Greater Security for Flexible Workers: Dutch Senate Approves Labor Market Reform

An Important Step in Reforming the Dutch Labor Market

On 7 July 2026, the Dutch Senate approved the More Security for Flexible Workers Act (Wet meer zekerheid flexwerkers). With this legislation, the Dutch legislator aims to reduce the differences between permanent and flexible employment and to provide employees on flexible contracts with greater certainty regarding their income and working hours. Most provisions of the Act will enter into force on 1 January 2028, while the new rules on equal employment conditions for temporary agency workers will already take effect on 31 December 2026.

Temporary Employment Contracts Will Become Truly Temporary

One of the most significant changes concerns the so-called ‘chain rule’. Under the current rules, after three consecutive fixed-term employment contracts, a new series of fixed-term contracts may be entered into following a break of six months. The new Act extends this interruption period to three years. The legislator aims to prevent employers from continuing to rely on so-called "revolving door" constructions, whereby employees remain employed for years under successive fixed-term contracts without any realistic prospect of permanent employment. The clear starting point of the new legislation is that work of a structural nature should, in principle, be performed under a permanent employment relationship.

The End of the Zero-Hours Contract

The legislation also fundamentally changes on-call employment. The current zero-hours contract will be replaced by the so-called ‘bandwidth contract’, under which employers must agree on both a minimum and a maximum number of working hours. The difference between the minimum and maximum may not exceed 30%. Employees may refuse work offered above the agreed maximum number of hours, and where employees consistently work more than the agreed hours, employers will be required to offer a contract reflecting the higher number of hours. An exception applies to school pupils, students and employees who have reached the Dutch state pension age (AOW), for whom on-call contracts will remain possible.

What Does This Mean for Employers?

Although most provisions of the Act will not take effect until 2028, employers would be well advised not to wait. Organizations that make extensive use of fixed-term contracts, on-call workers or temporary agency workers should review their employment policies and contract templates well in advance. In particular, the stricter chain rule and the introduction of the bandwidth contract are likely to have a significant impact on how many organizations organize workforce flexibility. The More Security for Flexible Workers Act therefore represents another important step in the broader reform of the Dutch labour market, in which sustainable employment relationships are increasingly becoming the guiding principle.