Country Selector
Last updated on: May 14th, 2024
Labor Requirements
The Labor Law in the Netherlands is regulated mainly by the Dutch Civil Code (DCC). The general rules are laid down in the Dutch Constitution and in employment laws including the Works Councils Act, the Working Conditions Act, the Collective Dismissal Act, the Collective Bargaining Agreement Act, the Minimum Wages, and Minimum Vacation Compensation Act, and the Equal Treatment Act. These laws govern the terms and conditions of employment such as working hours, holidays and rest periods, wages, overtime, annual leave, special leaves & other employment relationships.
Hours & Pay Regulations
Normal Working Hours
An employee can legally work a maximum of 12 hours per shift and a maximum of 60 hours per week. Employees are not permitted to work 12 hours a day (the maximum working hours) every week. Across a 4-week period, an employee may not work on average more than 55 hours per week, and over a 16-week period, an employee may not work more than 48 hours per week. The employee and employer can make agreements on what exact hours the employee works per day and per week. Working Hours Act, 1996 (as amended), § § 5:2 – 5:8.
Recording Requirements
An employer shall keep a proper record of the working hours and rest time which makes it possible to monitor compliance and the provisions based on it. An employer shall keep a record of the start and finish time of working hours as well as the break time of the employees. Working Hours Act, 1996 (as amended), § § 4.3.
On-Call Duty
Even if an employee is not at the workplace, he may be called on to go to work if unforeseen circumstances arise. This is referred to as ‘on-call duty’. In the event of on-call duty and standby duty, the hours during which an employee can be called are not considered working hours. If however an employee is called and must go to work, this time does count as working hours.
A call counts for at least a half hour of working time, even if the employee only actually works for 15 minutes. If an employee is called once again within a half hour after they have finished their work following a call, the interim time also counts as working time.
-
-
- An employee may not work more than 13 hours per 24 hours, including the hours that arise from calls.
- An employee may only be an on-call duty for a maximum of 14 days during a 4-week period.
- An employee must have at least 2 consecutive days in every 4-week period in which the employee is not working and also not on on-call duty.
- An employee may not be on on-call duty immediately before or immediately after a night shift. Employees may not be on on-call duty in the 11 hours preceding a night shift or during the 14 hours after a night shift.
- If an employee is on on-call duty between midnight and 6 am 16 times or more within a 16-week period, the employee may not work more than 40 hours per week on average during that 16-week period.
-
Exception:
Employees may work an average of 45 hours per week during this 16-week period under the following conditions:
-
-
-
- Employees shall not be required to work or be on call for the next 8 hours after the final night call.
- If the above condition is not possible, employees must have 8 hours of rest in a row on the same day (before midnight).
-
-
Working Hours Act, 1996 (as amended), § § 5.9
Overtime
The law does not provide a national standard for overtime; it is usually agreed upon by individual employment contracts and collective agreements.
An employer has to pay at least the minimum wage applicable to the employee for overtime work. As an alternative to payment of minimum wages for overtime work, employers can compensate the employees in the form of paid leave for their overtime, which should be stated in the CBA or a written agreement between the employer and employee.
Night Work
The night shift is considered work performed for longer than an hour between midnight and 6:00 a.m. An employee shall not exceed a night shift maximum of 10 hours per day, and the average workweek cannot exceed 40 hours over a 16-week consecutive period.
Rest Between Shift
After a night shift, a employee’s next night shift must start at least 14 hours later, and if an employee works a series of 3 or more night shifts, the next night shift cannot start for at least 46 hours.
If a night shift ends after 2 am, this must be followed by a minimum of 14 hours of the rest period. This may be shortened to 8 hours a maximum of once per week. If a night shift ends before 2 am, this must be followed by 11 consecutive hours of the rest period.
Increased Duration of Night Work
An employee may work a 12-hour night shift, a maximum of 5 times per 2 weeks and 22 times per year. After a 12-hour night shift, they must have at least 12 hours of uninterrupted rest. After a series of 3 or more night shifts, an employee must have at least 46 hours of the rest period. If the last night shift ends on Tuesday morning at 6 am, for instance, the employee may not resume work until Thursday at 4 am.
