Description
The VBAR bill (Verduidelijking beoordeling arbeidsrelaties or Clarification of Assessment of Labour Relations) aims to reduce bogus self-employment by clarifying the distinction between employment and self-employment.
The VBAR bill introduces a new framework for assessing the status of an employment relationship, known as the "WZOP test". The test includes an assessment of counter-indications of employment. When conducting the test, the existence of indications pointing to the worker being an employee (Werkneme or "W") are to be put against the existence of indications pointing to the worker being self-employed (Zelfstandige or "Z"). If W and Z indications are present to a similar or limited extent, then the test examines additional characteristics to determine if the worker is behaving as an entrepreneur outside of the labour relationship in question ("OP"). If the worker typically does not exhibit entrepreneurial behaviour when performing similar work outside of the specific labour relationship, then an employment relationship is deemed to exist.
The bill also introduces a legal presumption of employment if the worker earns less than a specified hourly rate. This presumption can be rebutted by the employer. The presumption aims to protect workers with limited bargaining power from being unfairly classified as self-employed.
The bill is expected to be effective as of 1 January 2026.
- Keywords
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social protection,
employment status,
regulatory changes
- Actors
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Government
- Sector
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No specific sector focus
Sources