Changes in the CLA & WAB as of January 2020
The ABU and the NBBU, along with the FNV, CNV Vakmensen, De Unie and LBV, reached a consensus to harmonize the collective labour agreement for all 850.000 temporary workers in the Netherlands. This agreement will come into effect on the 30th of December 2019. The new CLA is greatly simplified and provides a level playing field. Temporary workers will have a better legal position, more job security and guidance to foster sustainable employability. The new CLA is already available online in Dutch and is expected to be available in English mid-November. This will bring with it consequences for organizations with temporary workers in their employment.
The principal changes are:
- The notification for termination of temporary employment contracts with agency clause (phase A) will apply after 26 weeks and will be 10 calendar days;
- The obligation to continue payment of wages for temporary workers in phase B (and C) will be 100% of their last earned salary, instead of 90%;
- Continued payment of wages during illness is 90% in the first year and 80% in the second year (instead of 91% in the first year);
- The holiday benefit is 8.33% instead of 8%;
- Temporary workers in phase A were not entitled to special leave without having enough reservations built up. They now will have the right to special leave such as the birth leave and leave for a subject examination.
The Balanced Labour Market Act (WAB)
The WAB will come into force on January 1st 2020. This law applies to both your own personnel as temporary workers. The most important changes for temporary workers are the following:
- There will be no disparity between payroll employees and employees directly employed by the client in terms of legal status and working conditions and payroll employees have the right to a suitable pension scheme. The temporary phases system, as well as the agency clause and the exclusion of the obligation to continue payment of wages can no longer be used;
- The provision for consecutive fixed-term employment contracts (3 temporary contracts in 2 years) is replaced by the new rule, 3 temporary contracts in 3 years;
- Temporary employee contracts in which wage payment obligations are excluded (phase A without agency clause) are classified as “On-call” contracts as of January 1st.. If the contract has lasted for 12 months, the employer must make a suitable proposal to the employee for a contract with a fixed number of hours that is at least equal to the average monthly work volume in the past 12 months. In this case, the exclusion of the obligation to continue payment of wages is withdrawn. If the employee refuses this proposal, the obligation to continue payment of wages can again be excluded for the remainder of phase A;
- The transitional allowance will apply from day 1 and will be equal to 1/3 of the monthly salary per worked year;
- There will be a low and high unemployment benefit premium rate. The low premium applies to the wage bill of permanent employees. On all other contract types the premium will be 5% higher. The exact premium has yet to be announced.
- These new measures will have an influence on the costs for all organizations.
If you have questions about the new Collective Labor Agreement and/ or the WAB, please contact us.
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