Working Time Rules: Netherlands
Netherlands: standard working hours, overtime, rest, annual leave, and record-keeping rules - a practical overview, not legal advice.
Statutory working time
The Working Hours Act permits up to 12 hours a day and 60 a week, subject to averages of 55 over four weeks and 48 over sixteen weeks. A 40-hour contract is not the statutory maximum.
Overtime
There is no separate statutory overtime premium; pay for extra hours follows the contract or collective agreement, within the maximum working-time limits of the Working Hours Act.
Rest periods
An employee of 18 or over gets at least 11 uninterrupted hours of rest in every 24, which may be shortened once in any seven-day period to at least 8 hours where the nature of the work requires it. Weekly rest is at least 36 uninterrupted hours in every seven days, or 72 hours in every fourteen, which may be split into stretches of at least 32 hours.
Record-keeping
Employers must keep proper records of working and rest times, good enough for an inspector to check compliance against.
What to check before you rely on this
- The current statutory limits, reference periods, and any opt-outs.
- Sector or collective-agreement rules that may override the defaults.
- How overtime is authorised, recorded, and compensated.
- What working-time records you must keep and for how long.