Advice on employment conflicts | Legal aid centre

Questioner

I have a contract for 12 hours per week. I am scheduled 4 days per week from 06:00-09:00 (=12 hours per week), but the actual time that I work is usually from 06:00-10:00 (15 hours per week). Since January 2014 I have worked an average of 13.5 hours per month overtime (an average of 3 hours per week more), so I actually work 15 hours per week instead of the 12 hours on my contract. Now they have changed the filling process slightly and I am scheduled 3 days a week from 6am-10am (less than 12 hours per week). Is there no legal presumption of working hours here?

Lawyer

That could be the case, there could be several things going on: 1. Perhaps the subject of flexi-hours, minus hours, extra hours (overtime) and the settlement thereof (e.g. with an annual system) is regulated in the collective labor agreement or employment contract. The agreement may also state that you work an average of x hours per week. If this is not the case, the employer bears the risk if he allows an employee to work too few hours. This is regulated in Article 7:628 paragraph 1 of the Dutch Civil Code: The employee retains the right to the wages determined on a time-based basis if he has not performed the agreed work due to a cause that should reasonably be attributable to the employer. You are then entitled to wages for these hours, whether or not they are worked. 2. Because you have been working for this employer for (much) longer than 3 months, there is a legal presumption of the scope of work of 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. Labor law is my specialty. Feel free to contact me without obligation if you cannot reach an agreement with your employer.