Collective bargaining law

Representatives of employers and employees (often through representatives such as trade unions) can agree by collective agreement on terms and conditions of employment of employees working within a particular industry or employer. This makes the CLA a supplement to the individual employment contract between employer and employee.

Generally binding

A CLA can lay down the same arrangements that can also be agreed in an employment contract. These include, for example, regulations on working hours, remuneration, wages, holidays, overtime and illness. At the request of the parties involved in the CAO, a CAO can be declared generally binding. As a result, that CLA is declared applicable to the entire industry, regardless of whether the employers concerned were involved (directly or indirectly) in the negotiations.

No deviations

In principle, parties cannot deviate from a CLA that has been declared generally binding. This may mean that what is stipulated in a CAO takes precedence over the terms and conditions of employment as included in the individual employment contract. If it is a minimum CLA, deviation from it is only allowed in favour of the employee. On the question whether your company or your employees are bound by a (generally binding) collective labour agreement or other questions about a collective labour agreement, please contact us. The lawyers at Fruytier Lawyers in Business have extensive experience in legal questions concerning collective labour agreement law