Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7)

• Author: Marlies Vegter
• Pages: 57-60

57

7Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7)

7.1General (legal) context

7.1.1Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to statutory schemes of social

security (Directive 79/7)

There are no surveys and/or reports over the last five years about gender issues in social

security. There are debates on the fact that self-employed people, including false self-

employed workers, are not covered by social security, but this concerns both men and

women. A gender perspective may arise in regard to domestic workers who work four days

a week or less in a private household. These workers are, by law, excluded from the social

security system. They are predominantly female. This reduced protection has been

criticised by, inter alia, the European Commission and CEDAW, but so far, the Dutch

Government has not taken any concrete steps to improve the situation.158

A relevant development is the increase in flexible employment. Between 2005 and 2015

the percentage of women with a flexible contract increased from 14 % to 20 %. For men

these percentages are 10 % and 16 %.159In 2016, 20 % of women had a flexible contract

compared to 16 % of men. On-call contracts in particular are more often used for women

than for men. An important explanation for this is that these contracts are frequently used

in the health care branch, a sector in which many women work.

In itself, flexible employment does not need to be a problem for social security rights,

since these rights are related to the number of hours worked. In order to qualify for

unemployment benefit, workers must have lost five working hours per week. Workers will

thus have to make clear that they worked at least five hours a week and that they lost

these hours. The unemployment benefit is calculated on, the basis of the salary that had

been earned in the previous year. In this way on-call workers can also qualify for

unemployment benefit if their work stops. However, if the work is less in one week

compared to the previous one, this decrease in income is not covered by the

unemployment benefit. The loss of income must have some continuity permanence. If a

worker resumes on-call work during a period of unemployment, their benefit will be

reduced by their earned income. If the work income is more than 87.5 % of the former

wage, the unemployment benefit stops.

The situation is, of course, different for self-employed people. They are not entitled to any

social security for workers if their work stops. Apart from schemes for Dutch residents,

such as health care, old-age and survivors’ schemes and voluntary insurance, they can

only fall back on social assistance. However, the social partners reached an agreement on

the introduction of a compulsory disability insurance for self-employed people without

personnel. The government has asked the social partners to present a proposal in this

respect before the summer of 2020.160

7.1.2Other relevant issues

Social security rights are calculated on an individual basis. Social assistance and the

general old-age pension are lower per person where two people are married or living

together than twice the individual rate. The old-age pension for an individual is 70 % of

the net minimum wage, whereas for married people or people living together it becomes

158 See about this group: Cremers, E. and Bijleveld, L. W. (2010) Een baan als alle andere?! De rechtspositie

van deeltijd huishoudelijk personeel (A job like all others?! The legal position of part-time household

workers.), Leiden, and the addendum by Bijleveld, L.W., Leiden, 2015.

159 SCP/CBS (2016), Emancipatiemonitor 2016, pp. 75-76:

https://www.scp.nl/Publicaties/Alle_publicaties/Publicaties_2016/Emancipatiemonitor_2016.

160 Rijksoverheid, Verplichte arbeidsongeschiktheidsverzekering voor zelfstandigen (Compulsory disability

insurance for self-employed persons): https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/pensioen/toekomst-

pensioenstelsel/verplichte-arbeidsongeschiktheidsverzekering-voor-zelfstandigen.