A zero-hours contract is an on-call contract without an agreed number of working hours: the employer calls, and the employee works. It is attractive to employers because it appears to place all the flexibility on one side. Dutch law has steadily removed that appearance, and legislation already published will remove the contract itself.
The rules that already apply
Three protections govern on-call work. The employee must be called at least four days in advance, in writing or electronically; a call made later than that need not be answered. If the employer cancels or changes the call within those four days, the employee is still entitled to be paid for the hours originally called. And each call gives an entitlement to at least three hours’ pay, even where the actual work is shorter.
After twelve months on an on-call contract, the employer must offer the employee a fixed number of hours, based on the average worked over the preceding twelve months. That offer must be made in writing and repeated annually; an employer who fails to make it owes the wage over those hours regardless.
Alongside that, an employee whose actual working pattern differs structurally from the contract can rely on the presumption that the agreed working time equals the average of the previous three months, and ask for the contract to be adjusted accordingly.
What changes from 2028
The More Security for Flexible Workers Act was passed in 2026 and published in the Staatsblad on 15 July 2026. From 1 January 2028 the zero-hours contract disappears and is replaced by the bandwidth contract, in which a minimum number of hours is agreed and the maximum may not exceed one hundred and thirty per cent of that minimum. The employee is guaranteed the minimum and can be called up to the ceiling.
Exceptions remain for pupils and students. Contracts concluded before the new rules take effect continue under the old law until their end date.
The same act tightens the chain rule for fixed-term contracts, which matters because on-call contracts are usually fixed-term as well: see our article on the fixed-term employment contract.
What employers should do now
Two things are worth doing well before 2028. Establish what employees on zero-hours contracts actually work, because that average determines both the annual offer of fixed hours and the minimum under a future bandwidth contract. And check that the annual offer is in fact being made and documented: it is the single most common source of retrospective wage claims in this area, and the liability accumulates silently.
What employees should know
You are not obliged to accept a call made with less than four days’ notice, and refusing one is not a ground for dismissal. If you have worked structurally more hours than your contract says, you can ask for it to be adjusted. And if you have been on an on-call contract for more than a year without receiving a written offer of fixed hours, you may have a claim for the wage over those hours.
Advice
We advise employers on on-call arrangements and on preparing for the bandwidth contract, and employees on claims arising from calls, cancellations and the annual offer. Please contact Law & More.
