Chapter 1 – General provisions

Article 1.1 Definitions and abbreviations

1. Distance in kilometres: The distance is determined with the ANWB route planner, according to the fastest route, and not adjusted to up-to-date travel information.
2. AVOM:Customised terms of employment.
3. Remuneration: The sum total of salary and benefits that an employee is entitled to under article 3.7 of this CAO.
4. BW: Dutch Civil Code.
5. BWOI: Enhanced Unemployment Provision for Personnel of Research Institutes.
6. CAO-OI: Collective Labour Agreement for the Research Institutes.
7. (C)OR:  (Central) Works Council.
8. Part-time employment: An employment effected for less than the full-time employment to which the entitlements of this CAO apply proportionate to the number of working hours agreed upon, unless expressly provided otherwise.
9. Employment: An employment agreement with an employer.
10. FNM :Job Level Matrix.
11. Work: The composite of duties agreed with the employee by the employer.
12. Generation Plan: The possibility to retain full pension accrual based on the old salary, while working less hours in exchange for a percentage of the salary. The employer will use the wage difference for recruitment and mobility purposes of (preferably) young people.
13. Maximum salary: The highest sum on a salary scale.
14. OIO: Researcher in training.
15. Partner:
    a. Marriage partner.
    b. Registered partner.
    c. Life partner
    – The person with whom the unmarried employee cohabits according to data from the municipal personal records data-base, and runs a joint household under a cohabitation contract executed in the presence of a civil-law notary. The employer may request a written statement by a civil-law notary as evidence that a cohabitation contract has been effected; or
    – The persons with whom the employee cohabits and runs a joint household, i.e. they share a main address and provide for each other’s care and maintenance. Of these persons, only one person can be regarded as a life partner of the employee.
16. Salary: The sum per month that, subject to the provisions in this CAO, has been established for the employee on the basis of appendix 1.
17. Salary step: A number that corresponds to a salary on a salary scale.
18. Salary per hour: 1/165th part of the salary in a fulltime job.
19. Salary scale: A specified series of numbers attached to a certain salary specified in appendix 1.
20. Place of work: The address of the building in which the employee usually works.
21. Tenure track: The formally established track for an indefinite employment contract, to an intended higher scientific position, for employees from the research job family.
22. Tenure tracker: An employee in tenure-track employment.
23. Vacation worker: A person who performs temporary work during the school vacations because the regular personnel is on vacation.
24. a Full-time employment: 38 hours per week.
    b Full working: week 40 hours.
    c Actual working week: The actual number of hours per week that an individual employee has to work.
25. Employer: An employer who is a member of the WVOI.
26. Employee: The person who has an employment agreement with an employer in the sense of this CAO.
27. Employee organisation: An association of employees with legal personality whose members are persons working for the employer and whose articles state that its objective is to take care of the interests of its members; alternatively, a central organisation to which the abovementioned association of employees belongs and with which this collective agreement has been agreed upon.
28. Working hours schedule: A working hours schedule is a schedule drafted for a period of more than a week and published before taking effect that states when daily working hours begin and end.
29. WHW:  Higher Education and Scientific Research Act.
30. WIA: Work and Income According to Work Capacity Act.
31. WOR: Works Council Act.
32. Wwz: Work and Security Act.
33. ZAOI: Illness and Disability Scheme for Research Institute Personnel.

Article 1.2 Term of the CAO-OI

1. This CAO is effective from 1 Juli 2023 up to and including 30 June 2024.
2. Save for termination by one of the parties no later than three months before the end date of this CAO-OI, this CAO will be deemed to have been extended for the period of one year.
3. Interim changes to the CAO-OI will certainly be made this is necessitated by an amendment of the Act or an Order in Council.
4. An interim change to the CAO-OI is in any case relevant if a change of Law or General Administrative Order makes this necessary.

Article 1.3 Scope of the CAO-OI

1. This CAO applies to employees as defined in article 1.1, definition 26, with the exception of the vacation worker as defined in article 1.1, definition 23.
2. The provisions in this CAO are only applicable insofar as statutory schemes or the generally binding provisions or resultant schemes do not dictate otherwise, unless these anomalies are permitted.
3. Provisions in a labour agreement at variance with this CAO are null and void.
4. The more detailed schemes which on grounds of this CAO are determined by the institute/employer may not contain any provisions that conflict with this CAO.

Article 1.4 Obligations of the parties

1. Parties are under obligation to comply, in good faith and spirit, with this agreement. They shall not carry out or support any direct or indirect action to amend or terminate this agreement in any manner other than which has been agreed.
2. Parties will promote the observance of this agreement by their members with all available means.

Article 1.5 Obligations of employers and employees

1.5.1 General obligations

1. Employers and employees shall conduct themselves in a manner befitting a good employer and a good employee.
2. Employees shall comply with all the rules and instructions pertaining to them.

1.5.2 Integrity in scientific research
Employees conducting research, or involved in conducting research are obliged to take care that the research takes place in accordance with generally accepted standards for integrity in scientific research as laid down in The Dutch Code of Conduct for Scientific Integrity.

1.5.3 Access to the CAO-OI
Upon commencement of employment, the employer will issue the employee a copy of the effective CAO-OI together with the letter of appointment or employment contract.

