Employees of UvA JobService BV are engaged on a secondment basis. JobService seconds you to a client where you will perform your duties. There are several things to consider when you sign a secondment contract with us, such as: What points are covered in the contract? What should you do in the event of illness or incapacity for work? What are the pension arrangements? These pages contain information about your contract.
A secondment contract is a type of employment contract and is therefore subject to labour law. An important aspect of labour law with regard to secondment contracts in the Netherlands is the ketenregeling (provisions on succession of fixed-term employment contracts).
Your employment contract with JobService covers the following issues:
- The term of the contract
- The period of notice
- Trial period
- Payment of salary
- Leave hours
- Holiday pay and year-end bonus
On these pages you can also find information about extending, terminating and renewing your contract.
The term of the contract
The employment contract states the dates upon which your secondment commences and terminates. Once the termination date is reached, the employment contract legally comes to end. This means that after that period, neither you nor JobService need to take action to terminate the employment contract.
The conditions under which fixed-term contracts change into permanent contracts are set down in the Balanced Labour Market Act.
In principle a secondment contract is a fixed-term employment contract, with a maximum term.
Contract term and regulations concerning the succession of fixed-term employment contractsThe duration of the fixed contracts are based on the CAO NU
Fixed-term contracts that are interrupted for less than 6 months are considered consecutive in terms of the regulations concerning the succession of fixed-term employment contracts.
Exception to the rule is the employee who is hired after state pension age (AOW). This employee may have 4 consecutive fixed-term contracts with a maximum duration of 24 months
If the terms and conditions of the work done for a subsequent consecutive employer are to a large extent similar to those of the previous employer, the previous contract will be considered part of the chain of successive fixed-term contracts. JobService may therefore be obliged to include a previous contract in the chain.
The period of notice
You may terminate the employment contract before the stated termination date, in writing by letter or email. You must give one month’s notice. JobService may terminate the contract before the stated termination date if it has obtained a dismissal permit from UWV. JobService must also give one month’s notice.
Trial period
For contracts longer than six months, a trial period of one month applies. For contracts of two years or more, a trial period of two months applies. During this trial period, both parties are free to terminate the agreement with immediate effect and with no right to compensation.
Contracts of six months or less do not have a trial period. However you are free to terminate the contract, provided you give one month’s notice.
Payment of salary
Your salary will be paid monthly, usually before the 25th of the month. You will be sent your annual income statement in February of the new calendar year. You will need this for your tax return.
Save your payslips and annual income statement in a safe place for your own administration; you will only receive them once.
You can arrange to have your payslips sent to you digitally each month. JobService will use your private email address for this, not the email address of the place of work to which you are seconded. This is because JobService will also send you digital records after your contract has terminated.
Leave hours
JobService calculates your leave hours pro rata.
If you are seconded to the UvA, you are entitled to 232 leave hours per year for full-time (38 hours) employment. You are required to take the days between Christmas and New Year as 16 compulsory leave hours.
The UvA is also permitted to allocate two working days each year as compulsory holidays.
You must plan your leave hours/holidays in consultation with your supervisor or manager. You and your supervisor or manager are advised to keep a record of your leave hours/holidays; you do not need to inform JobService.
You should use up all your leave hours before the termination of your contract. If you fail to do so, any remaining leave hours will lapse and will not be paid in lieu. Remaining leave hours may only be paid in lieu if JobService receives a request to do so from your workplace supervisor or manager.
Holiday pay and end-of-year bonus
Your holiday pay is calculated as 8% of your gross annual salary and is paid in May.
If you are seconded to the UvA, you will also receive a end-of-year bonus amounting to 8.3% of your gross annual salary, paid in December. If you are seconded elsewhere, any end-of-year bonus will depend on the terms and conditions of employment at your workplace.
Once your employment contract has terminated you will receive the pro-rata holiday pay and end-of-year bonus for that working year in the first week of the month in which the contract terminated.
Extending your employment contract
Generally speaking, your employment contract can be extended no more than two times and within a period of two years. Furthermore the duration and extension of the contract is based on article 2.3 of the collective labour agreement (CAO NU)
Upon receipt of a request from your employer to extend your contract, JobService will send the extension letter to your home address.
Termination of your employment contract
Upon termination of your employment contract with JobService, you will be sent an end-of-employment letter containing information about how to apply for any unemployment benefit or sickness benefit to which you may be entitled.
The policy schedule of your Zwitserleven pension insurance will be sent by Zwitserleven.
New employer and your pension transfer
If your contract has terminated and you have a new employer, you may transfer the pension you have accrued with Zwitserleven to the pension fund of your new employer. For this you should submit a value transfer application to Zwitserleven. You can do this via your new employer’s pension insurance scheme.
You are of course free to leave your accrued pension savings with Zwitserleven.
Termination of employment
If your contract has expired or been cancelled and you have not yet found any alternative employment, then you are officially unemployed. In this case, you should register immediately as a job seeker at UWV (the work placement branch of the Employee Insurance Agency). If you fulfil the weeks requirement you may request unemployment benefit at the UWV.
Post-contractual benefit
You may be entitled to a post-contractual benefit.
This benefit is linked to your entitlement to unemployment benefit. The right to such a benefit is determined analogous to the Non-Statutory Unemployment Regulation of the Dutch Universities (BWNU), as this may apply from time to time.
If you suffer from a long-term incapacity for work and you meet the required conditions, you are entitled to a non-statutory benefit under the WGA (Return to Work (Partially Disabled Persons) Scheme) shortfall benefit. This benefit is determined on the basis of the Sickness and Disability Scheme for the Dutch Universities (ZANU), as this may apply from time to time.
You can find more information about this scheme here.
Transition compensation
Every employee is entitled to transition compensation
- who has not yet reached the age at which they are entitled to a state pension (AOW) and
- who has been dismissed involuntarily and through no fault of their own.
This also applies to employment contracts that end by operation of law.
To calculate the stipulated duration of the transition compensation, the employer looks back and counts all of the employment contracts in the service history, unless there has been a gap of at least six months.
Each year you have a contract will entitle you to a compensation equal to 1/3 of your monthly salary. For periods worked shorter than one year the compensation will be calculated proportionally.
The transition compensation can also be used for training to improve employability.
Re-employment
You may find that after some time the UvA would like to re-employ you on secondment. If JobService still has a copy of your ID and it is still valid, you will be sent the employment contract and the necessary forms by post. If this is not the case, JobService will make an appointment for you to visit its office where you can present your new ID, fill in the forms and sign the employment contract.