18 Feb Dutch employment law changes 2025

Employment law changes regularly. In 2025, the number of changes is limited. Below is a brief overview.

Working with self-employed persons

• No one will have missed it, given the extensive (and sometimes unclear) media coverage: as of January 1, 2025, the ‘enforcement moratorium’ (in Dutch: handhavingsmoratorium) has ended. The Tax Authority will once again actively enforce the law on pseudo self-employment and impose retroactive correction obligations and additional tax assessments. To ensure a ‘soft landing’, no fines will be imposed until 2025.
• The Tax Authority can only make corrections retroactively until January 1, 2025. For the period prior to that, the Tax Authority can only impose corrections in cases of malicious intent or insufficient follow-up of previously given instructions.
• Still a long way off, but the proposed Law on Clarification of the Assessment of Labor Relationships and legal presumption (Wet vbar) will have to provide more clarity on the question of when one is working as a self-employed person or as an employee. The proposal also introduces a ‘legal presumption’ whereby an employment agreement is automatically assumed in the case of an hourly rate of EUR 33 or less. The legislative proposal has been received critically by the Council of State (Raad van State) and others and is likely to be amended. It is not yet clear if and when the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment will send the proposal to the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer).
• What to do? It is advisable to (continue to) critically check whether the contractors with whom an agreement exists are in fact contractors/entrepreneurs or whether the relationship is more like an employment agreement. This is due to the tax risk, but also due to the risk of the (currently still) contractor claiming an employment agreement at a moment that suits them (for example in case of illness or for the contractor undesirable termination of the assignment agreement).
• Where the Tax Authority has indicated that it will not impose any fines, claims under employment law can be made for up to five years. These include wage claims, vacation days, but also claims based on the applicability of a collective labor agreement and in some cases (mandatory) pension schemes.

Increase in fines for illegal employment

• From February 1, 2025, employers may face higher fines if they employ migrant workers without the correct work permit. The fines that the Dutch Labor Inspectorate can impose can be as much as EUR 11,250 per employee if a worker from outside the EU is working without the required permit.

No major changes are planned for 2025, but a number of legislative proposals that are important for employers are in the pipeline. A brief overview of the most important legislative proposals and expected changes:

• Legislative proposal Modernization of non-competition clause (expected to reach the House of Representatives in Q4 2025 at the earliest): tightening of the rules regarding the non-competition clause in order to bring more balance between the free choice of employment of employees and the protection of the employer’s company. The essence of this proposal is that an employer can only invoke a non-competition clause if the employer pays compensation for it.
• Legislative proposal for basic disability insurance for the self-employed: compulsory insurance against loss of income in the event of disability (expected Q3/Q4 2025 to the House of Representatives)
• Compensation scheme for transition payment: intention to limit compensation in the event of dismissal due to long-term disability to small employers (< 25 employees) (expected Q4 2025 to the House of Representatives)
• Legislative proposal More security for flex workers: (effective date in 2026 at the earliest) various measures to give flexible workers more security on their income and schedule with stricter rules for temporary contracts to prevent ‘revolving door’ constructions. On-call contracts will also be replaced by contracts with a minimum number of hours. In addition, this legislative proposal shortens the most insecure phases of temporary work. The legislative proposal has been received critically by the Council of State (Raad van State).

Amounts as of January 1, 2025 (minimum wage, transition payment, state pension, etc.)

Finally, below are the adjusted amounts for the minimum wage, transition payment, etc.

• Minimum wage:
  • As of January 1, 2024, a minimum hourly wage will apply instead of a minimum monthly wage. The minimum wage for employees aged 21 and older will increase by 2.75% to EUR 14.06 (excluding holiday pay) per hour as of January 1, 2025.
  • Minimum wage (from 21 years of age): for a 36-hour working week, EUR 2,192.77 per month; for a 38-hour working week, EUR 2,314.59 per month; for a 40-hour working week, EUR 2,437.07 per month (excluding holiday allowance).
  • Maximum daily wage (for purposes of ZW, WW, WIA, WAZO, etc.): EUR 290.67 gross per day; maximum monthly wage EUR 6,322.07 gross.
  • The minimum wage will be adjusted again on July 1, 2025.
• The maximum transition payment will increase from EUR 94,000 to EUR 98,000 gross (unless an annual salary is higher).
• State pension age: 67.
• The maximum untaxed home working payment will increase from EUR 2.35 per day to a maximum of EUR 2.40 per day (net). If you grant a higher reimbursement, wage tax and social security contributions must be withheld above the amount of EUR 2.40.
• The travel allowance that employers can pay to employees tax-free will remain EUR 0.23 per kilometer in 2025.
• The percentage of the discretionary scope of the work-related expenses scheme (WKR) is increasing; the discretionary scope over the first EUR 400,000 of the taxable wage sum is rising from 1.92% to 2%. Above EUR 400,000, the percentage remains at 1.18% of the total wage sum.

Questions? Feel free to contact Marble: info@mllb.nl