Dutch temporary employment agencies dismiss non-Dutch employees on the spot much more often than Dutch ones, reports NOS, citing figures from benefits agency UWV that were made public after parliamentary questions from the SP (Dutch Socialist Party).

In the Netherlands, half a million people with a foreign nationality work as temporary workers. This mainly concerns migrant workers, but also people with dual passports. This group, therefore, accounts for 58% of the total number of temporary workers. NOS said that when looking at the summary of dismissals, employers often dismissed these temporary workers on the spot. In 2022, a total of more than 7,400 temporary workers were dismissed in this way. Of these, 83% of the cases involved temporary workers with a foreign passport. Under Dutch law, employers can only dismiss employees on the spot (immediately dismiss) in exceptional and severe circumstances, including serious misconduct in the workplace, such as stealing. 

According to claims in a report by the Dutch Labour Inspectorate earlier this year, unjustly dismissing staff is a profit model for some employment agencies. Estimates in the report claimed that the unlawful practice ‘probably’ allowed employment agencies to save between €1 and €5 million in recent years.

Trade association ABU calls these practices completely unacceptable and speaks of a few bad apples in the sector. The sector wants the inspectorate to tackle dishonest entrepreneurs more quickly and severely. The ABU suspects that the employment agencies that the inspectorate previously had in its sights are still active.