On 7 July 2026, the Dutch Senate approved the More Security for Flexible Workers Act (Wet meer zekerheid flexwerkers). The new legislation is intended to provide employees with flexible employment contracts with greater certainty regarding their work, income, and working hours. The Act addresses four key areas: on-call contracts, fixed-term employment contracts, temporary agency work phases, and the employment conditions of temporary agency workers.
One of the most significant changes is the abolition of zero-hours contracts for most employees. The current min-max contracts will also disappear in their existing form and be replaced by a new type of contract: the bandwidth contract.
Under a bandwidth contract, the employer and employee agree on both a minimum and a maximum number of working hours. The maximum may not exceed 130% of the agreed minimum. For example, where the minimum is 20 hours per week, the maximum may be 26 hours per week. Within this bandwidth, employers retain a degree of flexibility, while employees gain greater certainty regarding both their income and their availability.
Employees may refuse work that exceeds the agreed maximum number of hours. If an employee consistently works more than the agreed number of hours, the employer must offer a contract reflecting the higher working hours.
Zero-hours contracts will remain available for certain categories of workers, including school pupils, students, and employees who have reached the Dutch state pension age (AOW). Employers should therefore assess in good time which existing on-call contracts will need to be converted.
The statutory chain rule will also be tightened. The main principle remains unchanged: after three consecutive fixed-term contracts or three years of continuous fixed-term employment, the employee automatically becomes entitled to a permanent employment contract. The key change concerns the interruption period.
Currently, a new chain of fixed-term contracts may begin after an interruption of more than six months. Under the new legislation, this interruption period will be extended to three years. As a result, employers will no longer be able to restart a new series of fixed-term contracts with the same employee after only a relatively short break. The measure is specifically intended to prevent so-called "revolving door" arrangements and to ensure that work of a structural nature leads more quickly to permanent employment.
Exceptions will remain possible for seasonal work and student jobs. Nevertheless, the new rules are likely to affect workforce planning in many organisations, particularly those that regularly re-engage temporary employees.
The rules governing temporary agency work will also change significantly. The most flexible phase of agency work will be shortened. Phase A (Phases 1–2) will be limited by law to 52 weeks worked. It will no longer be possible to extend this period to 78 weeks through a collective labour agreement. (In practice, this limitation had already been incorporated into the Collective Labour Agreement for Temporary Agency Workers.)
Phase B will then follow. It may last for a maximum of two years and may include no more than six fixed-term contracts. Together, Phase A (Phases 1–2) and Phase B (Phase 3) may therefore last no longer than three years, after which the worker will, in principle, be entitled to a permanent employment contract.
For employers that make extensive use of agency workers, this means that long-term deployment through temporary agency arrangements will lead to permanent employment more quickly.
Finally, the rules governing the employment conditions of temporary agency workers will be strengthened. Agency workers must receive employment conditions that are at least equivalent to those of employees directly employed by the hirer.
For core employment conditions—such as salary, allowances, and working hours—the law has long required alignment with the terms applicable to the hirer's own employees. The new legislation extends this principle to all other employment conditions, including pension arrangements, leave entitlements, and training opportunities.
This does not mean that every employment package must be identical. However, the overall package of employment conditions must be at least equivalent. Hirers should therefore ensure that temporary work agencies receive complete and timely information about the employment conditions applicable within their organisation. Without that information, agencies cannot properly assess whether the statutory equivalence requirement has been met.
Most provisions of the Act are expected to enter into force on 1 January 2028. The new rules requiring equivalent employment conditions for temporary agency workers will apply earlier, with an expected commencement date of 31 December 2026.
The new legislation requires employers to reassess how they use flexible labour. Which zero-hours and min-max contracts are currently in place? Which temporary employees regularly return? How long are agency workers actually engaged? And is it sufficiently clear to temporary work agencies which employment conditions apply within the hiring organisation?
Flexible employment will remain possible, but employers will have less room for manoeuvre. It is therefore advisable to review existing contract arrangements, workforce planning, and agreements with temporary work agencies well before the new legislation takes effect.
Do you have any questions about the More Security for Flexible Workers Act, on-call contracts, fixed-term employment contracts, or the use of temporary agency workers? Please contact Sietske Bos or Liban Hadi, both lawyers specialising in Employment Law with particular expertise in flexible employment.
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