A labour inspector of the Social Affairs and Employment Inspectorate (ISZW) pays you a visit. He informs you that one of your employees also works somewhere else.  As an employer you correctly apply the Working Hours Act. However, because the employee also works somewhere else, the Working Hours Act is nevertheless violated. You were not aware of this other job of the employee. Indeed, by carrying out these activities, the employee is acting in violation of the employment agreement, since this includes a ban on the performance of ancillary activities.

For the ISZW, the above-mentioned circumstances do not constitute a reason to refrain from imposing a sizeable penalty to you as an employer.

How can you as an employer prevent that you end up in such a situation and that a penalty will be imposed for violation of the Working Hours Act?

Firstly, it is advisable to agree that it is not permitted to perform ancillary activities, unless prior consent has been obtained from the employer. This ban on ancillary activities can include that the purpose is to prevent the violation of the Working Hours Act. The above shows that this is not enough.

According to the ISZW, an employer must to do everything that can reasonably be expected of it to prevent a violation of the Working Hours Act. An employer must actively investigate whether ancillary activities are carried out. In addition to including the ban on ancillary activities, it is advisable to repeatedly bring this issue up for discussion in conversations with the employee. For example at the time of the appraisal interview – in this way it can also be recorded in the personnel file.