collective agreements do so. It is further important that the employer is obliged to give you the opportunity every year to take that minimum holiday (article 7:638(1) of the Civil Code) — anyone who has not been put in a position to do so can in principle rely on the exception in article 7:640a of the Civil Code. And during the employment you cannot waive your minimum entitlement in return for compensation (article 7:640(1) of the Civil Code): paying out the statutory days instead of taking them is therefore not permitted, days above the statutory minimum may be.

Would you first like to check your holiday pay and leave balance? During illness separate rules apply to the build-up, deduction and payment of holiday days.

How do I claim my pay while I still work there?

Keep it businesslike, in writing and limited to the money: you are claiming performance of an obligation your employer has in any event, and that is something other than entering into a conflict. The fear that standing up for your pay will cost you your job is understandable and is exactly the reason arrears stay outstanding so long. But the law protects you here: an employer who dismisses you because you claim your pay thereby ends up in a considerably worse position, not a better one.

What works in practice:

1. Start with a factual question, not with a reproach. "On my July slip I am missing the allowance for the evening shifts in weeks 28 and 29 — could you let me know how that stands?" Many arrears are administrative and disappear at this point already.
2. Always put it in writing, including after a conversation. A short confirming e-mail of what was agreed takes two minutes and is your evidence later.
3. Be precise about the amount and the period. A calculation per month or per week, with the hours alongside, forces a substantive answer. "Something is wrong with my salary" does not.
4. Only mention the statutory increase in the second letter. In the first round it is a reason to escalate; in the second round it is a real means of pressure, and then it is also more credible.
5. Keep doing your work normally. Do not work less and keep holding yourself available. Stopping work because you have not been paid moves the conversation from their failure to yours.
6. Ask for your payslips if you are not getting them. That is an independent right (article 7:626 of the Civil Code) and a neutral way of building up the file.
7. Have the letter sent by a lawyer if necessary. That changes the tone of the file without your having to enter into the confrontation yourself, and it makes clear that there is a deadline attached.

What you should not do: threaten to walk out, take it to colleagues before you have raised it with your employer, or agree to a payment arrangement in which you grant "full and final discharge" for everything. That last one is the most common way in which people lose their holiday allowance, their overtime and their statutory increase in exchange for the amount they were getting anyway.

My employer cannot pay: insolvency and the wage guarantee scheme

If your employer is in insolvency, suspension of payments, debt restructuring or otherwise in the permanent state of having ceased to pay, then the UWV takes over your arrears of pay, your holiday allowance and your holiday pay under Chapter IV of the Unemployment Insurance Act — within statutorily bounded periods and up to a maximum amount. This is the wage guarantee scheme, and it exists precisely for the situation in which continuing to litigate against an empty estate is pointless.

Source: articles 61 to 68 of the Unemployment Insurance Act, wetten.overheid.nl, and the UWV, benefit in the case of inability to pay.

What the UWV takes over (article 64(1) of the Unemployment Insurance Act):

Item	Maximum period
The arrears of pay	at most thirteen weeks immediately preceding the day of rescission, of the end by mutual consent, of the end by operation of law, or of the termination
The pay over the notice period	the notice period applicable to you, whereby the period in article 40 of the Bankruptcy Act is not exceeded — that article provides that the employment contract can in any event be terminated with a period of six weeks
Holiday allowance, holiday pay and amounts owed to third parties (such as pension contributions)	at most the year immediately preceding the end of the period referred to above

The benefit is capped. Article 64(4) of the Unemployment Insurance Act ties the cap to the maximum daily wage; the UWV summarises that as at most 150% of the maximum daily wage. If you earn more, the excess is not taken over and for that part you retain a claim against the estate — in practice rarely worth much.

Two periods you must not miss.

• Notification within one week. Article 63(1) of the Unemployment Insurance Act requires you to notify the UWV within one week of the day on which the pay should normally have been paid. If you do not, the UWV can refuse the benefit under paragraph 2 in whole or in part, temporarily or permanently.
• Application within 26 weeks. Article 62(2) of the Unemployment Insurance Act removes your right to benefit if the application is filed after 26 weeks have elapsed since the day on which the employer became unable to pay. The UWV may depart from that in special cases, but do not count on it.

Has no insolvency been declared yet? Then you first have to send the employer a demand by registered post yourself. Only once it is established that it has permanently ceased to pay does Chapter IV come into view. In that interim phase interim relief proceedings are often the quickest route, partly because a judgment against the employer clarifies your position towards the UWV and the insolvency practitioner.