An employee may work a maximum of 36-night shifts in a 16-week period. An employee may not work more than 7 consecutive shifts if one of these shifts is a night shift. This may be extended to 8 if agreed as such in a collective arrangement.
The employer shall organize the work in such a way that an employee in each period has not worked more than 140 times in a night shift after 2 a.m. in 52 consecutive weeks and a maximum of 38 hours between midnight and 6 a.m. in 2 consecutive weeks. Working Hours Act, 1996 (as amended), § § 5:2 – 5:8.
Breaks
Employees are entitled to a 30 minute unpaid break after working 5 and a half hours and a 45 minute break after working for more than 10 hours. Both breaks may be split into increments of 15 minutes. Breaks shall not be constituted as working hours. A collective arrangement may include agreements on fewer breaks. But if the employee works for more than 5 ½ hours, they must at least have 15 minutes of break time. Working Hours Act, 1996 (as amended), § § 5:4.
Daily Rest Period
An employee shall be entitled to at least 11 consecutive hours of daily rest period in 24 hours. This rest period may be shortened to 8 hours once in a 7-day period if the nature of the work or the business circumstances necessitates it. Working Hours Act, 1996 (as amended), § 5:3.
Weekly Rest Period
An employee shall be entitled to 36 consecutive hours of weekly rest period on a consecutive 7 days period. In certain circumstances, a longer work week is permitted if the employee shall be entitled to at least 72 consecutive hours of rest in 14 consecutive days. This period may be split into 2 periods of at least 32 consecutive hours each rest period. Working Hours Act, 1996 (as amended), § § 5:3.
Sunday Work
An employee does not have to work on Sundays unless the employer and employee have made an agreement in this respect. No employee shall work more than 4 Sundays during the course of a 13 consecutive weeks period, any exceptions to this rule must be included in the collective bargaining agreement. The employer shall also organize work in a manner that each employee has at least 13 free Sundays during the course of a 52-week period. Working Hours Act, 1996 (as amended), § § 5:4
Public Holidays
Dutch law does not require employers to give workers national or public holidays off or to pay them extra if they work on those days, so employer policies on holiday leave are established by collective bargaining agreements or employment contracts. Public holidays that fall on weekends are not moved to a weekday. There are 10 general observed public holidays which are as follows:
-
-
- New Year’s Day – January 1
- Good Friday
- Easter Monday
- King’s Day
- Liberation Day – May 5
- Ascension Day (the 40th day after Easter Sunday)
- Pentecost (Whit Sunday and Whit Monday)
- Christmas Day – Dec 25
- Boxing Day – Dec 26
-
Annual Leave
Duration of Annual Leave – Employees receive a legal number of annual vacation days. In hours, this is 4 times the number of hours worked per week.
For example, if you work 25 hours a week throughout the year, you are entitled to 100 vacation hours per year. This allows the employees to take at least 4 weeks of vacation per year.
(The law does not specifically define whether the annual leave is calculated in calendar days or working days. Hence as a best practice annual leave is considered in working days for the benefit of the employees)
Determination of Annual Leave – Days or parts of days of an already determined holiday on which the employee has been ill, do not count as holiday. The employee preserves his right to wages during his holiday leave.
Annual Leave Pay – Employees are entitled to pay a holiday allowance each year that amounts to 8 % of their gross annual salary.
Termination of Employment – Where the employee at the end of the employment agreement still has not used up all his existing holiday entitlements, he has a right to obtain payment in money to the amount of the wages over a period equal to the remaining holiday entitlements expressed in days and hours.
As long as the employment agreement is in force, the employee cannot waive his holiday entitlements in exchange for compensatory damages.
Carryover of Annual Leave – Unused annual leave can only be carried over for six months.
Employers’ Duty to Provide Information on Vacation Entitlement – The employer should provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that they had fulfilled their duty of care and information obligations towards the employee. The employee should genuinely be enabled to exercise their vacation rights with full pay before they expire.
Days or parts of days of an already determined holiday on which the employee has been ill, do not count as holiday. It is possible to stipulate by written agreement, in derogation from the previous sentence, that in some year days of a determined holiday or a part thereof on which the employee has been ill are regarded as a holiday, but only where it concerns the agreed holiday entitlements for that year which exceed the minimum.
