New Rules for Temps and Temp Agencies as of 1 January 2026

On 1 January 2026, the new collective labour agreement for temporary agency workers will take effect. As of this date, temp workers will be entitled to equivalent working and employment conditions. Compared to the current rules on user company remuneration, this is an important change. Social partners in the temp agency sector are already anticipating the legislative proposal of the More Certainty for Flex Workers Act that was submitted in May 2025.

Under the new collective labour agreement (‘CAO’), temp workers will be entitled to working and employment conditions minimally equivalent to those of employees of the user company in identical or similar jobs. ‘Working and employment conditions’ include all basic and non-basic working and employment conditions. This is a big extension compared to what temp workers can currently claim under the user company remuneration scheme. 

Basic working and employment conditions are the wages and other benefits and the schemes of working and rest hours. The CAO does not specify what must be understood by this exactly. However, we do know from European case law that the term ‘wages and other benefits’ has to be interpreted broadly: these are all considerations, in cash or in kind, which are granted directly or indirectly, and are mandatory or voluntary. This includes practically all working and employment conditions. The employers’ organisations ABU and NBBU have also understood this, as appears from the website ‘wijzerbelonen.nl’ [remunerating wiser] that they created to provide more information on the new CAO. Basic working and employment conditions also include, for example, an allowance for solar panels, a budget for study, or the use of a gym in the client’s building

Non-basic working and employment conditions are those not included in basic working and employment conditions. On the website mentioned above, the ABU and NBBU have so far only designated the pension contributions that employers pay for employees as a non-basic working and employment condition. They follow the government in this, which also took this position in the above-mentioned bill. Incidentally, the pension payment itself is not designated as a working and employment condition. 

The new CAO regime does not dictate that all working and employment conditions should be exactly the same in practice, as long as the temp worker gets equivalent working and employment conditions when all is added up. Moreover, this is subject to the condition that the total of basic working and employment conditions must be at least equivalent. In other words: basic working and employment conditions can only be compensated by other basic working and employment conditions. On the other hand, non-basic working and employment conditions can be compensated by basic working and employment conditions. For example, a lower pension contribution can be compensated by a higher hourly wage. 

It is the task of temp agencies to determine the remuneration timely and correctly. To do this, the temp agency depends on the information provided by the client – the user company. Under the Waadi (Placement of Personnel by Intermediaries Act), user companies are obliged to inform temp agencies properly about this remuneration. 

Prior to 1 January 2026, temp agencies will have to inquire with their clients about the working and employment conditions that apply to employees in equal or equivalent positions. On the basis of this information, the equivalent remuneration must then be established and communicated to the temp worker. 

On the site wijzerbelonen.nl you can find a step-by-step plan to arrive at the correct remuneration, a template questionnaire, and a further clarification through explanations and examples.

Although it is the task of the temp agency to establish the working and employment conditions according to the CAO, it may be advisable for the user company to monitor that this is done carefully. After all, temp workers may claim payment of the (correct) wages directly from the user company.

On wijzerbelonen.nl, three routes are presented by which a temp agency can arrive at an equivalent package:

1. Tying in with all working and employment conditions: In this variant, the temp agency ties in as much as possible with all the working and employment conditions of the user company. If no direct tying in is possible, the agency may offer an equivalent scheme of its own.
2. Tying in and partially own working and employment conditions: In this variant, the temp agency ties in with the client's working and employment conditions as far as the allowances are concerned (i.e. conditions that temp workers get in any case, such as wages and holidays). For the entitlements, they prepare a package of their own. These are conditions that are harder to measure in money, such as special leave or a training budget.
3. A package of working and employment conditions of its own with a project bonus: in this variant, the temp agency prepares a full package of its own, in which compensation is granted if the user company offers better working and employment conditions in a particular project.

Temp agencies will have to scrutinize their employment benefits package before 1 January 2026 and make sure that it is demonstrably equivalent to that of employees of the client in identical or equivalent jobs. 

Clients will have to inform the temp agency properly about the working and employment conditions in place within their company. Besides, it is advisable to monitor that the package for temps is determined in the correct manner. A temp worker may also bring a claim based on sequential liability against a client, if it appears afterwards that the correct working and employment conditions were not applied.

You can prevent claims from temp workers by starting the above preparations as soon as possible. Do you have any questions about the consequences for your organisation? Please feel free to contact us.