The Council of State has abolished various high fines that were imposed for work that was carried out illegally according to the Labour Inspectorate SZW. These cases involved Bulgarian workers, who had picked mushrooms in the Netherlands for their Bulgarian employer. The Inspectorate took the position that this was “improper service” because the service consisted solely of the provision of labor. This is not allowed for companies from countries that have only recently become members of the EU and are still in a transitional situation (previously among those were Bulgaria, Romania and still currently, Croatia). According to the Inspectorate, these employees worked under the direction and supervision of the Dutch companies and therefore, work permits were required. Since there were no twv’s (work permits) granted, the Inspectorate imposed a total of more than €700,000 in fines on the various companies involved. The Council of State, however, as the Highest Dutch Court, ruled that this was a case of “proper service provision” and it is allowed for companies from new EU-member states to come to the Netherlands and carry out a service. According to the Council of State, the Inspectorate had insufficiently proven that the Dutch clients of these companies not only exercised controls, but that direction and supervision were also provided to these employees. In light of this, no fines should be imposed and any that already been levied, the Inspectorate must refund included interest.

Moreover, this is not the first time that fines imposed for this reason have been scrapped. Earlier this year, a fine of €352,000 for repair and maintenance of ships by Romanian workers was rescinded for the same reason. Another reason why no fines could be imposed in this case is because the Romanian company not only provided workers to carry out the work, but it was also responsible for the correct and timely execution of the job that it had been contracted to do.

Lawyer fines Wav

For more information about Foreign National Employments Act (Wav) fines, please contact Scheers Advocatuur.