Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions (Implementation) Act
The Netherlands has to bring its legislation into line with the EU Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions by 1 August 2022. As well as giving employees more rights, this directive requires employers to provide them with more detailed information on working conditions, rights and duties. The bill implementing the legislation is expected was approved in May. Here is what employees and employers can expect.
Employer’s duty to provide information
From August this year employers in the EU will have to provide their employees with detailed and easy-to-understand information on their employment conditions. This means providing them with written details of their salary and starting date of employment, their official place of work, any notice period applying, how long they have worked for and so on.
Many of these things have already been standard practice in the Netherlands since the Labor Market in Balance Act [WAB] came into force on 1 January 2020. Employers are already encouraged, for example, to provide written employment contracts and also to state the type of contract on employees’ salary slips. Businesses also have to inform employees of such things as their job title, contract duration, salary and holiday entitlement. But the new directive goes further by also requiring employers to provide information on:
- The length of the normal working day (or week) if working patterns are predictable. If not, employees must in any event be informed of the reference days and hours on which they can be required to work, the minimum period for being informed they have to work and their guaranteed number of paid hours;
- The contract starting date, and the finishing date if the contract is temporary, the duration of the employment contract, the conditions applying to any probationary period, and the place and nature of the work;
- The basic salary and any other components (e.g. overtime), and how and how often salaries will be paid. The employer is also responsible for selecting the pension fund and must notify this to the employee;
- The parties in the employment contract or, if the employment is through an agency, the identity of the party supplying the employee.
Ancillary work
Under the new legislation, employers will not automatically be able to ban ancillary work. Such a ban will be possible only if the ancillary work is objectively incompatible with the employee’s work for the employer.
Predictable and secure working conditions
Once they have worked for an employer for six months, employees have the right to ask for a job with more predictable and more secure working conditions. Employers must respond to such requests in writing and give reasons for any decisions.
Training
From 1 August this year, employers are no longer allowed to include contractual clauses on the costs of training that they are required to provide by law (or under a collective labor agreement). Any compulsory training must also be provided free of charge, and time spent on such training must be treated as working time.
What to do?
Although many employers inform their employees about all sorts of things in writing before they start work, it is a good idea during the next few weeks to check how your business handles such matters. Take a close and critical look at your procedures and your employment contracts. Is everything fine? Or are there still some things you need to sort out before August?
Call our HR specialists on +31 (0)30 21 44 195 to exchange thoughts on the new legislation’s possible impact for your business.
