On November 7, Minister Koolmees sent the proposal for the Balanced Labour Market Act (WAB) to the House of Representatives. This bill aims to improve the balance between permanent and flexible employment contracts. This entails a number of important changes:
On-call contract
An on-call worker must be summoned by the employer at least four days in advance and retains the right to wages if the work is canceled less than four days in advance. Once the on-call contract has lasted 12 months, the employer must offer a contract with a working time of at least the average in those past 12 months.
Probation period
For a permanent contract, a maximum probationary period of five months can be agreed. The probationary period in a fixed-term contract (longer than six months and up to two years) remains one month.
Chain arrangement
We are going back to the old chain arrangement from before the WWZ: a maximum of three contracts in a total of 36 months. The interval of six months between contracts before the chain restarts remains the same, but can be shortened by collective agreement if the work can be done for a maximum of nine months per year.
Ground for cumulation
If an employer wants to terminate an employment contract with an employee, he must now fully comply with one of the eight grounds for dismissal (for example, poor performance, business economic circumstances or a disrupted working relationship). The “cumulation ground” (i-ground) is added to this in the WAB. An employee can also be dismissed with application of this ground for dismissal if there are two or more incomplete grounds for dismissal. In the event of termination on this ground, the court may award the employee an additional compensation of up to 50% of the transition payment.
Severance pay
In the event of termination at the request of the employer (dissolution, termination or non-renewal of temporary contact), the employer must pay a transition payment to the employee. This applies from the first day of employment (now only if the contract has lasted at least two years). The transition payment then amounts to 1/3 of a month’s salary per year of service over the entire duration of the employment.
Payrolling
The law includes a definition of the payroll agreement, which stipulates that the employer does not fulfill an allocation function in payrolling and that payrolling is not regarded as temporary employment. Employees who are employed by a payroll company will, on the basis of the bill, receive the same terms of employment as employees who are directly employed by the client.
WW premium
The WW premium is more advantageous for employers if they directly offer employees a permanent employment contract instead of a temporary contract. Currently, the amount of the WW premium depends on the sector in which a company operates.
