Dutch employment contracts: the legal minimums, the five contract types, and what to check before you sign

A Dutch employment contract cannot take away your legal minimums. The law sets a floor under every job: an hourly minimum wage, 8% holiday allowance (vakantiegeld), paid holiday hours, sick pay and a capped trial period. A contract or a collective agreement can give you more, never less. What the contract does decide is your security. A permanent contract is hard to end. A temporary contract simply expires. An agency or on-call contract can stop much more easily. This guide covers the minimums with the July 2026 amounts, the five contract types, what must be in writing, how to read your payslip, how contracts end, and the most common problems with their fixes.

The statutory minimum wage (minimumloon) is set per hour and changes twice a year, on 1 January and on 1 July. On 1 July 2026 it rose from €14.71 to €14.99 gross per hour for everyone aged 21 and over. Workers aged 15 to 20 have lower youth rates, for example €11.99 at age 20 and €7.50 at 18; the full table is on government.nl. Since 2024 there is no separate monthly minimum, so check a salary offer by working back to the hour. A 36-hour week must pay at least 36 × €14.99 = €539.64 gross per week. The minimum applies to every worker, including agency and on-call workers.

On top of your salary you are entitled to holiday allowance (vakantiegeld) of at least 8% of your gross annual salary. Most employers pay it once a year, in May or June. On €2,600 gross per month, a full year builds €31,200 × 8% = €2,496 gross in holiday allowance. Two variations are legal. Your employer may pay it in instalments, for example a little every month, but only with your written consent or through the CAO; look for a vakantiegeld line on your payslip. And an employee who earns more than 3 times the minimum wage can agree in writing to a lower allowance or none. Unpaid holiday allowance does not disappear: you can claim it back for up to 5 years.

Your statutory minimum in paid holiday is 4 times your weekly working hours per year. A 40-hour week gives 160 holiday hours, which is 4 working weeks. A 24-hour week gives 96 hours. Your salary continues during leave. Many CAOs and contracts add extra days (bovenwettelijke vakantiedagen). The two kinds expire differently: statutory hours from one year expire 6 months after that year ends, so hours built in 2026 lapse after 1 July 2027, while extra days last 5 years. Use the statutory hours first. When you leave a job, the employer must pay out all unused hours, statutory and extra.

When you are ill, your employer keeps paying at least 70% of your wage for up to 2 years. In the first year the payment may not fall below the minimum wage; in the second year it may. The 70% is calculated over everything you would normally have earned, including overtime and fixed allowances. A CAO can raise these percentages, so check yours. During those first 2 years of illness your employer also cannot dismiss you, with narrow exceptions such as a trial period. After 2 years the payment duty stops and the employer is allowed to end the contract.

A trial period (proeftijd) only exists if it is agreed in writing, and the law caps its length:

During a valid trial period, both sides can end the job on the spot. The employer needs no reason, no permission and no notice period, and may do this even when you are ill. Illness does not stretch the trial period. Two rights survive it: if you ask, the employer must put the reasons for the dismissal in writing, and you keep your right to a pro-rata transition payment, because that right starts on your first working day. A trial clause in a contract of 6 months or less is not valid.

Dutch employers use five main employment forms. The minimums above apply to all of them. The difference is how easily the work ends.

A permanent contract (vast contract) has no end date, and your employer cannot simply end it. Outside the trial period they need your written agreement, a dismissal permit from UWV (the national employee insurance agency) for economic reasons or long-term illness, or a decision by the subdistrict court for grounds like poor performance or a conflict. Only a serious urgent cause, such as theft, justifies dismissal on the spot. The three flexible forms, temporary, agency and on-call work, each have their own rules, and each gives the employer an easier way to end the work. The next three sections cover them.

