Dutch Court of Appeal reclassifies Temper as a temp agency, not a ZZP platform

The Gerechtshof Amsterdam ruled on 16 June 2026 that the platform Temper operates as a temporary work agency (uitzendbureau) rather than a marketplace for self-employed workers. The Court of Appeal overturned the July 2024 Amsterdam District Court ruling that had sided with Temper, finding instead that workers operate for the platform’s account and risk, and that Temper exercises sufficient direction over the work to qualify the contracts as uitzendovereenkomsten. Temper must now apply the collective labour agreement for agency workers (CAO voor uitzendkrachten) to the workers it engages.

Why this matters

The ruling is the most significant Dutch jurisprudence on platform work and disguised self-employment so far this year. It lands on the same day the Eerste Kamer adopted the hourly-rate presumption law (Bill 36783), and signals that civil courts are willing to requalify platform-mediated ZZP arrangements where the platform exercises practical control. For foreign companies operating in the Netherlands through platform intermediaries, or for Dutch freelancers working through similar marketplaces, the case shifts the assumption: the legal default is increasingly that platform workers are employees of the platform unless the platform can demonstrate genuine arms-length brokerage.

The trade union FNV and CNV brought the case and successfully argued the appeal. The ruling does not directly apply to other platforms automatically, but it sets the framework Dutch courts will use to assess similar arrangements. Combined with the Belastingdienst’s active enforcement of false-self-employment in 2026 and the new hourly-rate presumption, freelance workers and platforms operating in the Netherlands face a tightening regulatory and judicial environment.

For background on the broader Dutch self-employment landscape, see our Netherlands remote work guide.