Everyone working in the Netherlands is entitled to fair, healthy and safe work. Collective agreements should therefore be respected. Parties to a collective agreement are personally responsible for monitoring compliance with the collective agreement.
If one of these parties suspects that provisions of a collective agreement, that has been declared universally applicable, are not being complied with, this party can, under Section 10 of the Collective Agreements (Declaration of Universally Binding and Non-Binding Status) Act (Dutch) submit a request to the Netherlands Labour Authority to conduct an independent investigation.
What is the investigation procedure?
Inspectors from the Netherlands Labour Authority pay one or more visits to the workplace and/or the place where records are kept. These may be unannounced visits. The inspectors will first identify themselves and explain the purpose of their visit. The inspectors may question and hear the employees, temporary workers, company representatives etc. who are present, as witnesses. They may also request access to the records. These documents can be taken for copying. The inspectors may also ask questions to other companies involved in the investigation, such as temporary employment agencies or clients.
The inspectors of the Netherlands Labour Authority conduct their investigation based on the powers listed in the General Administrative Law Act (Awb). Those involved are obliged (Section 5:20 of the Awb) to cooperate with an investigation by the Netherlands Labour Authority.
Report of findings
After the investigation, the Netherlands Labour Authority will produce a report of findings. This report contains the facts and circumstances revealed by the investigation. In the report, the Netherlands Labour Authority does not draw any conclusions about whether or not the provisions of the collective agreement were complied with. According to the law, the person who made the request for an investigation is sent the report. They will decide on the follow-up steps to be taken. They can use this report to start civil proceedings to enforce compliance with the collective agreement, for example.
Under Section 10 of the Collective Agreements (Declaration of Universally Binding and Non-Binding Status) Act (Dutch), parties to the collective agreement can submit a request to the Netherlands Labour Authority to conduct an independent investigation. For this, please contact the Netherlands Labour Authority at telephone number 0800 51 51.