Zero-hours contracts in the Netherlands: rules now and after the reform

Zero-hours contracts in the Netherlands will disappear, but they are still lawful today. The Act providing more security for flexible workers (Wet meer zekerheid flexwerkers) was adopted by the House of Representatives on 12 May 2026 and by the Senate on 7 July 2026; until each provision enters into force by royal decree, the current rules of Book 7 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW) continue to apply.

The Act replaces the zero-hours and min-max contract with a bandwidth contract (bandbreedtecontract). It also extends the interval that breaks a chain of fixed-term contracts from six months to three years and tightens the rules for agency work. Below we explain what changes, what already applies today and what you can do now. For the wider framework, see our overview of Niederländisches Arbeitsrecht.

Ist das Gesetz bereits in Kraft getreten?

No. Parliament has adopted the Act, but the date of entry into force is fixed by royal decree, and it may differ per provision.

The government has announced two moments. Agency workers are to receive at least equivalent employment conditions by 31 December 2026 at the latest. The bandwidth contract and the amended chain rule are planned for 1 January 2028. Treat these dates as planning assumptions and check the royal decree before you amend any contract.

Until a provision applies, current law governs. Zero-hours and min-max contracts remain lawful, the on-call rules of Article 7:628a BW apply, the chain rule of Article 7:668a BW applies in its present form, and the current phase system for agency work continues. If you convert contracts now, you agree to terms you do not yet have to offer, and those terms are hard to reverse.

Welcher Bandbreitenvertrag ersetzt die Arbeit auf Abruf?

Under the bandwidth contract you agree a minimum number of hours, and the maximum may be no more than 130 per cent of that minimum. With a minimum of 20 hours a week, you can call the employee in for up to 26 hours.

The employee may refuse work beyond the maximum without consequences. If the hours worked structurally exceed the maximum, you must offer an adjusted contract. The risk of too little work moves to you as the employer: the employee is entitled to wages for the agreed minimum hours, whether or not you offer work.

Not every worker falls under the new model. According to the government, side jobs of people whose main activity lies elsewhere stay outside it, such as work by school pupils, students and people who have reached the state pension age (AOW). These exceptions are narrow; do not treat them as a general way out for seasonal staffing.

Welche Anrufregeln gelten bereits heute?

The four-day notice rule is not new; it has applied since 1 January 2020 under the Balanced Labour Market Act (Wet arbeidsmarkt in balans). Article 7:628a BW requires you to call an on-call worker at least four days in advance, in writing or electronically.

A worker called at shorter notice may refuse the shift. If you cancel or shorten the call within those four days, you owe wages for the hours originally called. A collective labour agreement (cao) can shorten the period, but not below 24 hours.

The same article contains an obligation that is often overlooked. Once an on-call relationship has lasted twelve months, you must offer the worker in writing, within one month, a fixed number of hours of at least the average worked over the preceding twelve months. If you do not, the worker is still entitled to wages over that average.

The new Act changes the underlying contract, not this call-in mechanism. Informal scheduling by text message without the four-day period already falls short of Article 7:628a BW today.

Wie ändert sich die Kettenregel?

The threshold stays the same, but the break that resets the chain becomes much longer. Under Article 7:668a BW, after three fixed-term contracts or three years of successive fixed-term contracts, the next contract is one for an indefinite period.

Under current law, a break of more than six months resets the count. That has allowed the pattern of letting a worker go for half a year and then starting again. The Act extends the interval to three years; an earlier version of the bill proposed five. For seasonal work, a collective labour agreement can still allow a shorter interval, and these exceptions are applied restrictively.

Was ändert sich für die Arbeit in einer Zeitarbeitsfirma?

Agency workers get at least equivalent employment conditions first, and the phases become shorter. They must receive a package of conditions at least equivalent in total value to that of comparable employees of the hirer, not merely the same basic wage; this is expected by 31 December 2026.

The phase system is also compressed. The first phase, in which the agency contract can end easily through the agency clause, is shortened to 52 weeks worked, and a collective labour agreement can no longer extend it. The second phase becomes two years, with a maximum of six fixed-term contracts, and together the phases may not exceed three years.

