Workers’ rights: Netherlands

In the Netherlands almost all truck drivers work under the sector collective agreement (CAO Beroepsgoederenvervoer), which is binding on employers and gives more than the law: pay scales, supplements, 8% holiday allowance. Many foreigners are hired through temp agencies (uitzendbureau): legal, but the agency must be registered and pay no less than the client's own drivers.

• Contract and CAO
• Pay: at least €14.99 an hour, 8% holiday allowance, bank account only
• Leave and sickness
• Dismissal: only via UWV or the court
• Damage and fines: the employee pays only for intent
• EU rules: they apply in this country too
• Where to turn

Contract and CAO

Law: BW 7:655, Wet allocatie arbeidskrachten (Waadi), CAO Beroepsgoederenvervoer

• Working conditions in writing within a week: place, role, pay, hours, CAO. Probation of at most 1 month on contracts of 6 months to 2 years and 2 months on permanent ones; no probation is allowed on contracts up to 6 months.
• After three fixed-term contracts or three years the contract automatically becomes permanent. Via an agency: after 52 weeks in phase A you move to phase B with a right to a fixed-term contract.
• The agency may not charge you a placement fee (Waadi Art. 3). Check the agency's registration with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) and the SNA mark.

Rijksoverheid: arbeidsovereenkomstCAO Beroepsgoederenvervoer (FNV)

Pay: at least €14.99 an hour, 8% holiday allowance, bank account only

Law: Wet minimumloon en minimumvakantiebijslag (WML), art. 7a, 13

• The minimum hourly wage from 1 July 2026 is €14.99 gross for workers aged 21+; it is adjusted every 1 January and 1 July. Under the CAO drivers earn more (scale by experience and qualification). Holiday allowance of 8% of annual pay is paid separately, usually in May.
• The minimum wage must be paid into a bank account; cash is prohibited. A payslip (loonstrook) is mandatory. No deductions from the minimum wage are allowed except rent for certified housing (up to 25%) and health insurance, only with your written authorisation.
• Fines, 'damage' and 'administration fees' may not be deducted from the minimum wage. The Labour Inspectorate fines employers for this.

Rijksoverheid: minimumloon

Leave and sickness

Law: BW 7:634, 7:629; Wet verbetering poortwachter

• Leave of at least four times the weekly hours a year (20 days full time), usually 24 days or more under the CAO.
• The employer pays sick pay for up to 2 years: at least 70% of wages (not below the minimum wage in the first year), topped up to 100% in the first year under the transport CAO. No note from your own doctor is needed: you report sick to the employer and the company doctor (bedrijfsarts) assesses you.

Rijksoverheid: ziekte en loondoorbetaling

Dismissal: only via UWV or the court

Law: BW 7:669–7:673, 7:670b; Vreemdelingenwet

• The employer cannot simply dismiss you: they need UWV permission (economic reasons, long illness) or a court decision (kantonrechter). Notice is 1 to 4 months depending on service. On employer-initiated dismissal you are owed a transition payment: one third of a month's pay per year.
• A termination agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst) can be revoked in writing within 14 days, even after signing. A fixed-term contract ends by itself, but the employer must give one month's notice of non-renewal or owes up to a month's pay.
• The single permit (GVVA) is tied to the employer. If you lose your job, inform the IND; usually you are given time to find a new employer, who applies for a new permit via UWV. A complaint to the inspectorate does not affect your status.

UWV: ontslagIND: work

Damage and fines: the employee pays only for intent

Law: BW 7:661, 7:632; WML art. 13

• For damage to the truck, cargo or third parties the employee is liable only for intent or deliberate recklessness (BW 7:661). Scratches, negligent accidents and damaged cargo are the employer's risk.
• Fines for your own traffic offences (speeding) may be passed on to you, but not by deduction from the minimum wage and not for tachograph violations caused by the employer's schedule.
• Housing from the employer or agency must be certified (SNF) and rent deducted may not exceed 25% of the minimum wage. Withholding a passport is illegal.

