On June 21st, 2022, the bill for the Transparent and Predictable Conditions of Employment Act (in Dutch: wetsvoorstel Transparante en voorspelbare arbeidsvoorwaarden aangenomen) was passed. The act will take effect on August 1st, 2022. With this act, the Netherlands aims to fulfill its obligation to transpose the EU Directive on transparent and predictable terms of employment into law (click here).
In brief, the main changes boil down to the following:
- The employer must make mandatory training available to the employee free of charge. Such training counts as working time and, if possible, should take place during working hours;
- The employer may not prevent the employee from performing ancillary work, unless the employer has objective reasons for doing so (more information on this, see our earlier blog;
- The employee may request more predictable terms of employment;
- The employer must meet some additional obligations with respect to providing information to employees in writing or electronically.
There is no transitional law, so the new provisions will have immediate effect. In practical terms, this means that employment contracts for new employees must be amended and the employment contracts of those already employed must also be scrutinized and can be invoked.
