About Angela

Angela has been an attorney with La Gro since 2009, assisting entrepreneurs in their day-to-day business affairs, specifically those concerning their employees. She also boasts vast experience as a bankruptcy administrator, being court-appointed to act in medium-sized bankruptcy settlement cases. She adds value by putting quality first and looking beyond the matter at hand, without losing sight of entrepreneurs’ needs for pragmatic solutions. She thrives on getting actively involved in proceedings from the outset, standing her in good stead to anticipate her clients’ needs. 

Expertise

  • Insolvency law
  • Employment law
  • Contract law

Qualifications and experience

  • 2009, Tilburg University (Master’s degree in Law and Management – distinction, Master’s degree in International Business Law – distinction)
  • 2016, Grotius Specialisation Programme in Insolvency Law (Insolad)
  • 2018, EUR/Insolad: Specialisation Programme in Financial Economics for Insolvency Lawyers
  • Member of the Association of Insolvency Lawyers (Insolad);
  • Member of the Women’s Network of The Hague;
  • Member of Junior Chamber International, Gouda (2015-2017).

Recent cases

  • Independent receiver in bankruptcies of enterprises of varying sizes, such as FS Trading Company B.V. (shoe store); Auto Heemskerk Roelofarendsveen B.V. (car dealership);
  • Counsel in various dismissal proceedings;
  • Consulting services to, primarily, construction and IT(-related) enterprises on employment law and related issues, such as a company restructuring, sick employees, employment terms and conditions, non-compete clause, and using independent contractors or temporary workers;
  • Experience in a broad range of general civil law practices, assisting entrepreneurs in dealing with risks in agreements, writing general terms and conditions, and assessing (directors’ and officers’) liability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZf7NPPHVys&t=900s

Reorganising employment law 2: the musical chairs method

 

Contact details
A.I. (Angela) van der Does-Mekes

Attorney at Law

Employment law | Commercial contract & Commercial litigation

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Articles by Angela van der Does-Mekes

