Dutch freelancers working for less than 36 euros per hour to have stronger rights
By Simone Jacobs
Stronger employment rights have been proposed for freelancers in the Netherlands who earn less than 36 euros per hour. The government also wants to establish criteria that clarify when a worker is classified as an employee versus a self-employed individual.
Dutch government proposes more rights for lower-earning freelancers
Under a proposed bill put forward by Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Eddy van Hijum, self-employed people who earn less than 36 euros per hour would be able to claim employee status and invoke the associated rights. It would then be up to the employer to prove that there is no employment contract and that the worker is, in fact a freelancer.
If they cannot do this and there is evidence of false self-employment, the employer will have to provide the worker with employment benefits such as maternity leave, sick leave, unemployment benefits and more. The threshold of 36 euros per hour will change as the minimum wage is adjusted every year, reports NOS.
“We are strengthening the position of people who are forced to work for a lower salary via a self-employed construction,” wrote van Hijum in the proposal.
More clarification on false self-employment in the Netherlands
The bill would also provide more clarification on how to identify whether you are actually self-employed or an employee. There are criteria to determine whether a worker is being managed, for example, the “client” is stipulating when and how work should be done. “If you are managed in your work and you do not run any entrepreneurial risk, then you are an employee and you are entitled to the security that comes with it,” said van Hijum.
Other criteria also check whether a ZZP’er (self-employed person) is actually self-employed, including determining whether they have independence and are seeking out other clients. “With this bill, we make clearer the distinction between working as a self-employed person or as an employee… And if you really work independently and are an entrepreneur, then there is plenty of room for that.”
The proposal still needs to be approved by the House of Representatives before it goes to through to the Senate. If it is approved, the new bill will come into effect on July 1, 2026.
200.000 “fake freelancers” in the Netherlands
The number of ZZP’ers in the Netherlands has spiked from 630.000 to 1,3 million from 2003 to 2024. The ministry estimates that 200.000 of these are cases of false self-employment, where companies force staff to work as freelancers to avoid paying employment benefits.
“Bogus self-employment is primarily problematic because it leads to unfair competition between both workers and companies,” the ministry writes in the proposal. Lower salaries and less social security mean that “fake freelancers” also contribute less to the economy. “And finally, bogus self-employment encourages exploitation.”
The government has been cracking down on the exploitation of freelancers since the beginning of this year, by conducting more checks on employers. This has led to a rise in the number of workers ending self-employment as more companies hire fewer freelancers.
Never miss a thing!Sign up for our weekly newsletters with important news stories, expat events and special offers.
Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training. Read more