Payroll Rights: What to Do if Your Salary is Late?

Questioner

I have a secondment agreement with a payroll company for one year (so without a temporary employment clause). Now I am told on 26 July that the agreement between the payroll company and the company where I am seconded has ended as of 1 July. The payroll company wants to say goodbye to me retroactively as of 1 July and indicates that I should recover my salary for July from my employer on the floor. I take the position that a notice period of 28 days applies to temporary contracts longer than 6 months, in accordance with the collective labor agreement applicable in the contract. If the payroll company wants to terminate the contract, they can do so in accordance with the applicable provisions. Until then, I am and will remain employed by the payroll company and I wish to be paid by them. The contract contains an exclusion of the obligation to continue paying wages that excludes the employer/payroll from having to pay me for the hours that were not specified by the employer on the floor. They can't possibly claim this as an escape while I am only now being informed by them of the terminated contract between my employer on the floor and the payroll organization? In this case, isn't it their fault that they didn't inform me of this situation earlier? I do not want to become the victim of a dispute between the payroll organization and my employer on the work floor. What is the best thing for me to do in this situation? It can't be right that a company informs you after 26 days that their relationship with your employer has ended and you've been there all that time for nothing? In that case, what about the notice periods as used in the collective labor agreement? Can I take the position that I will in any case claim the salary for July from them, the payroll organization, and probably also for August (due to the notice period)? What should I do in the meantime? What if the payroll organization posts me somewhere 200km away, for the time being to bully me away? When can I enter into a new employment contract with a new employer (possibly as a direct employee on the employer's work floor)? Thank you in advance

Questioner

Update: The payroll company does indeed rely on the exclusion of the obligation to continue paying wages. This states that: 'the employer only owes the employee wages for the period in which the employee actually performed work. Hours must be reported to the employer within 14 days after the end of the month. The employee cannot claim payment for hours reported to the employer later, unless the client has confirmed the hours and paid the associated invoice'. Now my question is... What effect does this have on my legal position? I am informed about this on 26 July. Is it right that the payroll company refers me and shifts everything to the employer on the floor? To what extent are they negligent by not informing me about this until 26 July? I have always worked normally and my hours are simply recorded.

Lawyer

In fact, you are employed by the payroll company on the basis of a temporary employment contract (art. 7:690 et seq. BW) without a temporary employment clause at a hirer. The payroll company is your formal employer. They must continue to fulfil your obligations towards you until the employment contract has been legally terminated. It seems to me that you are correctly applying the notice period you calculated and are taking a correct position in this regard towards the payroll company. An employment contract cannot be terminated retroactively. Until the date of valid termination, you are legally entitled to wages for the time worked. You have this claim in any case against the payroll company as your formal employer. Under the statutory chain liability, you can also hold the hirer liable for the payment of your wages if the payroll company fails to do so towards you. In the event of non-payment of wages, you are therefore legally entitled to hold both of them liable at the same time and, if necessary, to take legal action. In any case, you are entitled to payment for the hours actually worked under the law and collective labour agreement. The registration and approval of this is only important in the situation that a dispute about the evidence would arise. Of course, you may also prove in other ways that you actually worked the hours in question. In my opinion, it will ultimately be deemed unacceptable by a judge (Article 6:248 BW paragraph 2) if your employer or the hirer invokes a formal rule in conflict with the actual course of events in order to exclusively benefit from it at the expense of your efforts.