नेदरल्याण्ड्समा सम्बन्ध विच्छेद गर्ने अधिकार: डच कानूनले के चाहिन्छ?

Dutch law has no separate “right to disconnect”. What binds an employer instead is more concrete: the Working Hours Act (Arbeidstijdenwet) fixes daily and weekly rest periods and regulates standby duty, the Working Conditions Act (Arbeidsomstandighedenwet) requires a policy against psychosocial workload, and Article 7:611 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW) sets the standard of good employer conduct. The main exception: if you earn more than three times the statutory minimum wage, most of the Working Hours Act does not apply to you, although the other duties still apply in full.

Why is the right to disconnect not part of Dutch law?

Because the bill that proposed it has not been passed. The initiative bill on reachability outside working hours (Kamerstukken 35536) was submitted in July 2020 by MP Gijs van Dijk and taken over by MP Barbara Kathmann in March 2022; it is still pending in the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer).

The bill would amend the Working Conditions Act to require the employer to discuss availability outside working hours with the unions, the works council or the employees, and to adopt a policy where that availability is experienced as burdensome. Even that bill would not create a right to be unreachable; it would create a duty to talk about it. France and Belgium have disconnection rules, and the European Parliament asked for an EU directive on 21 January 2021, but no directive has followed.

An employee who tells a manager that Dutch law gives a right to switch off is on weak ground. An employee who points out that evening messages break the eleven-hour daily rest period, or that the employer has no policy on psychosocial workload, is on much stronger ground. Our overview of रोजगार कानून in the Netherlands sets out the wider framework.

What does the Working Hours Act require?

It guarantees rest, and it cannot be contracted away. The Act is public law, enforced by the Netherlands Labour Authority (Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie), and binds you regardless of what the employment contract says.

An employee is entitled to an uninterrupted daily rest period of at least 11 hours in every 24 hours, which may be shortened to 8 hours once in every period of seven days where the nature of the work requires it. The weekly rest period is at least 36 consecutive hours in every seven days, or at least 72 hours in every 14 days, which may be split into blocks of at least 32 hours.

Time spent reading and answering work messages is working time. If it falls inside the rest period, that rest period is interrupted. An employer that routinely expects a reply in the evening organises the work in a way the Act does not permit, and the Labour Authority can order it to stop.

When is evening availability actually standby duty?

When the employee must stay reachable and able to start work, that is standby duty (consignatie), a regulated category. The Act limits how many standby periods may be imposed, requires periods free of it and counts a call-out as working time.

An employer that expects staff to monitor a channel in the evening has in substance put them on standby duty. Without acknowledging it, the statutory limits are not applied, the time is not registered and it is not paid. If you need out-of-hours cover, organise it as standby duty with a roster, compensation and the statutory rest built in.

Does the Act apply to high earners?

Mostly not. Under the Working Hours Decree (Arbeidstijdenbesluit), most of the Working Hours Act does not apply to employees earning more than three times the statutory minimum wage. The duty of care under the Working Conditions Act and Article 7:611 BW still apply to them in full, and whether the exclusion fits the European Working Time Directive is contested.

Which rules do the work?

मनोसामाजिक कार्यभार रोक्ने कर्तव्यमा के समावेश छ?

Every employer must have a policy against psychosocial workload, including work pressure and work-related stress, under Article 3(2) of the Working Conditions Act. That duty has a fixed shape: a written risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E) with a plan of action.

If your organisation produces after-hours contact, the RI&E must identify it as a risk and the plan of action must set out the measures, the person responsible and the timeline. The Labour Authority treats an incomplete or absent RI&E as an enforceable failure in itself, and can issue a requirement to comply, stop the work or impose an administrative fine.

The Act also requires you to inform and instruct employees about the risks and the measures taken. A written availability policy discharges that duty: it tells people what is expected of them, and what is not. In practice an inspection usually follows a complaint from the works council, a union or a group of employees.

What can the employment contract require?

Only what is reasonable. Article 7:611 BW requires both parties to act as a good employer and a good employee, and it is the provision under which an expectation of constant availability is most often attacked before the subdistrict court.

The employer’s right to give instructions under Article 7:660 BW stays within the limits of the contract and reasonableness. An instruction to remain reachable outside agreed hours, without compensation and without a demonstrable need, does not survive that test. An employee who agreed to paid standby duty, on the other hand, cannot use good employer conduct to escape it.

Two statutory rules give employees firmer footing. Under Article 7:628b BW, where the work pattern is wholly or largely unpredictable, the employer must set reference days and hours, and the employee may refuse work outside them. Under Article 7:628a BW, an on-call employee must be called up at least four days in advance and keeps the right to pay if a call is cancelled late.

Under the Flexible Working Act, an employee with at least 26 weeks of service may request a change to working hours, working times or place of work, and a more predictable work pattern. The employer must consider the request and give reasons for a refusal.

सामूहिक सम्झौता र कार्य परिषद् कहाँबाट आउँछन्?

They usually hold the most concrete rules. A collective labour agreement (cao) can regulate standby duty, its compensation, response times and periods of guaranteed unavailability, and the individual contract cannot undercut it. Our guide to the सामूहिक श्रम सम्झौताको भूमिका explains how to establish whether one applies.

Under Article 27 of the Works Councils Act (Wet op de ondernemingsraden, WOR), the works council has a right of consent over regulations on working hours, rest times and working conditions. An availability policy falls within that, and a policy introduced without consent can be declared void by the works council. Under Article 23 WOR, the council can also put its own proposal to you and require a reasoned response.

