Suzan van de Kam
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This is part 1 of a new series of whitepapers from Buren. In this series Buren each time highlights a basic facet of Dutch employment law. This first part examines the different types of employment contracts under Dutch law.
Introduction
Dutch law provides a choice of several types of employment contracts. It is possible to conclude a fixed-term or a permanent employment contract. Furthermore, several atypical contracts occur in the Netherlands. Please find below a short description of the types of employment contracts under Dutch law.
Fixed-term contract
In principle no limitation applies to the duration of a fixed-term employment contract. This means, for instance, that the parties could agree on a contract for one or five years. A fixed-term employment contract will in principle end by operation of law after the expiry date. In principle fixed-term employment contracts cannot be terminated prematurely, unless this has been agreed in the employment contract.
Please note the following with respect to fixed-term employment contracts:
Furthermore, the parties could agree that the fixed-term employment contract does not end on a specific date but covers a specific time-frame or a period that can be determined by objective standards (e.g. for the duration of a specific project of the employer). In this respect, it is important that the employment contract contains a clear definition of these objective standards.
Permanent contract
There are two major differences between fixed-term and permanent employment contracts:
Atypical contracts
Beside fixed-term and permanent employment contracts, there are several forms of atypical work contracts in the Netherlands, such as:
Another type of work contract is a service contract with a self-employed person. Please be aware that, in principle, this type of contractual relationship does not fall under the scope of Dutch employment regulations.
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