The Terms of Employment Posted Workers in the European Union Act (WagwEU) applies to employers from countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland who will temporarily carry out work in the Netherlands with their staff. This act stipulates that these employers are obliged to register temporary assignments in the Dutch online notification portal. And to grant certain minimum terms of employment to the staff that will temporarily work in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Labour Authority will inspect this.
The obligation to register temporary assignments in the notification portal
Companies established in the European Economic Area (EEA; the EU countries + Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and Switzerland, as well as self-employed persons in certain sectors who come to the Netherlands for a temporary assignment, must give advance notice of their arrival - and that of any employees - as of 1 March 2020 in the Dutch online notification portal: meldloket.postedworkers.nl. More information regarding all aspects of the obligation to register temporary assignments can be found on the website English.postedworkers.nl
The obligation to check (the accuracy of) the notification
The Dutch companies, who contract a company or a self-employed person from a country within the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland for a temporary assignment in the Netherlands, are obligated (as a customer/client/service recipient) to check whether this information has been reported and is correct. They will receive notification when the foreign employer or foreign self-employed person has reported their forthcoming arrival, and will be able to view the details online. If there are any errors in the reported information, they must indicate this in the online reporting system and ask the foreign employer or foreign self-employed person to rectify the information.
Dutch labour acts and collective agreement conditions
The employer must certainly comply with the following Dutch labour acts: the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act, the Working Hours Act, the Foreign Nationals Employment Act, the Working Conditions Act and the Placement of Personnel by Intermediaries Act. When a foreign employee starts in a sector in which a generally binding collective agreement applies, the terms of employment of this collective agreement will also apply.
Administrative obligations
These foreign employers with temporarily seconded staff in the Netherlands must comply with a number of administrative obligations:
- The obligation to register temporary assignments in the Dutch online notification portal;
- The obligation to have documents, such as payslips, working hours summaries and receipts available in the Netherlands at the workplace of the seconded employee (or directly digitally available);
- The obligation to provide information: Providing all information to the Netherlands Labour Authority which is necessary for the reinforcement of the WagwEU;
- The obligation to appoint a contact person in the Netherlands who can contact the Netherlands Labour Authority and function as a point of contact.
Fines and sanctions
When the WagwEU is not observed, the Netherlands Labour Authority may impose a fine upon the foreign employer who carries out the work here in the Netherlands.