At the introduction of the first bill of the Work and Security Act, it was stated that it could be determined by ministerial regulation that for certain branches of industry, the deviation from the obligation to continue paying wages would not be possible. Literally, it said : "As far as zero-hours contracts in the care sector are concerned, the Labour Foundation made such a request at the time of the Social Accord. In the Social Agreement, it has been agreed that the Cabinet will comply with that request." In short, the Cabinet would ensure that zero hours contracts or min/max contracts in the care sector would be reduced by means of a ministerial regulation.
WWZ
Ultimately, the legislative text of the Work and Security Act also includes (Section 7:628, subsection 8, of the Dutch Civil Code) that it would not be possible to deviate from the obligation to continue paying wages for a specific sector by virtue of a regulation of the Minister. However, to date no use has been made of this. This also means that under the Act there is no exemption for the healthcare sector. Under the Act, zero-hours contracts and min/max contracts may still be concluded in the healthcare sector as in all other sectors.
CLA
There is, however, a 'but'. The Minister has decided not to intervene yet, because it appears that the various CAOs in the health sector have already worked on reducing the number of zero-hours contracts or min/max contracts. For example, the CLA for Nursing and Care Homes and Home Care (VVT) stipulates that the entrepreneur shall not use zero-hours contracts unless it concerns an exceptional situation of unforeseen and unplannable cause. A similar provision can be found in the CAO for Hospitals. Based on this, the Minister wrote to the Labour Foundation on 19 December 2014 that he will first look at how to make sound agreements in the collective agreements on reducing zero-hours contracts in the first six months of 2015.
Advice
Based on the law, there is currently no deviating regime for the healthcare sector, nor for any other sector, with regard to the use of zero hours contracts or min/max contracts. However, it is important that you check carefully whether you fall within the scope of a collective agreement.
If you want to know more about this, you can always contact one of our labour law specialists.