On-call workers are becoming increasingly popular in the Netherlands. You are an on-call worker when you come to work when your employer calls you. This can be for a few hours, but also for whole days. The growing popularity of stand-by workers requires different contract forms than usual. The contracts for on-call workers are as follows:
- On-call contract with agreement;
- Zero hour contract;
- Min-max contract.
What is an on-call contract with a pre-agreement?
A pre-contract on call is actually nothing more than a letter of intent. Your employer is not obliged to summon you for work and you, as an on-call worker with a pre-contract, are not obliged to respond to any summons. If you do respond to the call and start working, an employment contract will be created and the agreements made in the preliminary agreement will apply. The characteristics of a pre-contract on-call contract are as follows:
- When your employer calls you, you decide whether you want to work;
- If you respond to your employer's call, an employment contract is created under which the agreements made in the preliminary agreement apply;
- The employer only pays you wages for the hours worked;
- After three consecutive contracts, a permanent contract is created or when you have had consecutive temporary contracts for more than 2 years.
What is a zero hour contract?
A zero-hour contract is an employment contract with a deferred performance obligation, whereby it is not agreed how many hours will be worked per period. Your employer can call you if he needs you and you will only be paid for your hours worked. You do have to be available for calls from your employer and you are in principle obliged to start working if you are called up.
With a zero-hour contract, a very high degree of flexibility is therefore expected from you. The characteristics of a zero-hour contract are as follows:
- You go to work when your employer calls you;
- You have a contract for a definite or indefinite period, but no agreement has been made about the number of hours you work;
- Your employer only pays wages for the hours worked. (This appointment must be on paper and only applies to the first 6 months that you work);
- Every time you are called up to work, you are entitled to a minimum wage of 3 hours. Even if you only work 1 hour;
- Your employer has an obligation to continue to pay wages if you have been employed for more than 6 months and are called up, but cannot work due to a cause within the employer's risk sphere;
- If the employment contract has lasted at least three months, you can invoke the legal presumption of the scope of employment. This means that you can ask your employer to adjust the employment contract to the average number of hours you have worked in the past three months. This may be important, for example, in the event of illness and the right to continued payment of wages based on the actual number of hours worked (if this right to continued payment of wages is not excluded).
What is a min-max contract?
A min-max contract is an employment contract in which a minimum number of hours is set. These are called the warranty hours. This minimum number of hours entitles you to wages every period and you also accrue vacation days, for example. In addition to this minimum number of hours, you may be called up for more hours.
Unlike as an on-call worker with a preliminary agreement, you are obliged to comply with that call with a min-max contract. In addition, there are many other characteristics that belong to a min-max contract. These are as follows:
- You have a contract for a definite or indefinite period, for a minimum number of hours per week, month or year;
- The agreement states the maximum number of hours for which you can be called up;
- If your employer does not call you for the guarantee hours, he must still pay them out;
- You must work up to the agreed maximum number of on-call hours;
- Your employer pays wages for the total number of hours worked;
- You get the hours you on top of the warranty hours, work is paid, but this only applies for the first 6 months;
- Your employer has an obligation to continue to pay wages if you have been employed for more than 6 months and are called up, but cannot work due to a cause within the employer's risk sphere;
- Does your employment contract state that you work less than 15 hours per week? Then you are entitled to a minimum wage of 3 hours every time you are called up. Even if you only work 1 hour;
- If the employment contract has lasted at least three months, you can invoke the legal presumption of the scope of employment. This means that you can ask your employer to adjust the employment contract to the average number of hours you have worked in the past three months. This may be important, for example, in the event of illness and the right to continued payment of wages based on the actual number of hours worked (if this right to continued payment of wages is not excluded).