Angela Mekes
Angela van der Does-Mekes
Attorney at Law
Update on pseudo self-employment in 2025: no fines to be imposed
In November, we wrote a blog on pseudo self-employment and the lifting of the Dutch tax authority’s enforcement moratorium from 1 January 2025 onwards. The article provided a step-by-step plan for identifying collaborations with self-employed people and adjusting them where necessary and possible. The aim of all this was to avoid abusive employment relationships (as much as possible) and to be prepared for the Dutch tax authority’s doubling down on enforcement regarding pseudo self-employment. On 18 December 2024, the State Secretary for Finance further informed the Lower House about the enforcement plans for 2025. In addition, the Dutch tax authority has published its Enforcement Plan for labour relations 2025 . The conclusion is that a number of mitigating measures have been taken, softening the blow from enforcement in 2025. In brief, these measures are as follows. No fines from pseudo self-employment enforcement The main update is that in 2025, the Dutch tax authority will impose no fines whatsoever on employers who continue to work with self-employed workers on a pseudo self-employment basis. This applies to both default penalties and punitive fines (unless malicious intent is involved). It was already known that no punitive fines would be imposed; so what is new is that no default penalties will follow. However, more relaxed measures have been announced to give companies and organisations more time to adjust their operations. Soft landing for pseudo self-employment enforcement The Dutch tax authority has further announced the following relaxations in its enforcement plans: To begin with, ‘in principle’, there will be a company visit and thus ‘in principle’ not an inspection of the accounts (audit). In this way, the Dutch tax authority is responding to the request of the Lower House to be able to warn organisations before account inspections are initiated. A company visit is not a mandatory gateway, but it does offer the possibility of an initial warning. A warning is obviously less severe than enforcement, which will follow if something is found to be wrong during a company visit. When and which choice will be made for the type of visit is not yet entirely clear; there will be further guidance on this, expected during January 2025; There is a possibility of pre-consultation with the Dutch tax authority, which can be requested via a digital application form. This makes sense if an organisation works with many self-employed people and to this end has developed a working method that properly ensures effective self-employment[1]; All currently existing approved model agreements will be automatically extended until 31 December 2029. This means that if the model agreement is strictly followed in practice, it should provide assurance that there is no pseudo self-employment. Of course, the trick remains to organise things on the shop floor in such a way that the self-employed worker actually determines his or her own work and there is no question of employer authority. Enforcement in 2025 The measures announced by the Dutch tax authority may reduce the sense of urgency to adjust business operations with self-employed workers. However, despite the soft landing, which is certainly in place, as far as we are concerned, organisations would do well to make a start in 2025. Now is the time to develop a new and future-proof method of managing and embedding self-employed workers at clients’ workplaces. Full enforcement will actually begin in 2026, meaning the reimposition of fines. Contact We are aware that many of our clients will be affected by Dutch tax authority enforcement. Within our team, Angela van der Does-Mekes and Gerard Zuidgeest deal with this topic on a daily basis. Do you also have questions and want to exchange views on whether the self-employed workers you hire are not actually employed? Then please contact either of these, or one of our other specialists. The Dutch tax authority is again taking pseudo self-employment enforcement measures. La Gro – keeping you informed of the latest updates, including that no fines will follow in 2025.
Gerard Zuidgeest 1
Gerard Zuidgeest
Attorney at Law
Watch out for pseudo self-employment - enforcement in 2025
Heads-up: there has been an update on this subject. The Dutch Tax authority has taken mitigating measures, softening the blow from enforcement in 2025. As of January 1, 2025, the Dutch tax authority will fully enforce on pseudo self-employment. For every client who works with freelancers and where the freelancer can actually be considered an employee, this enforcement on false self-employment can have major legal and tax consequences. What is pseudo self-employment? Pseudo self-employment means that a contractor is formally regarded as self-employed, but in practice works under circumstances that are more similar to an employment contract. This can be the case, for example, if the contractor works side-by-side with your own employees and has little control over his prices, working hours and the way he should perform the work. With pseudo self-employment, actual independence is often lacking, such as own investments, own acquisition, multiple clients or bearing (financial) entrepreneurial risk. This can lead to disguised employment, where the employment relationship meets the legal characteristics of an employment contract. Risks in pseudo self-employment The tax authorities play an important role in the assessment of pseudo self-employment. They look  whether the criteria for an employment contract are actually met, namely authority, personal work and a (fixed) payment. The agreements you have made with the self-employed person, for example that no employment is intended, are therefore not decisive. If false self-employment is established, the tax authority can hold both the client and the self-employed person liable. This often leads to retroactive levies of payroll tax and social security contributions, as well as possible fines. In addition, the self-employed can successfully claim the rights of an employee, such as dismissal protection and continued payment of wages during illness. For clients, the financial and legal consequences are significant, which emphasizes the importance of carefully assessing the employment relationship. “VBAR” Act The case law surrounding pseudo self-employment has been evolving in recent years. More test criteria are determined and more and more often conclusions are drawn that there is an employment contract, regardless of contracts to the contrary. These developments have led to the legislative bill Verduidelijking Beoordeling Arbeidsrelaties en Rechtsvermoeden (VBAR), which will (possibly) take effect on January first, 2026. Practical consequences Although the VBAR Act is not yet in place, the tax authority is drawing its own plan. As of January first, 2025 the Dutch tax authority will fully enforce on pseudo self-employment. This means that all organizations (companies, but also governments and health care institutions) that employ self-employed workers for work that should actually be done as employees, can expect fines and additional taxes up to a maximum of 5 years back. Relevant to note is that the lifting of the enforcement moratorium has no retroactive effect. The tax authorities will not check for employment relationships that were not properly qualified before January first, 2025 (barring malicious situations). Furthermore, there will be a transition period of one year during which clients will not yet be fined if they demonstrate that they are taking measures against false self-employment. Think for example of processes aimed at reducing the number of abusive self-employed relationships or converting these self-employed relationships into employment. Advice: check your pseudo self-employed As a result of the lifting of the enforcement moratorium, as of January 1 2025, you will be at immediate risk if assignment relationships with self-employed persons in practice contain characteristics of an employment relationship. It is therefore important to take action now and take stock of your collaborations with self-employed persons and adjust them where necessary and possible. We would like to give you a step-by-step plan to check the collaborations and take measures: 1) Make an inventory of all people working for your organization on the basis of a contract of assignment, including positions (core, staff or “company alien”), nature, scope and duration of the assignment and rate agreements; 2) Assess for each self-employed person what contractual arrangements have been made, whether they are being followed, and to what extent the self-employed person is integrated into your organization; 3) Assess the degree of entrepreneurship of the self-employed person, such as what financial risks does he run when performing the assignment and does he work for multiple clients; 4) Act on conclusions, engage with your freelancers and maintain the relationship as self-employed, hire through an agency or reform to employee; 5) Adjust your contracts. You can use current model agreements from the tax authority for now, but be aware that these model agreements are limited in content. Crucial topics such as liability, specifically if it is judged that there is a disguised employment relationship, are missing in them. In view of the new legislation, it is also better not to conclude assignment agreements with self-employed persons for an indefinite period of time. Would you like to know more about the upcoming enforcement by the tax authorities? Expertise in 18 legal fields enables La Gro to offer broad legal assistance. Feel free to contact Angela van der Does-Mekes en Gerard Zuidgeest or one of our other specialist colleagues.