Most Dutch households don't pay their domestic worker when they take sick leave

Nine out of ten Dutch households do not pay their domestic worker during illness, even though they have been legally required to do so for nearly 20 years, BNR reports based on a Ph.D. study by sociologist David de Kort at Utrecht University.

Paid sick leave for domestic workers has been regulated via the Domestic Services Regulation (Rdah) since 2007. The scheme states that the household is the domestic worker’s employer, for both legal and undeclared work, and that comes with obligations.

“Almost 20 years after its introduction, most households are unaware of the scheme,” De Kort said. “Logically, policy needs some time to settle and generate awareness, but that regulation was adopted back in 2007.”

De Kort’s research showed that only 10 percent of Dutch households pay their domestic worker when they take a sick day. Only 7 percent provide paid leave when the cleaner goes on vacation. And when households go on vacation themselves, more than half stop paying their domestic worker, De Kort said.

According to the Rdah, households as employers are obliged to pay their domestic worker during illness for a period of six weeks. Households must also adhere to the minimum wage, pay 8 percent holiday allowance, and the domestic worker is entitled to vacation days.

Households typically adhere to minimum wage, at least at the start of employment. But De Kort’s research shows that domestic workers rarely receive wage increases. “Moreover, domestic helpers also have to live off that salary when they are sick or go on vacation, since they often receive nothing then. In addition, they do not accrue a pension, so they should set aside some of their salary for that as well.”

The Rdah rules apply for both legal and undeclared work, platform expert Martijn Arets, who previously studied Helping, a now-bankrupt platform for domestic helpers, told the broadcaster. “That is also the case if the domestic helper is paid in cash. Or if you work with a platform or know someone through word of mouth. That does not matter to the legislator,” Arets said.

According to Matthias Stuij, an employment lawyer at Grant Thornton Accountants en Adviseurs, domestic workers who are missing out on income can claim this wage retroactively, even without a signed contract. “In principle, there are no written requirements for an employment contract. If it has been agreed verbally that a domestic helper will come to work for a household, or if it is written on the back of a beer coaster, so to speak, that is sufficient, provided that the requirements of an employment contract are also met: wages, work, and authority.”

Stuij expects that domestic helpers who take this matter to court would stand a good chance of winning. But due to the time and effort involved, he doesn’t expect that many domestic workers will turn to the court and will, at most, raise the issue with their employer.