A separate statute also belongs in your planning. Under the Act on the admission of providers of labour (Wet toelating terbeschikkingstelling van arbeidskrachten, Wtta), agencies need admission before they may make workers available. Providers can register for the transitional scheme from 1 November to 31 December 2026, the Act enters into force on 1 January 2027, and the Netherlands Labour Authority starts enforcement on 1 January 2028. From then on, a hirer that uses a provider without admission can also be fined, so check the register yourself.

Welchen finanziellen Risiken tragen Sie heute bereits?

The largest immediate risk for most employers comes from an existing rule, not from the reform. Under Article 7:610b BW, once an employment contract has lasted at least three months, the agreed working hours are presumed to equal the average worked over the preceding three months.

You can rebut that presumption, but the burden of proof lies with you. Take a worker on a twelve-hour contract who has in fact worked thirty hours a week for a quarter: that worker can claim wages over thirty hours, also in periods without work. Accurate, up-to-date time records are your most important defence.

What does this mean for sick pay and pension?

Under Article 7:629 BW, a sick employee is entitled to at least 70 per cent of wages for up to 104 weeks, and in the first 52 weeks to at least the statutory minimum wage. If the presumption of hours has increased the contract, the wage base for sick pay increases with it.

Pension accrual usually follows the same logic, depending on the pension scheme rules. If you move from zero-hours to bandwidth contracts, model the pension and sickness cost of the guaranteed minimum, not only the wage cost.

Was sollten Sie als Arbeitgeber überprüfen?

Prepare now, but do not convert contracts before the royal decree applies. Check:

• which contracts are zero-hours or min-max, and how many hours are actually worked under each over the last three months (Article 7:610b BW);
• whether on-call workers who passed twelve months received a written offer of fixed hours (Article 7:628a BW);
• whether your scheduling respects the four-day call-in period, or the shorter cao period of at least 24 hours;
• for each role, the structural minimum you can pay in quiet periods, as the basis for a future bandwidth contract;
• whether your agencies will be registered under the Wtta, and which terms agency workers must match from 31 December 2026;
• what your sector cao says; several new rules can only be adjusted by collective agreement.

What should you check as a flexible worker?

Many of your rights already apply today, before the reform. Check:

• whether you have worked more hours than your contract states over the last three months, which may give you a claim to those hours under Article 7:610b BW;
• whether you were called at least four days in advance, and whether wages were paid for shifts cancelled at shorter notice;
• whether you received a written offer of fixed hours after twelve months of on-call work;
• how many fixed-term contracts you have had and over what period, under Article 7:668a BW;
• as an agency worker, whether your pay matches that of comparable employees of the hirer.

What can we do for you with zero-hours and flexible contracts?

We advise employers and workers on flexible contracts under current law and the coming reform; see also our Anwalt für Arbeitsrecht

• We review your flexible contracts against Articles 7:610b, 7:628a and 7:668a BW.
• We calculate your exposure to claims under the presumption of hours.
• We draft bandwidth contracts and a conversion timetable that follows the royal decree.
• We check your agency agreements against the equivalent-terms rule and the Wtta.
• We draft or assess a claim for unpaid hours before the subdistrict court (Amtsgericht).

Zusammenfassung

• Das Wet meer zekerheid flexwerkers has been adopted, but zero-hours and min-max contracts remain lawful until the relevant provisions enter into force by royal decree, planned for 1 January 2028.
• The bandwidth contract sets a minimum number of hours with a maximum of 130 per cent; you pay the minimum even when there is no work.
• Die Unterbrechung, die die Kette befristeter Verträge neu startet, verlängert sich von sechs Monaten auf drei Jahre; die Schwelle von drei Verträgen oder drei Jahren bleibt bestehen.
• Agency workers are to receive at least equivalent conditions by 31 December 2026; the Wtta applies from 1 January 2027, with enforcement from 1 January 2028.
• Die Vier-Tage-Regel, das Zwölfmonatsangebot fester Arbeitszeiten und die Stundenvermutung gelten bereits heute.

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