Unemployment contract is a signed document between an employee and an employer detailing the rights and obligations of both parties in the Netherlands. Employment contract vary in terms of employee benefits depending on whether it is a startup company and international organization or a local company. In this video we go over the types of employment contracts in the Netherlands and the things you need to know before you sign that your next work offer. Let’s get started.
Here are the seven points we’ll be looking at in this video.
SEVEN POINTS OF EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT
- Types of Employment Contracts
- The contents of the employment contract
- The collective level agreement
- probation period
- termination of employment or dismissal
- impact of the employment contract on your work visa or resident permit.
- The non-competition clause contract types.
TWO BROAD CATEGORIES OF CONTRACT TYPES IN NETHERLANDS
- A temporary contract
- A permanent contract
A temporary contract is also known as a fixed term contract. This is the kind of contract that has a start date and an end date. These dates are clearly stated on the contract. A temporary contract can be for up to six months or more than a year, but not maximum than three years. The conditions guiding temporary contract in the Netherlands is that it can only be renewed for a maximum of three times. The fourth time it automatically becomes a permanent contract and a temporary contract cannot last for more than three years. In other words, you cannot work as a temporary contract holder for more than three years for the same employer. However, these conditions do not hold if there are up to six months gap between any of the contracts. So if there is six months gap between the end of the last contract and the date of starting a new contract within the same company, then the conditions of three years and the three times do not apply during your employment. Under a temporary contract, you are entitled to the same terms and conditions of employment and employee benefits.
As the holders of a permanent contract, you are not in any way discriminated against on the basis of your contract. A permanent contract, on the other hand, is a contract with no fixed end date. With a permanent contract, you can work for the same employer for as long as you wish. You can work until your retirement date or until you choose to resign by yourself. An employer can only terminate a permanent contract under very severe conditions, which I will be discussing further in this blog. Other than that, a permanent contract is a well secured form of employment in the Netherlands and it’s protected by law.
CONTENT OF THE UNEMPLOYMENT CONTRACT
Next, we look at the contents of the unemployment contract. These are some of the items that you expect to see on your employment contract.
- The name of the company and its address,
- The name of the employee and
- The address of the employee.
- The address where work could be carried out,
- The start date and the end date,
- Wherever applicable probation period when applicable.
- Overtime arrangement,
- Salary specifications,
- Relocation calls,
- Leave and compensation notice period in case of termination,
- Pension and social security contribution.
These are some of the items that expect to see on your employment contract. Some organizations fall under a labor union umbrella and they are guided by collective labor agreements. If your company fall under a collective labor agreement, you would want to know and you would want to read the contents of the collective labor agreements to know the terms and conditions that have been negotiated on behalf of employees by the Labor Union because these conditions will be applicable to you as a new employee as well as applicable to your employer. In a lot of other organizations, the detailed conditions of employment are outlined in the employee handbook. A copy of the employee handbook should ideally be given to you when you are offered a job. It is your responsibility to read the employee handbook properly and if in doubt at any time, please seek legal advice before accepting that offer and signing the contract.
Next, we look at the probation period. Depending on your kind of contract, the probation period may vary, and the probation period in the Netherlands is regulated by law. If your employment is less than six months, there is no probation applicable. You’ll work for the period of the contract and then that’s it. If your employment is for six months and up to two years, then the law requires that you have a maximum of one month probation period and where your employment is for more than two years, or in the case of a permanent contract, there is a maximum of two months probation period. The probation period should be stated on your contract of employment and during the probation period, either party can terminate the contract without giving any reasons. Now we look at the termination of contracts in the Netherlands. For a temporary contract, the contract terminates at the end of the date stated on the contract. So if you have a contract for one year and the end date of that contract says 30th of June, 2023, then on that date your contract ends. However, the law demands that the company must inform you in writing at least one month before the end of that contract to notify you whether or not they will renew your contract. It is a requirement by law that you are notified in writing whether or not this company will renew your contract upon expiration. However, for a contract that is less than six months, notice is not required for an employee to terminate his contract before the expiration of the contract term. The conditions must have been spelled out in the employment contract and the employee is obliged to abide by these conditions. Usually, you are required to give a maximum of one month’s notice In writing.
