A road haulage company based in the Haaglanden region, in the metropolitan area of The Hague, whose name has not been disclosed, has been suspended for two months by the Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie (the Dutch Labour Inspectorate) for serious and repeated violations of rules on the minimum wage and the employment of foreign workers. The measure, effective from 14 January 2026, does not apply solely to activities carried out directly by the company, but also to transport services performed on its behalf by other firms, extending the impact of the suspension along the supply chain.
According to the reconstruction provided by the Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie, the case stems from a repeat offence already documented in 2022, when an initial inspection identified seven workers employed without a written employment contract and an administrative setup inadequate to demonstrate compliance with pay obligations. At that stage, deficiencies were found in payslips, proof of payment and records of hours worked, elements that in the Netherlands are central to verifying compliance with minimum wage legislation and holiday allowances. For those infringements, fines of €42,000 were imposed and, for issues linked to the employment of foreign workers, a further €21,000, accompanied by a formal warning about the possibility of a future suspension of activities in the event of further violations.
The new inspection carried out in 2025 reopened the case with findings that were largely comparable. For ten workers, the company failed to provide salary or contractual data, or reliable information on hours worked, making it impossible for inspectors to ascertain whether at least the legal minimum had been paid. During the same phase, cases emerged of staff without written contracts and of payments made in cash, practices which, beyond undermining the traceability of wages, hinder verification of rights linked to holidays and supplements provided for under minimum wage legislation.
The allegations do not concern solely the possible absence of permits, but also an essential preliminary step: the company allegedly failed, when requested by inspectors, to provide identity documents for some workers. The inability to correctly identify part of the workforce prevented authorities from establishing whether those employees were entitled to work in the Netherlands, constituting a breach of legislation on foreign workers.
For the set of violations established during the most recent inspection, the labour inspectorate imposed new fines totalling €202,500, of which €90,000 relate to breaches of minimum wage and holiday allowance legislation and €112,500 to breaches of rules governing the employment of foreign workers. Added to the penalties imposed in 2022, the overall amount cited by the authorities reaches €265,500. The distinctive feature of the case, however, is not only the scale of the fines, but the use of suspension as an additional sanction, adopted after fines and warnings failed to bring about a change in behaviour.
The Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie links the suspension to the need to prevent further violations and to safeguard working conditions and fair competition in the transport sector. The operational issue highlighted is incomplete administration: without contracts, pay data, records of hours worked and identification documents, enforcement bodies cannot verify compliance with the minimum wage or accurately reconstruct any pay shortfalls, making the deterrent effect of financial penalties alone insufficient.
The decision to extend the suspension to activities carried out by third parties on the company’s behalf introduces an impact that goes beyond the corporate perimeter, as it affects potential subcontractors or carriers operating within the same supply chain. The sources do not indicate which traffic segments were served by the company, nor whether it was engaged in regional, national or international distribution, but the measure, applied regardless of how the service is executed, points to a clear objective: to prevent operations from continuing through outsourcing arrangements, effectively keeping transport capacity active despite the formal suspension.
