Wouldn't that happen for anyone else who leaves too? It sounds like they're just trying to shaft you and see if it works.

@thursdaysgeek yeah it probably will, leaving perfectly in between projects seems like a stretch in most cases, especially because most projects are ended/prolonged on very short notice. I thought the same as you, they acted like this has never happened to them yet they have about 80 interim employees now so I highly doubt that.

@Fattie - No, his/her response is to say "I'm sorry, I can't do that. Here are some things I could do to be useful in my last month." and get a solicitor if the company tries to break the law (and the OP's contract). They won't. This is just trying it on.

Yes. "Expecting you to" and "Willing to force you if you refuse" are two pair of shoes.

Does it happen to be a small/medium business?

@T.J.Crowder does the Dutch law say he must be useful in the last month? It really sounds like a very common problem and the company trying to be creative about it. In my business (software engineering) the most normal thing to do would be for a company to pay up and to ask them not to bother coming in to work the last month.

@htmlcoderexe well the interim part I'm in is 80 people, but they have about 300 people in total... So idk? Does that influence the answers?

@maksimov as far as I know, it does not.

@maksimov no it doesn’t say that and I’ve never heard of anything like this before. If people are in a sensitive role like sales, they can often just stay home. If they can do something productive, that’s fine too. If they can’t, that’s the company’s problem. Regardless, they will get paid.

@maksimov - The offer of being useful is bridge maintenance, not about the law or contract.

Surely you can spend time doing training and handover to someone else? I remember being very bored in 1999 before y2k and defrosting the beer fridge to remain useful.

Do you plan to move to another(supposedly better) employer after that?

@criggie, since I do interim, there is no actual ‘work’ being done at the main office, aside from doing sales and managing accounts so they can put away more people onto more projects. I possess no sales or account managing skills.

You're probably not the first one to resign from that company. Can you ask some of the previous employees how that situation was handled in their cases? (assuming you still keep in touch with some of them)

@radu murzea because the work is interim based and we’re usually placed on projects on location by ourselves, I hardly know any of my colleagues, let alone former employees.

@MrZach Exactly. If this reference can land you a good job in the future it might be worth 10-100 times one month salary. That doesn't mean you should have zero payment for the last month but that this is a situation where you negotiate and both parties have to offer something in return for a smooth transition and a good future relationship.

@d-b as I’ve already explained under your answer, this is interim work. My employer acts as a middleman and does not write my references, as I don’t work on any work for him? i work on things for companies he ‘sells me to’. So no, I do not need references from my employer. And even then, references in The Netherlands are not nearly as important as they are in other countries. It hardly ever happens that a new employer will contact your old employers or even asks for a reference from someone.

That is weird. I am a consultant myself and when I look for new consultant company they ask for references from previous employers. However, when I offered to a client they ask for references from previous clients. Consider your current situation, right or not, your current employer thinks you are a PITA. Why wouldn't your next employer like to have that kind of information? BTW, I am Scandinavian, not American if you thought something else.

Hmm. I think many Americans would better understand this given the description of "temp worker" rather than "interim". (Then again, Americans are less likely to have useful knowledge of labor law in the Netherlands).