Daily News

View All News

Netherlands – Inspectorate says Temper is an employment agency and not a flexible work platform (Trouw)

16 February 2021

Temper, a Dutch company that describes itself as a freelance platform, is an employment agency and not a mediation platform, the Dutch Inspectorate SZW said. Trouw reports that trade union FNV state the inspection means that everyone who works via Temper is entitled to an employment contract and that employees must be paid in accordance with the temporary employment contract. The union expects the inspectorate to issue hefty fines to the Amsterdam platform. However, the Inspectorate does not intend to. "It is up to the parties involved to take any legal action," said a spokesperson. On October 2020, trade unions FNV and CNV took Temper to court stating that instead of an online platform, Temper was an employment agency and was obligated to comply with the legal duties of temporary employment agencies. The unions also said Temper was guilty of working with ‘bogus self-employed people’.

FNV director Erik Pentenga said, “Temper works as an employment agency, it brings together supply and demand of labor and after that it is still involved in everything. Reporting sick and also payment go through Temper, just like with employment agencies. But because Temper uses an app to match supply and demand, it calls the people who work for him self-employed.”

Niels Arntz, co-founder of Temper, called the inspection by the inspectorate 'messy work' and that their report was insufficiently substantiated, citing ‘only two examples of possible bogus self employment’.