A temporary contract ends automatically on its end date. The employer needs no reason to let it expire. Two rules limit how long you can be kept temporary. The first is the chain rule (ketenregeling): after more than 3 consecutive temporary contracts with the same employer, or after more than 3 years of them, the next contract is by law a permanent one. Contracts count as consecutive when the gap between them is 6 months or less. The rule also counts temporary contracts for the same work with successive employers. Some limits can shift: a CAO can stretch the chain for certain work, up to at most 6 contracts in 4 years, and apprenticeship (BBL) contracts and jobs of up to 12 hours a week for workers under 18 do not count. The conversion is automatic. A fourth consecutive contract is permanent even if the paper says otherwise.

The second rule is the notification duty (aanzegtermijn). For every fixed-term contract of 6 months or longer, the employer must tell you in writing, at least 1 month before the end date, whether the contract will be renewed. If no notification comes at all, you are owed 1 month's gross salary. A late notification costs pro rata: 1 week late is 1 week's salary. You must claim this within 2 months after the contract ends. When a temporary contract is not renewed, you are also entitled to the transition payment and, if no new job is lined up, you can check the unemployment benefit conditions further down this guide.

With an uitzendcontract you are employed by the agency (uitzendbureau), not by the company where you work. The agency pays your wage and must follow the agency-work CAO; the most common one is the CAO voor Uitzendkrachten agreed by the ABU, the agency employers' association, which publishes an official English version for 2026–2028. Your rights grow in phases. Phase A covers your first 52 worked weeks. In phase A the agency can give you an unlimited series of short contracts, often with an uitzendbeding (agency clause): the contract then ends as soon as the client company ends your assignment. Whether that is also allowed when you call in sick depends on the agency's CAO; when the contract does run on during illness, the agency pays your wage after 1 or 2 unpaid waiting days. After phase A you move to phase B, with fixed-term contracts at the agency itself, and later phase C, a contract for an indefinite period with the agency. The exact steps are in the CAO text.

Two protections apply from day one. The agency must treat you the same as employees in equal or equivalent jobs at the client company: the same wage, working hours, breaks, overtime pay and holidays. And the agency may never charge you money for placing you. Check the agency itself too: every business that supplies personnel must be registered in the KVK Business Register under the Waadi law, and you can verify an agency for free with the KVK Waadi check. An unregistered agency is a warning sign for underpayment. Payrolling looks like agency work but protects you better: the client recruits you, a payroll company formally employs you, and by law you get at least the same employment conditions as the client's own staff, including the dismissal protection. The client ending its payroll arrangement is not a ground to dismiss you.

With an on-call contract you work only when called. A nulurencontract (zero-hours contract) fixes no hours at all; a min-max contract fixes a minimum with flexibility above it. No calls means no wage, so the law adds four protections:

• A call must come at least 4 calendar days ahead. A CAO can shorten this, but never below 24 hours.
• If the employer cancels or moves the call within those 4 days, you must still be paid for the scheduled hours.
• With a contract under 15 hours a week without fixed working times, every call pays at least 3 hours of wage, even if you only worked 1 hour.
• After 12 months on call, the employer must offer you fixed hours within 1 month. The offer must at least equal your average hours over those 12 months. You may refuse and stay on call, and the employer must repeat the offer every 12 months.

There is a faster route than the 12-month offer. After 3 months of a steady work pattern, the law presumes your contract covers your average hours of those 3 months (rechtsvermoeden van arbeidsomvang, the legal presumption of working hours). You can claim that average as your fixed hours; do it in writing. And note the planned change: the government intends to ban zero-hours contracts from 1 January 2027 and replace min-max contracts with a bandwidth contract. In July 2026 that law was not yet final.

The law lists the information your employer must confirm in writing. Within 1 week of starting you must have the basics on paper:

• The names of employer and employee, and the workplace
• Your role or the nature of the work, and the start date
• The duration, for a fixed-term contract
• The trial period, if there is one
• The salary, its components, and when it is paid
• Your working hours and the overtime arrangements

Within 1 month the rest must follow: your holiday entitlement and allowance, other paid leave, the notice periods and dismissal procedure, and the contract type. If a CAO applies, the contract must name it. Keep your own copy of everything. A promise that only exists in conversation is hard to prove later, so ask for missing terms by email before you sign.