Annual Leave Accrual during Maternity Leave – An employee can accrue annual leave days during their maternity leave. Employers may not ask the employee to take annual days for their maternity leave.
Accrual of leave days in case of illness – If the employee is (partially) ill, the accrual of holiday hours continues as usual. Other agreements may apply regarding the accrual of extra-statutory holiday hours during illness. These are stated in the employment contract or collective labor agreement.
Sick while on Annual Leave – If the employee becomes ill during their annual leave, it should be reported to the employer. Employees shall not lose vacation days when they are sick. These days are sick days. Employee and employee shall agree to take the annual leave hours another time.
Accrual of holiday days for unpaid leave, long-term care leave, and additional maternity leave – With unpaid leave employees do not accrue annual leave days, except in the case of long-term care leave and additional maternity leave in which case the employee shall also accrue annual leave days.
Special Leave
Duration of Sick Leave – An employee is entitled to sickness benefits for 2 years (104 weeks), and after 2 years of illness employee may be entitled to a disability benefit (WIA benefit).
Pay – An employer shall pay at least 70% of the gross salary, on the condition that the base salary does not have to be taken into consideration for calculation to the extent it exceeds the maximum daily wage and that the payment may not be less than the applicable minimum wage. For the second year of leave, an employee remains entitled to 70% of the base salary on the condition that it does not exceed 70% of the maximum daily wage.
Sick leave coinciding with Annual Leave: if an employee falls sick during their scheduled annual leave, they have the right to convert their annual leave into sick leave. The employee is required to provide a medical certificate to their employer as evidence of their illness. The medical certificate should indicate the period of sickness and the employee’s inability to take their annual leave as originally planned. Dutch Civil Code (as amended), arts. 7:629.
Duration of Maternity Leave – A female employee is entitled to 16 weeks of pregnancy and maternity leave. Maternity leave can begin up to six weeks (10 weeks in case of multiple births) and should start no later than 4 weeks (8 weeks in case of multiple births) before the baby is due and can continue for at least 10 weeks after birth even if delivery is later than expected. An employer shall not allow a pregnant employee to work after the 28th day before the due date and employees may return to work only 42 days after giving birth.
Pay Benefits– A female employee is entitled to 100% of the wages during the leave. The wages are paid through the employer, who is later reimbursed by the social security institution.
Notice Requirement – An employee shall notify their employer not later than 7 weeks before the due date of their pregnancy. They must submit a medical certificate from the midwife or medical practitioner stating the proof of their pregnancy and the expected date of delivery.
Premature Birth– The remaining pre-natal leave will be added to postnatal leave when a child is delivered. The total leave period is always 16 weeks.
Late Birth – The employee shall add the days between birth and the expected delivery date to the period of 16 weeks. The total leave period will then last longer than 16 weeks. Extra maternity leave in case of hospital admission of child If a child has been hospitalized for more than a week, the employee may be eligible for additional maternity leave.
The following rules apply to the extension of maternity leave: • No extra leave will be granted for the first week that the baby was in the hospital. For instance, if the baby had to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks, the maternity leave may be extended by 1 week. • Depending on the situation, the employee can receive a maximum of 10 weeks of additional maternity leave.
Annual Leave Accrual during Maternity Leave – An employee can accrue annual leave days during their maternity leave. Employers may not ask the employee to take annual days for their maternity leave. Transfer of maternity leave on mother’s death- The employee’s partner can take over the leave if the mother dies during maternity leave. These concerns leave for a period of up to 10 weeks after the birth. The partner will continue to receive a salary during the leave.
Breastfeeding Break – Employees who return to work after giving birth have the right to feed the infant and express breast milk on the job site for up to 9 months after birth. Nursing mothers in the workplace receive full pay and are eligible to use this option for up to one-quarter of their working time. An employee continues to accrue annual vacation during her maternity leave. Working Time Act, 1995 (as amended), art. 4:8 (Dutch); Work and Care Act, 2001 (as amended), art. 3:8 (Dutch).
Duration of Paternity Leave – An employee is entitled to 1 working week of paid leave for childbirth. Even if the spouse or partner gives birth to multiple children, the employee shall be entitled to leave of 1 working week. If twins are born, employees will not receive double leave.
