Companies in the leisure industry, such as campsites and holiday resorts, often hire young people to entertain children. They are often hired for a few hours a day or for a daily allowance. In practice, however, they are on site all day and in the evening.
This creates a risk underpayment and excessively long working hours. Employees must be paid at least the statutory minimum wage applicable to them. Furthermore, they are not allowed to work more than a certain number of hours per day and they must receive sufficient rest periods.
Time registration
The Working Hours Act requires proper registration of working hours. This means that start, break and end times must be registered. The hirer of the entertainment staff is responsible for the registration, when the hirer has authority over the staff. In this case it means that the campsite, holiday park or amusement park that hires people from an entertainment company are responsible for the registration.
There are no requirements regarding the set-up of the time registration. However, it must be possible to monitor compliance with working and rest times. All hours effectively worked must be registered. This means that all preparatory work, execution and cleaning up of the activity are considered as effective hours worked. All these hours must be registered and ultimately paid out as wages.
Failure to provide proper registration showing the employee's start, break and end times is a violation of the Working Hours Act and may result in a fine. This is also the case with too little rest or working too many hours. Read more about fines under the Working Hours Act (Dutch).
Wage
Failure to provide information indicating the employee's paid wages and paid holiday allowance is a violation of the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act (Dutch) and may result in a fine. This is also the case if an employee is not paid enough. Read more about fines under the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act (Dutch).
The amount of working time and rest time varies, depending on the situation. For instance, it depends on the industry you work in. And of the ages of the workers. For all rules about side jobs and holiday jobs for young people, please visit Rijksoverheid.nl.
Fair work self-inspection
Employers can visit zelfinspectie.nl/eerlijk-werken (Dutch) to check how to comply with fair working standards.