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Base workers rights

There are some laws in The Netherlands that sometimes feel counter-intuitive. We list some of the more base workers rights here so you don't have to dig through documents.
Table of Contents

We are not lawyers, check the below with employment lawyers. We do not take any responsibility of decisions made on the information here.

Brief points:

  • What is in your contract generally is what is enforced
  • Just because it is in your contract doesn’t make it legal (there are legal minimums and/or things that cannot be enforced)

Acquired Rights #

This generally applies to working conditions. To explain via example K

  • You have a contract with a company that says that the hours are variable and you may be asked to work weekends
  • You have been working Monday to Friday 8:30 -> 17:00 for a “significant period” of time (e.g. > 1 year)
  • You have not worked weekends at all, have not varied your hours of work, and you have been satisfactorily doing your job
  • Your boss is asking you to work weekends now

Even though your contract has a clause which indicates that you may be asked to work weekends, you may have legally an “acquired right” to the hours of your current work. The thinking by the law is “If you are able to do your job to the required level of work, then that is now The Job”.

Be aware though, acquired rights can be revoked if a change request is provide to your Ondernemingsraad (Works Council). That change has to indicate a “significant risk to the business”. So if you hear about changes in working hours in your business, make sure you are talking to your Ondernemingsraad members and let them know what you and your colleagues think about the change.

Acquired rights are generally related to “working conditions”.

Sickness policies #

The base workers rights in The Netherlands does not entitle you to be paid for all sickness. In fact, the law allows a period of 2 day where the worker does not get paid at the state of a “sickness period”. A sickness period is a period of continual time where a worker is not able to operate at 100% of their required capacity.

A lot of companies in The Netherlands do not use this base rule, and many will pay you for your first days of sickness. Generally speaking this is in the company policy. That policy is able to be changed with a request through the Ondernemingsraad and has to indicate a “significant risk to business operations”.