Lower House wants stricter rules for employment agencies, but also requires all kinds of exceptions

That there must be stricter rules for employment agencies to combat abuses with labor migrants, a majority of the House of Representatives agrees. And also about its form: the Schoof cabinet wants to be an ‘admission system’, whereby employment agencies periodically demonstrate that they meet all standards regarding, for example, employment conditions and good housing. New employment agencies pay a deposit of 100,000 euros.

Yet there are still all kinds of worries and doubts about the elaboration, it turned out in the Lower House debate about this bill by Minister Eddy van Hijum (Social Affairs, NSC). This debate had already started three weeks ago, but because the House of Representatives did not make it within the reserved time, it was completed on Tuesday evening.

Coalition parties VVD and BBB are afraid that the rigging of new controlling authorities will lead to bureaucracy and high costs for entrepreneurs. Opposition parties such as GroenLinks-PvdA and SP are afraid that the law will not go far enough. And that rogue entrepreneurs can come up with tricks with which labor migrants can continue to be exploited. For example, Mariëtte Patijn (GroenLinks-PvdA) fears « a waterbed effect to other forms of flex work, such as false independence ».

What the House of Representatives agreed again: it all takes way too long. As early as 2020, a committee, led by former SP leader Emile Roemer in 2020, advised to introduce a permit obligation for employment agencies. And the Labor Inspectorate has been warning for years that it is unable to effectively control the large number of employment agencies in the Netherlands, more than 20,000.

The previous cabinet began to write this bill and wanted it to start on January 1, 2025. That date was repeatedly postponed and now there is no deadline at all. Introduction for 2028 does not seem feasible.

The bill to entrepreneurs

Minister Van Hijum also wants to speed up, he said. « This law does not come into effect a day later than possible. » But this is a far -reaching law, he explained, in which the government intervenes in a commercial market. « This must not only be done quickly, but also carefully. »

For example, a completely new government agency must be decorated with 200 full -time jobs, which will determine whether employment agencies get and retain access to the market. The costs of this are for the employment agencies and according to VVD member Thierry Aartsen, thus threatens to create an ever -expanding bureaucracy.

Originally the average costs would be around 500 euros per employment agency, Aartsen said, but the latest estimates are based on more than 2,000 euros. « You cannot continue to send the bill to entrepreneurs infinitely. » But Van Hijum did not want to make promises about the maximum costs per entrepreneur, as the VVD member asked. The cabinet also does not want unnecessarily high costs, he said, but by putting a maximum in the law, there may also be too little money for a functioning system.

No exceptions

Van Hijum also did not want to comment on other wishes of the House of Representatives. Many parties believe that the law still contributes too little to the correct registration of labor migrants with their municipality. Municipalities often have a poor view of labor migrants and situations of exploitation and overhains.

Temporary employment agencies must ‘promote’ good registration, Van Hijum recently added to his bill. But that requirement is not enforced, to the dissatisfaction of a large part of the room. Don Ceder (ChristenUnie): « Isn’t this the textbook example of the toothless tiger? » According to the minister, enforcement of this is so complex that it would further delay the introduction of the law.

Van Hijum also does not like the exception of all kinds of sectors, for which there has been a lot of lobbying in recent months. The ChristenUnie and SGP require an exception for social workplaces, BBB, NSC and SGP for MBO learning work processes, the VVD for the security industry and think for paid top sport. But that also makes the law more complex and more difficult to maintain, Van Hijum said. « And it creates evasion routes for rogue entrepreneurs. »

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives votes on the law, which can probably count on a large majority, and about the changes that MPs proposed.

According to NSC MP Ilse Saris, her party colleague Van Hijum does earn ‘a ribbon’, in reference to asylum minister Marjolein Faber (PVV) whose position is now under fire, for this « first law that limits and regulates migration ».

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