A CAO (collectieve arbeidsovereenkomst, collective labour agreement) is an agreement between employers or employer organisations and trade unions about pay, hours, leave, notice and pensions, for one company or a whole sector. Two rules make it powerful. A CAO may never give you less than the law. And where your individual contract and the CAO conflict, the CAO wins. When the government declares a sector CAO universally binding (algemeen verbindend verklaard), it covers every employer in the sector, including non-members. In practice a CAO often raises the floor: higher pay scales, extra holiday days, sick pay above 70%. The law also lets a CAO adjust a few specific rules, such as the chain rule (up to 6 contracts in 4 years) and the on-call notice (down to 1 day), which is why several sections above say 'check your CAO'. Finding yours is simple: the contract must name it. If it does not, ask the employer, and look for the text on the sector organisation's or a union's website.

Your payslip (loonstrook) must state at least: your name and the employer's name, the payment date, your hourly wage, the gross salary, the deductions, and the net amount paid. You get one at your first payment and whenever something changes. The gap between bruto (gross) and netto (net) is mainly the loonheffing: wage tax, which is an advance on your income tax, plus national insurance contributions for the state pension (AOW) and survivor benefits (ANW). Your employer withholds these and pays them to the Belastingdienst (tax administration). Premiums for unemployment and disability insurance are paid by the employer on top of your gross salary, not taken out of it. What the deductions mean for your yearly tax return, including the M-form for your migration year and the 30% ruling, is covered in the income tax guide for newcomers.

In January or February the employer sends the jaaropgaaf (annual income statement): your total wage for the past year, the tax and contributions withheld, and the tax credits applied. Keep every payslip and every jaaropgaaf. You need them for your tax return, and your gross income also decides which benefits you can get; the toeslagen overview works that out. One more employer document to know: the werkgeversverklaring (employer's statement), a short signed letter confirming your role, salary and contract type. Rental agents and mortgage lenders ask for it. Your employer writes it on request; ask for a fresh one when you start viewing homes, because agents want a recent date. The rental guide lists the full document pack.

If you resign from a permanent contract, your statutory notice period (opzegtermijn) is 1 month. The contract can set a longer one, up to 6 months, but then the employer's own notice period must be at least double yours. The employer's statutory notice period grows with your service:

Notice runs against the end of a calendar month unless agreed otherwise in writing. In practice: resign halfway through August with a 1-month notice period, and the contract ends on 30 September. A CAO can shorten notice periods. For the employer, notice is only the last step of a formal route: a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst) you sign voluntarily, a UWV dismissal permit for economic reasons or after 2 years of illness, dissolution by the subdistrict court, or summary dismissal for an urgent cause. If you agree to a settlement, the law gives you a cooling-off period: you can revoke your signature within 14 days without giving a reason, and that becomes 21 days if the employer never told you about the right.

When the employer ends your contract or does not renew a temporary one, you are entitled to the transition payment (transitievergoeding): 1/3 of your gross monthly salary per year worked, counted pro rata from your first working day. Three years at €2,700 gross per month gives 3 × €900 = €2,700. The 2026 maximum is €102,000, or 1 year's salary if you earn more than that. You lose the right when the contract ends by mutual consent, so in a settlement the payment is not automatic: it is part of what you negotiate. You also lose it after dismissal for your own serious misconduct.

If the job ends and no new one starts, check the unemployment benefit (WW-uitkering) at UWV straight away. The main conditions: you lost at least 5 working hours per week, you are available for work, you worked at least 26 of the 36 weeks before becoming unemployed, and the job loss was not your own fault. That last condition is why resigning yourself normally ends the right to WW, outside narrow exceptions. Apply via uwv.nl with your DigiD.

