Options for temporary contracts expanded
From January 2020, employers in the Netherlands may again give three instead of two years temporary contracts to the same employee. This is due to the new Balanced Labor Market Act (Wab). Secondary education employees are protected.
Picture: Type tank
Employees usually have to deal with multiple temporary contracts from the same employer for replacement jobs or work on a project basis. The Wab stipulates that an employer may give the same employee a maximum of three consecutive temporary contracts. Contracts are consecutive when there is no more than six months in between. The predecessor of the Wab, the Work and Security Act (Wwz) from 2015, also prescribed a maximum of three temporary contracts.
The Balanced Labor Market Act stipulates that an employer may give the same employee a maximum of three consecutive temporary contracts
What is new is that the maximum time frame for temporary contracts has been extended from two to three years. Employees in secondary education are getting out of this. The collective labor agreement for secondary education states that the maximum term for temporary contracts is two years. This CLA rule applies instead of the statutory three-year term.
Disease replacement
The collective labor agreement also has a provision that is more favorable for disease replacements in primary education who want permanent employment. According to the Wab, an employer in primary education may give unlimited temporary contracts to employees who replace sick teachers. The current collective labor agreement for primary education sets a maximum term of three years for this.
As a result, substitutes for sick colleagues are also entitled to a permanent contract after three years, provided that the interruption between the contracts – for the same employer – has not been longer than six months.
