Companies have a need for flexibility with regard to the deployment of staff. This applies in particular in industries with a varying offer of employment, like in the hospitality industry and in tourism. In this context, employees are often offered a min-max contract.

What is a min-max contract?

A min-max contract is an agreement in which the parties have agreed on a minimum as well as on a maximum number of hours of labour per period. It is agreed that the employee will be entitled to wages for the minimum number of hours agreed. The employee is obliged to come to work if so required by the employer, up until the agreed maximum number of hours.

Legal presumption hours of work

When the employee has worked for a minimum of three months on the basis of this contract, he may invoke the legal presumption that the hours of work are equal to the average per month in the past three months. This legal presumption can help the employee in case of continued payment of wages in case of incapacity for work. It will, in that case, not be obvious that only the minimum number of hours should be paid.

Entitlement to payment of a minimum of three hours

When a min-max contract is agreed upon with a minimum number of hours of less than 15 hours a week, an employee will, for every time he has been called to work for less than three hours, be entitled to the wages he would have been entitled to for three hours of work. This also applies if an employee works several times a day for less than three hours.