As temperatures across Europe continue to cause heatwaves, employers are once again adapting their daily operations. Construction projects start earlier in the morning, outdoor work is postponed during the hottest hours of the day and additional measures are introduced to protect workers from heat-related illness. These adjustments are not only sensible but often necessary.
What is less frequently discussed is that extreme weather does not alter an employer’s legal responsibilities. If anything, it reinforces them. For organizations deploying employees across borders, particularly to the Netherlands, a heatwave is more than an operational challenge. It is a reminder that compliance extends beyond immigration procedures, employment contracts and A1 certificates. It also encompasses the obligation to provide a safe and healthy working environment.
When temperatures climb, authorities do not expect employers to simply continue business as usual. They expect employers to assess risks, implement appropriate measures and ensure that employees can perform their work safely.
This becomes particularly relevant in cross-border employment structures, where responsibilities are often shared between a foreign employer and a Dutch client. While contractual arrangements may allocate certain obligations, the practical organization of work often determines who carries responsibility on site.
Extreme weather has a way of exposing those practical realities.
Looking beyond paperwork
For companies posting workers to the Netherlands, compliance is often associated with documentation. Residence permits are obtained where required, notifications are submitted, A1 certificates are requested and employment contracts are carefully prepared. These are all essential elements of a compliant cross-border assignment.
However, once employees arrive on site, compliance takes on a different dimension.
During periods of extreme heat, questions arise that no immigration document can answer.
Who decides whether work should be suspended during the hottest part of the day? Who provides drinking water and shaded rest areas? Who adjusts working hours? Who monitors employees for signs of heat stress? The answers to these questions are rarely found in an employment contract. They are found in the day-to-day organization of work.
This is precisely why Dutch authorities increasingly look beyond paperwork when assessing compliance. They examine how work is managed in practice and whether employers have taken reasonable measures to protect workers from foreseeable risks.
A workplace accident caused by heat exhaustion may trigger far more than an occupational health investigation. Depending on the circumstances, authorities may also examine the broader employment structure, verify immigration compliance and assess whether legal responsibilities have been fulfilled by all parties involved.
For both foreign employers and Dutch clients, this means that compliance cannot stop once the administrative process has been completed.
Compliance continues after employees arrive
At CIS, we regularly support organizations that focus significant effort on preparing the legal framework before employees travel to the Netherlands. While this preparation is essential, maintaining compliance throughout the assignment is equally important. Legal obligations continue after the employee has crossed the border.
Employers must remain alert to changing circumstances, whether those involve extreme weather, extended project timelines or changes in the way work is organized. Compliance is not a fixed checklist completed before the project starts. It is an ongoing responsibility that evolves alongside the assignment itself.
Heatwaves provide a timely reminder of this principle
They demonstrate that good compliance is not measured solely by the quality of documentation, but by the quality of decision-making once employees are at work. Organizations that actively assess risks, communicate clearly and adapt working conditions when circumstances demand it are demonstrating that compliance is embedded in their daily operations.
Extreme temperatures will pass. The responsibility to provide a safe, lawful and well-managed working environment will remain.