Your contract or employment agreement in recreation can be for a fixed term or an indefinite period. This is determined by mutual agreement between you and your employer.
Fixed-term
You can agree on a fixed-term employment contract with your employer. The period you determine can be of any arbitrary length. The employment contract must include a start and end date. The employment relationship then automatically ends when the agreed period is over. Therefore, you do not need to terminate it.
The employer is obliged to inform you in writing at least one month before your temporary contract ends, whether your contract will be extended or not, and if so, under what conditions. This is called the notice obligation. The notice obligation applies to contracts entered into for a period of six months or longer. If the employer does not comply with this obligation, they are liable to pay compensation of up to one month's gross salary or, in the case of late compliance, an amount proportional to the delay.
A fixed-term annual hours contract can only be concluded once!
When is a permanent contract applicable?
You are entitled to a permanent contract if you are offered a fourth contract or have been employed by your employer for more than 3 years. Is there more than 6 months between the temporary contracts? Then the counting of the contracts starts anew. Note: there are possible exceptions to the above chain rule:
- You have a work-study agreement for a BBL course (vocational training pathway).
- You are under 18 years old and work an average of a maximum of 12 hours per week.
- You are a temporary agency worker and your contract includes a temporary agency clause.
- You are an intern.
- You have reached the AOW age. An employer may give you 6 temporary contracts from the AOW age within a period of 4 years.
The CLA recreation states that if you have a seasonal employment contract, the chain of contracts is interrupted if there is a minimum of 3 months and one day between the contracts.
Check your employment contract
What should you look out for when signing a new employment contract? It must be a written employment contract. Read the terms carefully and have any necessary changes made. You sign one for yourself and one for the employer. You will, of course, receive a copy for yourself. This ensures that both you and your new employer are clear about the agreements made.
The CLA recreation includes model employment contracts for all categories of employees covered by the CLA. The employer is obliged to use this format. You may make additional agreements as long as they do not conflict with the law or CLA.
Download here a sample employment contract annual hours norm.
Have you been offered an employment contract? Always have it checked by us. Once you’ve signed a contract, it’s not so easy to go back on it.
Categories of employees
The CLA recreation recognises different categories of employees. For example, the full-timer, part-timer, flex-timer, employee with an annual hours contract, BBL apprentice, and auxiliary worker.
Your employment contract specifies which category you fall under. Not all provisions in the CLA apply to all categories of employees. The CLA recreation has different provisions that only apply to a specific category of employee. Therefore, always check carefully which regulations apply to you. If you have any questions about this, please contact us.
Agency workers
It is possible to work through an employment agency. Usually, you are employed as an agency worker for tasks of a temporary nature. During this period, you are officially employed by the agency. The agency is responsible for paying your salary. Your salary is determined by the CLA recreation.
Self-employed (freelancer)
As a self-employed person, you are hired for tasks and have the opportunity to work with different clients in the recreation sector. This means that no employment contract is drawn up. As a self-employed person, you are responsible for sending invoices for the hours worked.