What is it?

An employment agreement cites the 'rules' that are applicable between an employer and employee. An employment agreement for fixed term is used for temporary staff members. You agree to an end-date, on which the agreement automatically stops. In an employment agreement you include the 'rules' on:

• working hours;
• the employee's salary;
• paid sickness leave and holiday leave.

Why do I need it?

An employment agreement is important, because both employee and employer know what they can expect from each other and what is expected from them. This will reduce any chance of disputes between the employee and employer.

In addition, in Dutch law, you can only deviate from some rules of law in a written agreement. A good example of this is a non-compete clause.

To finish off: if you don't agree upon an explicit end-date, you risk being in an employment agreement for indefinite term. In Dutch law the strict rules on employment agreements make it hard to terminate such a contract.