A nulurencontract is a form of on-call contract (oproepcontract) in which the employer commits no minimum number of working hours. The employee receives wages only for hours actually worked, subject to statutory protections that limit how flexibly the employer may deploy the arrangement.
Under the Wet arbeidsmarkt in balans (WAB), employers must call the employee at least four days in advance, in writing. If the call is withdrawn within that window, the employee is still entitled to payment for the originally scheduled hours. After twelve months on a nulurencontract, the employer must offer a fixed-hour contract based on the average hours worked in the previous year; failure to do so gives the employee the right to claim payment on that average.
Every shift must be paid for a minimum of three hours, even if the actual work takes less. Planned reforms under the Wet meer zekerheid flexwerkers aim to phase out nulurencontracten for most sectors and replace them with bandbreedte contracts.