Stichting Normering Flexwonen (SNF)

EU rules: they apply in this country too

Driving and rest times: one rule for the whole EU

Law: Регламент (ЕС) 561/2006, Директива 2002/15/ЕС

• After 4.5 hours of driving, a 45-minute break (15 + 30 allowed). No more than 9 hours a day, 10 twice a week. No more than 56 hours a week and 90 in two weeks.
• Daily rest of 11 hours (9 hours up to three times between weekly rests). Weekly rest of 45 hours; a reduced 24-hour rest must be compensated.
• The regular weekly rest may not be taken in the cab; the employer pays for accommodation. Every 4 weeks (or 3 after two consecutive reduced rests) the employer must organise your return home or to the operating base.
• The tachograph card is personal. Never lend it and never drive on someone else's card: fines and a driving ban hit you personally.
• Employers may not pay bonuses for distance or delivery speed that encourage violations (Art. 10 of Reg. 561/2006). A schedule that cannot be met without violations is the employer's violation.
• A driver's working time (driving + loading + ordered waiting) averages at most 48 hours a week, maximum 60. With night work, at most 10 hours per shift.

Regulation (EC) 561/2006 (EUR-Lex)European Commission: driving time and rest periods

Pay of the country where you work: posting rules for drivers

Law: Директива (ЕС) 2020/1057 (Mobility Package), Директива 96/71/ЕС

• For cabotage (domestic runs in another country) or transport between two countries neither of which is your company's country, you are entitled from day one to the pay rules of the country you drive in: its minimum wage, supplements, allowances.
• Bilateral runs (from the company's country and back) and transit are not covered.
• The employer must file a posting declaration in the IMI system and give you a copy. If you work permanently from another country and are employed 'at home' only for cheaper pay, that is a letterbox company and the law is on your side.

European Commission: posting of driversRoad Transport Posting Declaration portal

You do not pay for a job: not an agent, not an employer

Law: Конвенция МОТ № 181 (ст. 7), национальные законы о занятости

• Charging a worker for job placement is prohibited or strictly limited in EU countries. A 'job fee', 'visa deposit' or 'runaway insurance' is a sign of fraud.
• No one may keep your passport or driving licence 'for safekeeping'. The passport always stays with you; a copy is enough for the employer.
• A 'debt' for tickets and paperwork deducted from your pay for months, and a ban on quitting until it is worked off, are signs of forced labour. That is a crime in every EU country; contact the hotline linked below.

ILO Convention No. 181European Labour Authority: rights of posted and mobile workers

You must receive your working conditions in writing

Law: Директива (ЕС) 2019/1152 о прозрачных условиях труда

• Within 7 days of starting: place of work, job, pay and how it is paid, working time, probation, leave, notice periods. The rest within a month. If there is no document, demand it; it is your right.
• Probation of no more than 6 months. A second job may only be banned for objective reasons (e.g. safety and driving/rest rules).
• Training the employer must provide by law or contract (e.g. periodic Code 95 training) is free and counts as working time.

Directive (EU) 2019/1152 (EUR-Lex)

If you are from outside the EU: permit and changing employer

Law: Директива (ЕС) 2024/1233 о едином разрешении

• The single permit gives the same rights as local workers: equal pay, working conditions, health and safety, social security, union membership.
• The recast (2024/1233, to be transposed by May 2026) allows changing employer by notifying the authority and keeping the permit for up to 3 months without a job (6 months if you have held it over two years). Countries implement this differently; check the country part below.
• A complaint to the labour inspectorate does not cost you your residence permit. An employer who threatens 'deportation' over a complaint is breaking the law.

Directive (EU) 2024/1233 (EUR-Lex)EU Immigration Portal

Where to turn

Official sources

• Wet minimumloon en minimumvakantiebijslag (wetten.overheid.nl)
• Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, titel 10 (arbeidsovereenkomst)
• Rijksoverheid: minimumloon
• EUR-Lex: Regulation (EC) 561/2006
• EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2020/1057 (posting of drivers)
• EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2019/1152 (transparent working conditions)
• EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2024/1233 (single permit)

This is a general overview, not legal advice. Checked on 25/10/2026. Amounts and deadlines change: verify via the links to official sources.

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