Termination under a permanent contract follows a rather very strict and rigid rule that has been set by the government. An employer cannot terminate the contract of an employee who has a permanent contract without going through the approval process from the employee insurance agency or through the court, and the employer must document reasons for seeking for this approval and there are various reasons. It could be gross misconduct, it could be business economic reasons, it could be a case of prolonged illness and things of that nature. The court has to give approval before an employer can issue a notice of termination. However, co a permanent contract can also be terminated under mutual agreement between the employee and the employer. In that case, the terms of disengagement have to be agreed in writing and the employee who has accepted or given his consent to terminate the employment has 14 days to think through his decision. During these 14 days, the employee has the right to retract his decision and say, I don’t want to resign again, or I don’t want to stop my job again. I want to continue working. And during this cooling off period, the employee has no reason to be afraid of any negative consequences. Again, this is provided for in the law. If you’ve watched this video up to this point, it’s probably because you find the content useful. If that is the case, please consider subscribing and give us a thumbs up and don’t forget to share it with a loved one or a friend. They might find it useful as well. Thank you.
Next, we look at the impact of your employment contract and your visa and resident permit. If your employment contract is terminated, ended or not renewed, this might have consequences on your visa or resident permit. If your employer is your Visa sponsor, you would have to look for another sponsor as quickly as possible to be able to continue to stay legally in the Netherlands. The Immigration Service allows you three months to do this. You have three months to look for another job, and get another Visa sponsor to be able to continue to stay legally in the Netherlands to prevent being stranded. At the end of your temporary contract, I highly advise you to keep open communication with your employer. Start right from the time of the interview during the interview process, and find out if this job is just for a fixed time period. If there are opportunities for extension, is it tied to a specific project? Are there rooms for growth? Is there room for extending the contract? You wanna find out before you sign your contract. Also, find out what they expect in terms of job performance. What do you need to do to be able to be judged as a good performer on the job? Because when you perform well and you are seen as a good employee, then you have a greater chance of being retained on the job or being given opportunities in other areas of the organization.
So you want to have this discussion ahead of time so that you know what is expected of you in the performance of the job, and you have to put your best foot forward the first three months to six months of assuming your job during your job. Also, you want to find out how he’s assessing your performance. Look for areas of improvement and do your best to satisfy their expectation. Around six months into your job, you want to have this communication again to find out how are you doing on your job. What are the prospects of extending your contract after one year? Speak with human resources. Are there possible opportunities in other departments? If your current job is only for a project for a specific period of time, you want to begin to explore your opportunities depending on the feedback and responses you get from them.
If it is assuring enough, you can feel confident that you are going to have a job that will be extended, but if you don’t find it assuring enough, it might be advisable to start looking for work already from around six months so that you don’t wait until the last month and then you are stranded. It’s always easier to get another job while gainfully employed than when you are out of a job and feeling desperate. Now we look at what to do in case you lose your job. In the event that you lose your job or your contract is not extended, you might be entitled to unemployment benefits. There are certain conditions that you have to meet. These conditions are, number one, the reason for your unemployment is not a result of a willful decision or a fault of your own. And number two, you must have worked for at least 26 weeks out of the past 36 weeks leading up to your unemployment.
And unemployment benefits can vary from three months to a maximum of 24 months depending on how long you’ve been in employment. Usually, it is one month for every year of employment but is limited to a minimum of three months. I’ll leave a link to the Employee Insurance Agency in the video notes. You can visit the website and read more about unemployment benefits in the Netherlands. Now we look at a non-competition clause. The non-competition clause is a remark that is usually included in your employment contract. It prohibits you from working for a competitor or starting a similar business as your employer immediately after leaving his employment. So you want to read it properly to understand the scope of that restriction in the Netherlands. Usually, it is expected not to last more than 12 months, but you want to read it before you go ahead and sign your employment contract. Now you have a better understanding of the things you need to be aware of when it comes to employment contracts in the Netherlands. It’s now time for you to go ahead and double down on your job search and to help you stay on the right track. I have a video of 25 best companies to work for in the Netherlands. These are companies that are hiring foreign professionals like you. Click the link on the screen now and watch that video and I’ll see you dear.