Dismissal during a valid trial period is legal. The employer needs no reason and no notice period, and illness does not block it. Three things are still yours. You can demand the reasons in writing; the employer must provide them if you ask. You are owed the pro-rata transition payment, because the right starts on day one: after 3 months at €2,400 gross that is €200, small but yours. And a trial clause that was never valid cannot be used against you: no trial period exists in a contract of 6 months or less, or in one that was never put in writing. If the weeks you worked this year and before add up, check the WW conditions at UWV as well.

First check your payslip and contract: paying vakantiegeld in monthly instalments is legal with your written consent or through the CAO. In that case it appears as a small line on every payslip instead of one May payment. If it is simply unpaid, ask for it in writing and name the amount: 8% of your gross annual salary. You can claim unpaid holiday allowance and wages up to 5 years back. If the employer refuses, two routes exist. The Netherlands Labour Authority (Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie) takes complaints about underpayment of the minimum wage and minimum holiday allowance, anonymously if you want; after a finding, the employer is fined and must pay what is owed within 4 weeks. And for any amount you can go to the subdistrict court; free first advice exists at the Juridisch Loket (the free legal advice desk) or through your union.

Wages are due after each payment period in your contract, usually the month. When payment is late, demand it in writing; this written demand is called in gebreke stellen and it starts the clock on the statutory increase for late payment. From the 4th to the 8th working day late, the increase is 5% per day; after that 1% per working day, up to a maximum of 50% of the wage, though a court can moderate that. Keep the proof: the demand, the payslips, your bank statements. If payment still does not come, the subdistrict court can order it, and the Juridisch Loket or a union can help you build the claim. Late wages at an agency are also worth reporting to the Labour Authority, because structural underpayment is exactly what it investigates.

Employers count on new hires not wanting to seem difficult in week one. So the promised salary review, the permanent contract after a year, or the training budget stays verbal, and a verbal promise is hard to prove a year later. The fix costs one email. Before signing, reply to the offer and list the promises: 'As discussed: salary review after 12 months, permanent contract intended after this one.' A short written confirmation from the employer turns the promise into evidence. If the contract text contradicts what was said, ask for the text to be corrected before you sign it.

Most Dutch employers contract in Dutch, also with international staff. Do not sign a text you have not understood. Ask for a day, run the contract through a translator, and ask the employer to confirm the key terms in an email in English: salary, hours, contract type, end date, trial period, CAO. Look up three words before you sign: proeftijd (trial period), concurrentiebeding (non-compete clause) and boetebeding (penalty clause), and ask what they mean for you. For a contract you do not trust, the Juridisch Loket gives free first advice, and a union can read it with you.

A zero-hours employer does not have to dismiss you. They can simply stop calling, and the contract runs on without wage. The law gives you two ways to turn calls into fixed hours. After 3 months of a steady pattern, claim your average hours of those months in writing, using the legal presumption of working hours. After 12 months, the employer owes you an offer of fixed hours at your 12-month average; if that offer never came, request it in writing and name the rule. If the work is really gone, ask the employer to end the contract formally. With a formal end on the employer's initiative you are entitled to the transition payment, and you can check the WW conditions.

A vaststellingsovereenkomst (settlement agreement) ends your contract by mutual consent. That has two consequences: the transition payment is no longer automatic, and a badly worded text can end your right to WW, because WW requires that the job loss was not your own doing. You never have to sign on the day. Take the document home, and remember that even a signed agreement can be revoked within 14 days without a reason, or 21 days if the employer did not mention that right. Have the text checked by a union, a lawyer or the Juridisch Loket before you decide. Two things to look at: the agreement should record that the employer took the initiative and that you are not to blame, and the severance should not be below the transition payment you would receive after a formal dismissal.

Three related guides continue from here. The income tax guide for newcomers explains the payslip deductions in full, the M-form for your first year and the 30% ruling. The toeslagen overview shows which benefits fit your income once the salary starts. And if you have just arrived, the first 90 days checklist covers the BSN, DigiD, health insurance and bank account that you will need around your first job.