Legal Assistance with Employment Law

Questioner

Good afternoon, I have a min max contract of 16-164 hours (indefinite) at the moment. I have been working for the company for over 2 years and always work at least 30 hours a week. Now I am 5 months pregnant and my employer has decided to schedule us for less than 24 hours a week. Without discussing this with me first. My question now is, can he just do this? If I become ill during my pregnancy, will I be paid the minimum hours, namely 16 hours, or an average of the last hours worked? Thank you in advance!

Lawyer

Because you have been working for this employer for (much) longer than 3 months, there is a legal presumption of the scope of work based on the average number of hours over the last 3 months. The employer can refute a claim if he can demonstrate that the extra work is only temporary (for example due to a specific project, replacement or seasonal pressure). It may also be that other agreements apply to extra work, laid down in a collective labour agreement. This concerns Article 7:610b of the Dutch Civil Code: If an employment contract has lasted at least three months, the agreed work in any month is presumed to have a scope equal to the average scope of the work per month in the three preceding months. This is not only important for the future, but also for the amount of your benefit. Labor law is my specialty. Feel free to contact me without obligation if you cannot reach an agreement with your employer. Ir/Madam, From XXX I will work for you with an on-call contract / employment contract for XXX hours per week/month. On average, I have worked more hours (at least) in the past three / XXX months, namely XXX hours. I would therefore like to have these hours included in my employment contract. I therefore request that you change my employment contract to XXX hours per week/month on the basis of Article 7:610b of the Dutch Civil Code and/or any provision in the collective labour agreement. If you believe that you do not need to comply with my request, I request that you inform me and explain why you hold this opinion. I look forward to hearing from you within 14 days of today.