seasonal workers in the Limburg linen made work weeks of eighty hours and received only 7 euros per hour. The employer was fined 85,000 euros for letting staff work too long and below the minimum wage. But what can an employer ask of temporary staff?
it’s spring, so the high season for temporary staff is coming again. The hospitality sector is getting busier because of the tourists and the agricultural sector is already allowed to harvest this summer.
in april, the first asparagus are already pricked. And to keep up with the high demand, seasonal workers or peak workers are deployed. There are rules attached to this, but not every employer adheres to them. For example, the seasonal workers in linen had to work at least eighty hours a week for an asparagus grower.
the migrant workers received 7 euros per hour for sticking asparagus, while the minimum wage is 9.96 gross per hour. And from the salary, the travel time to the various asparagus plots was also deducted. The asparagus grower was fined 85,000 euros and must stop his work if he again Underpays his employees within five years.
up to three temporary contracts in a row
in law, every employee is equal, says employment lawyer William Seijbel of Hanze advocaat. “Everyone has the right to minimum wage and normal working hours. What happened in linen is modern slavery.”
in the law there is therefore also little difference between someone with a temporary (seasonal)contract and someone with a permanent job. “From a legal point of view, the chain determination in contracts is the biggest difference,” says Seijbel.
“in principle, everyone has the right to vacation, but the request may be rejected.”
William Seijbel, employment lawyer
the chain provision means that a company can offer a seasonal worker up to three temporary contracts. Then the employer has the choice: either give them a permanent contract or not hire them for three months before a new temporary contract can be offered. In other forms of work, there should be a six-month break between temporary contracts.
peak worker versus seasonal worker
If you look outside the law, you will see more differences between seasonal work and permanent work. “With seasonal work, not everything is fixed by law. Employers and trade unions can make changes to the collective agreement,” says Seijbel. This ensures that, for example, a peak worker in Open cultivation (allotment cultivation, arable farming, flower bulb cultivation, tree cultivation and fruit tree cultivation) has different rights than a seasonal worker.
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this is how a peak worker works for up to eight connected weeks per year. “He receives the minimum wage and an additional 0.7 percent, because he does not accrue a survivor’s pension,” says Linda Slagter of FNV Agrarisch Groen. “In addition, he also receives a surcharge of 20 percent on the hourly wage at the end of the employment, because he does not accrue vacation leave and holiday allowance.”
seasonal workers are employed by a grower or farmer for a longer period, namely a maximum of six months. This staff is paid according to the law minimum wage and can also apply for vacation leave. “Because they work continuously for longer, they also build up the right to leave,” explains Slagter. “So they can take a week off.”
right to a week off
but Seijbel expects that it will be easier for the employer to reject leave. “In principle, everyone has the right to vacation, but the request may be rejected if the company suffers from the absence of a staff member.”
so if the employee exactly wants vacation during the peak moment, the employer may disapprove of this. “But then there must be another opportunity for vacation. Surely there are times when it is calmer.”
but even in the busiest moments, an employer should not just let his staff overwork. A seasonal or peak worker is never meant to run eighty-hour weeks. “As an adult, you can work a maximum of sixty hours a week. If you spread the number of working hours over sixteen weeks, it should not exceed 48 hours per week,” explains Seijbel. “No matter how busy it is, the expectations for the staff must remain healthy.”
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