Why was a freelance coordinator at a cooperative legally an employee?

The coordinator worked for the cooperative (co-op) over several years, averaging approximately 28 hours per week. Her agreement permitted a maximum of 32 invoiced hours each week. She performed the work personally and had no other paid clients during the relevant period.

Her responsibilities included running the sewing workshops, approaching customers, accepting orders and preparing quotations. These were continuing activities within workshops operated by the cooperative.

Her hourly remuneration eventually became €25. The Court of Appeal found that this rate followed a general-members’ meeting decision applying to the cooperative’s freelancers. It had not been negotiated individually with her.

The cooperative argued that the coordinator enjoyed substantial freedom. She arranged customer work, made pricing decisions and managed daily operations. 

The Court accepted that she had considerable operational discretion. It also found that she had to follow the cooperative’s concept and use its channels. 

Messages showed that she sought approval for purchases and reimbursement of workshop expenses. She had made no financial investment in the workshops. When they incurred losses, the cooperative covered the shortfalls through other income and funding; she did not have to absorb those losses herself.

The coordinator belonged to the cooperative, participated in its core team and had a vote in the general-members’ meeting. 

At first instance, the Court rejected the argument that these rights established self-employment. Participation in organisational decisions did not mean that she operated the workshops as her own businesses. 

The Court compared that influence with the decision-making responsibilities that a management-team member can exercise within an employment relationship. 

From 2020, Verloning.nl handled invoicing and collection for the coordinator’s hours. It deducted its fee, withheld and remitted payroll-related amounts, and paid her a net amount with a salary specification. 

The District Court rejected the claim that this arrangement established a payroll employment contract with Verloning.nl. 

The Court of Appeal also rejected the cooperative’s argument that the employment relationship had moved to Verloning,nl. The coordinator’s work for the cooperative and the authority exercised over that work remained unchanged.

The workshops moved to OTF and continued operating from 1 February 2023. The coordinator began working there and became ill the following month, after which her pay stopped. 

The District Court initially found no transfer of undertaking. It ordered the cooperative to continue paying her and allow her to perform the agreed or suitable work. 

The Court of Appeal reached a different conclusion about the transfer. The workshops constituted an economic unit that continued without interruption with its equipment, people and customers. The employment rights and obligations therefore transferred to OTF by operation of law from 1 February 2023. 

The Court consequently set aside the specific orders requiring the cooperative to provide work and continue paying wages from March 2023. 

The case shows how apparent independence can arise from several different arrangements: managerial discretion, cooperative membership and outsourced payment administration.

None removed the need to assess the working relationship. The decisive picture was a continuing internal role performed personally, within the cooperative’s framework, without demonstrated commercial risk. 

The later business transfer required a further assessment of where the employment obligations had moved.

• Assess paid work separately from cooperative membership and voting rights. 

• Examine whether managerial freedom involves running an independent business or managing another organisation’s operation. 

• Record who approves expenditure, provides equipment and bears losses. 

• Identify the contractual role of any payment intermediary. 

• Review employment status and transfer-of-undertaking implications before moving an operation to another organisation. 

• Preserve agreements, payment records and evidence showing how the work and any transfer operate in practice.