What if I receive less than the hourly minimum wage?
If you are receiving less than the minimum wage, you are being underpaid. Start by talking to your employer. Your employer must increase your wage and pay you any unpaid wages for any past work. If they refuse, you can contact the Netherlands Labour Authority or take your employer to court.
Netherlands Labour Authority
If your employer refuses to pay you the minimum wage, you can report this to the Netherlands Labour Authority using their reporting form. If you wish, you can submit a complaint anonymously.
What will the Netherlands Labour Authority do?
If the Labour Authority finds that your employer has paid you less than the minimum wage, the employer will immediately be fined. Your employer will have to pay you all of the wages owed to you within four weeks. If they do not, the Labour Authority can impose a penalty payment.
Taking your employer to court
If your employer pays you less than the minimum wage and is not willing to pay you the correct amount, you can take them to court. It is a good idea to seek legal advice first, for example from a trade union or Het Juridisch Loket (Legal Services Counter, in Dutch).
Recovering unpaid wages and holiday allowance
You may not discover immediately that you have been underpaid. You can recover your wages until five years after you should have received them. The same applies to any holiday allowance you should have received. The five-year period starts from the day you should have received the wages and/or holiday allowance. If your employer refuses to cooperate, you can contact the Netherlands Labour Authority.