Dutch employment contracts: 9 clauses every international employer should understand

Maximum one month for fixed-term contracts of six months to two years, maximum two months for contracts of two years or longer (and for open-ended contracts). No probation is allowed for contracts of six months or less. Get the maths wrong and the entire probation clause is void from day one.

Under the current rules (in force since the Wet Arbeidsmarkt in Balans, 1 January 2020), three fixed-term contracts within a 36-month window convert automatically into an open-ended contract on the fourth. A break of more than six months resets the chain; shorter interruptions count towards it. A pending proposal in the arbeidsmarktpakket (Wet meer zekerheid flexwerkers) would lengthen the reset term to five years, but that is a bill, not law - draft against the current six-month rule.

When a sectoral collective labour agreement (CAO) applies, the contract has to reference it and follow its terms on holiday allowance, salary scales, sick leave and pension. Ignoring an applicable CAO is one of the most common - and most expensive - mistakes international employers make.

Statutory notice is one month from the employee, scaling with tenure from the employer. Contractual extension is permitted but the employer notice must always be at least double the employee notice. Asymmetric clauses that fail this test are unenforceable.

A non-compete clause must be in writing and signed by an adult employee. A legislative bill was sent to the Council of State on 29 June 2026, with the government aiming to submit it to the Tweede Kamer by end of 2026 - so it is not yet law. If enacted as drafted, enforcement would tighten materially: the geographic scope must be substantively justified within the clause itself; for fixed-term contracts, the employer must set out in writing, in advance, the compelling business interest (zwaarwegende bedrijfsbelangen) that makes the clause necessary; and when the employer invokes the clause the employee is entitled to compensation of 50% of the last-earned monthly salary per month invoked, capped at six monthly salaries in total - so a 12-month restriction still tops out at six months of pay, not twelve. Draft today against these parameters even while the bill is pending; it usually saves a rewrite within 12-18 months.

Owed on most employer-initiated terminations, calculated as one-third of monthly salary per year of service, pro-rated from day one. In 2026 the statutory maximum is EUR 102,000 gross, or one full annual gross salary if that is higher for the employee in question. From 1 July 2026, employers with 25 or more employees no longer receive UWV compensation for the transition payment paid after two years of illness; small employers (fewer than 25 employees) keep the UWV compensation route. Budget this into the cost of every hire from day one - not at the moment of separation.

Standard full-time in the Netherlands is 36-40 hours depending on CAO. The minimum wage is now a unified hourly rate (since 2024), with the same gross hourly wage regardless of standard working week. Quoting monthly minimums without the hourly conversion is a 2023 habit to drop.

The statutory minimum is 8% of the annual salary, paid in May or June on top of base salary. Under the ABU and NBBU staffing CAOs the rate is 8.33%, which is the applicable figure for payroll and EOR employers that operate under the uitzend-CAO - so for most ICS Payroll placements the correct number to model is 8.33%, not 8%. Whether it accrues over bonus and variable pay depends on the contract, and the default favours the employee, not the employer.

If the employee is eligible, the contract should split the gross salary into the taxable base and the tax-free reimbursement explicitly, and contain a clawback clause for the phase-down years. Doing this at signature avoids re-papering the contract three times during the five-year term.

Make the split mechanical, not narrative: state the gross figure, the reimbursed percentage that applies in each year of the term, and how the parties handle a mid-term loss of eligibility (most often, the employer is not required to gross up the difference unless the clause says so).