Extended Partner Leave – Partners have the right to 5 weeks unpaid leave in the first 6 months after the birth. They can also choose to take less than 5 weeks. Employees who take unpaid leave will be able to claim benefits from the Employment Insurance Agency (UWV in Dutch) for up to 70% of their salary.
The employee must take the standard 1-week partner leave first, and then take the extra weeks’ leave during the first 6 months after the childbirth. The employee can spread the leave over a longer period than 5 weeks. The employer has to agree to this.
Eligibility Criteria – Statutory paternity leave can be taken by fathers and partners of the child’s mother. According to legal regulations, the employee can apply for paternity leave if they are a registered partner of the child’s mother, they are unmarried to the mother of the child but live at the same address, if they are married to the child’s mother and, if they have acknowledged the child.
Pay Benefits – Employees who take unpaid leave will be able to claim benefits from the Employment Insurance Agency for up to 70% of their salary. Employers are not allowed to refuse a request for paternity leave.
Notice Requirement – An employee must inform their employer about the intention to take paternity leave in oral or writing ain well advance.Work and Care Act, 2001 (as amended), art. 4:2 (Dutch); Act Introducing Extra Birth Leave, 2018 (Dutch).
An employee’s entitlement to short-term care leave is twice the number of hours worked per week in 12 months. The period of 12 months starts on the first day on which the care leave is taken for the in connection with illness of below mentioned person:
-
-
- the spouse registered partner with whom the employee cohabits without being married;
- a child with whom the employee has a family relationship as a parent;
- a child of the spouse registered partner with whom the employee cohabits without being married;
- a foster child who according to the basic registration of persons, lives at the same address as the employee and who is caring for as a foster parent
- a relative in the first or second degree
- the person who without there being an employment relationship, forms part of the employee’s household; or
- the person with whom the employee otherwise has a social relationship, insofar as the care to be provided arises directly from that relationship and must reasonably be provided by the employee.
-
Pay – An employee is entitled to 70% of his/her leave during the leave period. Work and Care Act, arts. 5:1 – 5:8.
An employee is entitled to unpaid leave for the purpose of taking care of a child, partner, or parent who is life-threateningly ill or who is seriously ill and is in need of assistance. An employee is entitled to a maximum of 6 times the working hours per week in each period of 12 consecutive months. The twelve-month period starts on the first day on which the leave is taken. An employee is entitled to pay from social security. Work and Care Act, arts. 5:9 – 5:16.
Employees who have children or are raising children younger than age 8 are entitled to unpaid parental leave. A collective labor agreement may provide for paid leave. The maximum amount of leave per child is 26 times the employee’s working hours per week.
Pay– An employee is entitled to receive 70% of their salary from Social Security.
For example – An employee who works 40 hours per week, for example, would be eligible for 1,040 hours per year of parental leave per child—40 (hours) x 26 (weeks). Parents usually take this leave by working half their normal hours but can make arrangements with an employer to take more hours in a shorter period or to spread the leave out over more than a year.
An employee who adopts a child or takes in a foster child is entitled to a maximum of 6 weeks of leave. This leave shall be taken within 26 weeks, i.e from 4 weeks before the arrival of an adopted or foster child up to and including 22 weeks afterward. The leave shall start at the earliest 4 weeks before the arrival of the child or at the latest in the 18h week after the arrival of the child.
Pay – An employee receives 100% of daily wages as benefits for leave by social security. Work and Care Act, art. 3:2.
An employee is entitled to a paid leave of absence for a short period for any unforeseen emergencies, to take care of the very first-day illness, in case of death of near relatives, etc. Work and Care Act, art. 4:1.
Long-Term Care Leave
An employee is entitled to unpaid leave to take care of a child, partner, or parent who is life-threateningly ill or who is seriously ill and requires assistance. Duration not defined. Work and Care Act, arts. 5:1 – 5:8.
The employee may demand that the employer grants a paid leave during the absence for attending the meetings of the First Chamber of the States-General (Parliament), the meetings of representing bodies of government authorities and for attending the meetings of commissions formed by these representing bodies. This also applies to the employee who is a member of the public body charged with the general management of a Water Authority. Duration not defined. Dutch Civil Code (as amended), arts. 7:643.