Note one exclusion. Article 62(1) of the Unemployment Insurance Act excludes employees whose employment had already ended before the employer became unable to pay — unless there is a clear connection between the circumstances that led to the end of the employment and those that led to the inability to pay, or unless your claim is unconnected with that state but is uncollectable solely because of it. If you left shortly before the insolvency, have it assessed which of those two exceptions you fall under.

There may be a second debtor. If you work for an employer that itself works on the instructions of another, article 7:616a of the Civil Code provides for chain liability: where work is performed in the execution of a contract for services or a works contract, the employer and its client are jointly and severally liable for payment of the pay due to you. The client only escapes that if it makes plausible in court that it cannot be blamed for the pay not having been paid (paragraph 2), and the rule does not apply to a private individual (paragraph 3). Article 7:616b of the Civil Code extends that further along the chain, each time to the next higher client, if the lower link is for instance insolvent or untraceable. In construction, logistics and cleaning this is often the only party that can still pay.

The procedure: formal demand, interim relief proceedings or full proceedings?

A wage claim almost always starts with a formal demand; if that comes to nothing and you need the money to live on, interim relief proceedings before the subdistrict court are the quickest route, and only if the case is complicated on the merits or concerns old periods do full proceedings come into view. Employment cases are dealt with by the subdistrict court, and there you do not need a lawyer — which does not mean it is sensible to appear without one.

Route	When appropriate	Lead time	What you get
Formal demand	always the first step	days	payment, or clarity about the defence
Interim relief proceedings	you need the pay to live on and the claim is clear	as a rule weeks	a provisional order to pay, often with a penalty payment
Full proceedings	disputed facts, old periods, evidence needed	months to longer	a final judgment on the whole claim
Application to the subdistrict court	the claim is connected with the end of the employment	months	a judgment on the dismissal and the claims connected with it

Interim relief proceedings. With wage claims this is the most used route, because pay is by definition something you need now. Three conditions do apply, which the Overijssel subdistrict court (ECLI:NL:RBOVE:2021:1598) listed as follows: there must be an urgent interest in an immediate order, the existence of the claim must be sufficiently plausible, and in the weighing of interests the risk of repayment being impossible — the restitution risk — must be taken into account. The court added that partly in view of that restitution risk, restraint is appropriate in awarding a monetary claim in interim relief proceedings.

What that means in practice: interim relief proceedings are strong if your claim is easy to check from the contract, the collective agreement and the payslips, and weak if it first has to be worked out how many hours you actually worked. In that last case full proceedings are the better route, however unsatisfying that feels.

Besides the payment itself you can claim more. Think of: the issue of payslips and annual statements, if necessary on pain of a penalty payment (see the section on the payslip); reinstatement in your work if you are wrongly not admitted to it; the statutory increase; the statutory interest; and the extrajudicial costs.

And the costs? In ordinary wage proceedings the standard scale applies: the losing party pays a fixed sum in legal costs, which is lower than the actual costs. One exception is worth knowing: with a wage claim during illness for which an expert statement is needed, article 7:629a(6) of the Civil Code provides that the employee is only ordered to pay the employer’s costs in the case of manifestly unreasonable use of procedural law. The procedural risk is therefore considerably smaller there.

I work through an employment agency or payroll company: who do I have to go to?

Your employer is in principle the employment agency or the payroll company, not the company where you stand every day — so that is where you have to claim your pay, even if the hiring company satisfies its client and the agency does not pay. For many agency workers that is counter-intuitive, and it is the reason wage claims in this sector are often lodged with the wrong party.

The difference between agency work and payrolling lies in the allocation function. The advocate general at the Supreme Court summarised that in his opinion (ECLI:NL:PHR:2019:1217) as follows: characteristic of payrolling is that the worker is recruited and selected by the hirer and not by the payroll company, whereas with an agency employment contract the employment agency performs those tasks and thus acts as an intermediary. The payroll company takes over the formal employer function: the payroll administration, the payment of contributions and wage tax and the other employment-law obligations. For your wage claim that means: the agency is your contractual counterparty.

Three points that make the difference in this sector:

• Your pay is not determined by what the agency wants to pay, but by what the permanent colleague at the hirer receives. This is the most underpaid right in the whole agency sector, simply because few agency workers know that they have it. Underpayment here is simply arrears of pay.
• Check your reservations. Holiday allowance, holiday days and any 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 for housing, transport or health insurance. Only for items designated by order in council may deductions be made from the minimum wage with your written authority, and even then subject to conditions and to a maximum. Everything outside that — fines, administration costs, tools, a deposit — may not be deducted from it, and amounts deducted without justification are in principle reclaimable, also afterwards.

The full explanation of the phases, the agency clause, equivalent pay and what an agency may and may not do is on our page on agency workers.