What should an availability policy contain?

Four things. It states the working hours, including core hours for flexible schedules. It states that there is no expectation to read or answer work communications outside those hours, without consequences for assessment or promotion. It defines narrowly what counts as an emergency and which channel is then used. And it records what management will do differently.

Two clauses you can adapt:

काम गर्ने समयभन्दा बाहिर उपलब्धता। कर्मचारीहरूले आफ्नो सहमति भएको काम गर्ने समयभन्दा बाहिर इमेल, तत्काल सन्देश र टेलिफोन कलहरू सहित कामसँग सम्बन्धित सञ्चारहरूको निगरानी गर्ने, पढ्ने वा जवाफ दिने अपेक्षा गरिएको छैन। अर्को कार्य दिनसम्म प्रतिक्रिया स्थगित गर्दा मूल्याङ्कन, पारिश्रमिक वा पदोन्नतिमा कुनै असर पर्दैन।

आपतकालीन अवस्थामा सम्पर्क गर्नुहोस्। जहाँ आपतकालीन अवस्थामा तत्काल कारबाही आवश्यक पर्दछ, त्यहाँ प्रत्यक्ष प्रबन्धकले टेलिफोन मार्फत सम्पर्क गर्छन्। आपतकालीन भनेको त्यस्तो अवस्था हो जसले व्यक्तिहरूलाई, व्यवसायको निरन्तरतामा वा डेटाको सुरक्षामा गम्भीर क्षति पुर्‍याउँछ यदि यसलाई अर्को कार्य दिन अघि सम्बोधन गरिएन भने। अर्को कार्य दिनसम्म पर्खन सक्ने अनुरोध आपतकालीन होइन।

Where staff work from home, the same boundaries and the duty of care under the Working Conditions Act apply; see our guide to the घरबाट काम गर्ने कानुनी नियमहरू.

What if the employer is based abroad?

Dutch rules still apply. The Working Hours Act and the Working Conditions Act are public law and apply to work performed in the Netherlands, whoever the employer is. Under the Rome I Regulation (Article 8), an employee whose contract is governed by foreign law keeps the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where the work is habitually carried out.

In practice: give Dutch staff a local addendum to the global policy, train managers abroad who supervise them, use scheduled sending, and rotate the timing of recurring calls across time zones. Where genuine cover across time zones is needed, roster it as standby duty and pay for it. Our article on क्षेत्राधिकार र कार्यान्वयनका मुद्दाहरू covers the wider cross-border questions.

What does it cost an employer to get this wrong?

Mostly the cost of sickness. Under Article 7:629 BW you must continue to pay at least 70% of the wage of an employee unable to work through illness, for up to 104 weeks, with the statutory minimum wage as a floor in the first year. Burnout is a common and long-running form of incapacity.

Under the Gatekeeper Improvement Act (Wet verbetering poortwachter), the UWV can extend wage payment by up to 52 weeks if your reintegration efforts were insufficient. Dismissal is not available meanwhile, because of the prohibition on termination during illness (Article 7:670 BW).

Where an employee leaves after a period of untenable workload, the subdistrict court can award fair compensation on top of the transition payment (transitievergoeding) if it finds seriously culpable conduct by the employer. The absence of any policy on psychosocial workload is the kind of fact that supports such a finding.

कर्मचारीको रूपमा तपाईंले के जाँच गर्नुपर्छ?

Start by recording the pattern of contact, then use the formal routes. A documented pattern is far more persuasive than an impression.

• Log the date, time, sender and subject of out-of-hours messages and any response time that was expected.
• Check the working hours in your contract and whether a cao regulates standby duty or compensation.
• Check whether you earn more than three times the statutory minimum wage, which limits reliance on the rest periods.
• Raise the issue in writing with your manager or HR, referring to the agreed hours and the duty to prevent psychosocial workload.
• Consider a request under the Flexible Working Act or reliance on reference days and hours under Article 7:628b BW.
• Do not resign before taking advice: it weakens your position for unemployment benefit and any later claim.

रोजगारदाताको रूपमा तपाईंले के जाँच गर्नुपर्छ?

Check whether your practice matches the rules that already bind you. Most risks come from informal habits, not written instructions.

• Check whether the RI&E and plan of action address after-hours availability.
• Check whether evening monitoring is in substance standby duty, and if so roster and pay it.
• Check whether daily and weekly rest periods are respected for staff below the high-earner threshold.
• Submit any availability policy to the works council for consent under Article 27 WOR.
• Give staff supervised from abroad a Dutch addendum to the global policy.

What can we do for you with the right to disconnect?

हाम्रो रोजगार वकिल act for employers, employees and works councils on availability and standby arrangements.

• We draft or review your availability policy and the emergency clause.
• We check your standby arrangements against the Working Hours Act and the cao.
• हामी धारा २७ WOR अन्तर्गत कार्य परिषद्को सहमतिको लागि अनुरोध तयार गर्छौं।
• We assess an employee’s position and draft the written complaint or Flexible Working Act request.
• We advise on wage continuation, reintegration and dismissal risks when workload leads to long-term absence.

सारांश

• Dutch law gives no general right to disconnect; bill 35536 has been pending since 2020.
• The Working Hours Act protects rest: 11 hours daily and 36 hours weekly, interrupted when work messages are handled.
• Structural evening or weekend contact is in substance standby duty and should be organised and paid as such.
• The Working Conditions Act requires a policy against psychosocial workload, backed by an RI&E and plan of action.
• The works council has a right of consent over any availability policy.

बारम्बार सोधिने प्रश्नहरू