Common mistakes with a wage claim

Most of the damage in a wage file is done not by the employer, but by decisions the employee makes themselves in the first few weeks. These are the mistakes that can rarely be repaired afterwards.

1. Only calling. A telephone conversation produces no evidence, interrupts no period and leaves no trace. Confirm everything by e-mail.
2. Stopping work. Understandable, but it moves the legal debate from their failure to yours.
3. Not reporting your availability. In a conflict about hours or about admission to the work, a written offer of availability is often the decisive document.
4. Not claiming the statutory increase. It arises by operation of law, but a court does not award what has not been claimed.
5. Signing for full and final discharge. With that, the holiday allowance, the overtime, the statutory increase and the interest as a rule disappear as well.
6. Missing the forfeiture period of two or three months. Anyone who thinks they have five years meanwhile loses their dismissal payments definitively.
7. Litigating during illness without an expert opinion. Article 7:629a of the Civil Code then leads to rejection, regardless of how strong your case is on the merits.
8. Accepting a deduction because something about it is in the contract. Many of those clauses are void or voidable.
9. Not keeping track of hours. What is not recorded is difficult to prove later; start your own record of hours today.
10. Waiting too long with an employer in payment difficulties. Your right does not become time-barred quickly, but the prospects of recovery do evaporate.

Step-by-step plan and checklist

This week:

1. Put your payslips next to your bank statements and determine per month what exactly is missing.
2. Gather your employment contract, the applicable collective agreement, your rosters and your time records.
3. Ask in writing for the reason the payment has not come.
4. Send a formal demand with a concrete amount, a short period and a claim to the statutory increase and the statutory interest.
5. In that same letter expressly reserve all your rights — that interrupts the limitation period.
6. Keep working and report your availability in writing if necessary.

In the weeks that follow:

1. Ask for missing payslips and annual statements; those are an independent right.
2. From now on keep track of your own hours, per day.
3. Check whether your grading matches the job description in the collective agreement.
4. Check every deduction on your slip against the list in article 7:632 of the Civil Code.
5. If you are ill and your wages are stopped, apply for an expert opinion from the UWV immediately.
6. If there are signs of payment difficulties, notify the UWV within one week and keep an eye on the 26-week period.

Before you sign anything:

1. Do not sign a settlement agreement or a payment arrangement with full and final discharge without the outstanding items having been calculated.
2. Check whether holiday allowance, holiday days not taken, overtime and allowances are in the final settlement.
3. At the end of your employment watch the forfeiture periods of two and three months.

When do you need a lawyer?

Not every arrears calls for a lawyer — you can send a first letter yourself — but there are situations in which the difference between having and not having expert assistance translates directly into money. These are the signs.

Sign	Why it matters
A settlement agreement or payment arrangement has been put to you	full and final discharge also closes off the items you did not yet have in view
Your employment has (almost) ended	the forfeiture periods of two and three months are then already running
Deductions are being made from your pay structurally	most withholding clauses do not stand, but that does have to be invoked
Your employer disputes your hours or your job grading	here evidence and knowledge of the collective agreement are needed, and the legal presumption in article 7:610b of the Civil Code has to be deployed properly
You are ill and your wages have been stopped	without an expert opinion your claim is rejected
Insolvency is threatening	the one-week and 26-week periods at the UWV are hard
You work through an agency or in a chain	the question of who your debtor is determines whether you get paid at all
You are being threatened with dismissal now that you are claiming your pay	that is a problem in its own right, and it strengthens your position rather than weakening it
It concerns a long period	because of the five-year limitation per period, every month of waiting costs you the oldest part

Your situation in particular

Situation	What it turns on
Wages stopped during illness	the expert opinion and the wage sanction — see dismissal and illness
Wage claim on dismissal	the interaction of pay, final settlement and forfeiture periods — see dismissal
Agency worker or payroll	who your employer is and what pay applies — see agency workers
The final settlement is wrong	holiday allowance, holiday days, overtime and the transition payment
Employer insolvent	Chapter IV of the Unemployment Insurance Act, the periods at the UWV and chain liability
Graded too low	the collective-agreement job description alongside your actual duties
Unjustified deductions	articles 7:631 and 7:632 of the Civil Code, and the minimum-wage floor
On-call worker without hours	article 7:628a and article 7:610b of the Civil Code

About this advice

Arslan Advocaten handles employment cases from offices in The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Eindhoven. We assess your situation free of charge, calculate your arrears including the statutory increase and interest, and bring interim relief proceedings where necessary. Besides Dutch we speak Turkish and Polish.

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. No rights can be derived from the principles set out here.