1.5.4 Confidentiality clause

1. Employees are under obligation to keep all their work-related information confidential insofar as the nature of their work dictates this, or confidentiality has been expressly imposed otherwise.
2. This obligation also applies after termination of the employment.
3. The obligation to observe confidentiality may not be at variance with the academic freedom referred to in article 1.6 of the WHW.
4. Without prejudice to the statutory provisions binding the employer, employers are prohibited from disclosing any information to third parties with respect to individual employees, unless the individual employee has given his written consent to the release of that information.

1.5.5 Change of work or tasks

1. Without any repercussions to their legal status, employees with a fixed-term contract may be assigned long-term work, and employees with a permanent contract may be assigned occasional duties.
2. Employees may, at their own request, be assigned other work.
3. Employees are obliged to accept other work, if this is in the employer’s interest, regardless of whether this work is in the same operational unit or place of work, but provided it can reasonably be assigned to them in view of their personality, circumstances and prospects.
4. Employees may be obliged to carry out temporary duties other than their usual ones if these duties can reasonably be assigned to them. However, they shall not be obliged to perform duties to replace place those on strike.

1.5.6 Ancillary work

1. Employees are obliged to notify their employer of ancillary work before commencing such work or upon taking up employment.
2. Ancillary work may only be performed with the employer’s permission.
3. Permission is granted for performing ancillary work outside working hours, unless there is an objective justification for refusing to do so. An objective ground of justification is in any case understood to mean the damage to trust in scientific integrity, the protection of trade secrets, the prevention of conflicts of interest, harm to the interests of the employer, protection of the health and safety of the employee and violation of the Working Hours Act.
4. Employers may impose additional rules for the notification, registration and assessment of ancillary work.

1.5.7 Obligation to relocate
In principle, employers cannot require their employees to relocate. Employers may impose upon their employees an obligation to relocate to or to continue to reside in or near the municipality that is designated as their place of work or in which their place of work is located, if in the employer’s opinion relocation is necessary for the proper performance of the work, given its nature. Employees upon whom an obligation to relocate has been imposed must do so as soon as possible, but no later than two years after this obligation has been imposed.

1.5.8 Absence from work
Employees who are unable to perform their work due to illness or other causes shall inform the employer of the reason for this inability as soon as possible in compliance with the rules laid down by the employer.

1.5.9 Gifts and the like from third parties
During the term of the employment, employees shall not request or accept payments, rewards, gifts or pledges from third parties without the employer’s consent.

1.5.10 Liability and indemnification

1. Employees, who during the performance of their work cause damage to the employer or to a third party to whom the employer is under obligation to pay compensation, shall not be held liable therefor by the employer, unless the damage is a result of an intentional act or deliberate recklessness on their.
2. The employer is liable vis-à-vis the employee for damage suffered by the employee in the performance of his duties, unless he demonstrates that he has complied with his obligation (as referred to in Section 7: 658 (1) of the Dutch Civil Code) to arrange the work safely or that the damage is to a large extent the result of intent or willful recklessness on the part of the employee.

Article 1.6 Adjustment of working hours

A request for part-time employment will be honoured, if compelling business interests so permit.

Article 1.7 Customized conditions of employment

Employees may make use of the Customized Terms of Employment Scheme (AVOM). The scheme affords employees the possibility to allocate a number of hours of leave and/or part of their gross salary to the objects described in the scheme and thus compose their own package of terms of employment. The prevalent terms, rights and obligations are incorporated in a scheme, the full text of which is added to this CAO as appendix 3.

Article 1.8 Intellectual ownership rights

1.8.1 General provisions

1. Employers own all the intellectual ownership rights to any of the following created by employees in the performance of their employment:
   – A work of literature, science (or art)
   – An invention that may be patentable
   – A data bank
   – Cultivated species
   – A manufactured drawing, model or work
   – A semiconductor product or topography
   – A domain name
   – A computer program and design material
2. As their owner, employers may transfer intellectual ownership rights to third parties and/or the employee. Employees will make a request for transfer in writing.
3. Employees shall cooperate in the establishment or protection of intellectual ownership rights in the Netherlands and abroad. This cooperation may consist in providing information, the making and signing of statements, or the deferment of publications for the period of time needed to establish intellectual ownership rights.

1.8.2 Copyright

1. Pursuant to article 7 of the Copyright Act, an employer is deemed to be the maker and owner of those works that employees have created in the performance of their work.
2. At the employee’s written request, employers may, with observance of the provisions of this article, transfer to the employee the copyright to the following categories of work:
   a. Books, leaflets, news magazines, magazines and all other writings
   b. Stage work and dramatic-musical work
   c. Oral lectures
   d. Choreographic work and pantomimes
   e. Works of music with or without lyrics
   f. Drawing, painting, building and sculpturing, lithographs, engravings and other sheet metal work
   g. Geographical maps
   h. Designs, sketches and modelling, relative to architecture, geography, topography or other sciences, and/or
   i. Photographic work
3. Employees are obliged to report in writing all that they create to the employer. One year after receipt of the report the employee who is the actual maker of the work will without the intervention of the employer acquire ownership of the copyright to the work included in one of the categories specified in paragraph 2, unless the employer reserves the rights, with statement of reasons therefor, or fixes another reasonable term for the transfer.
4. The employer will only reserve the copyright to a certain work if it is to be expected that the work will be multiplied in great numbers, it is part of a series or in any other way of special concern to the employer.
5. The employer asserts his personality rights in the employee’s interest.

1.8.3 Patent

1. Employees who make an invention that may be patentable are obliged to report this to their employer. An employee is deemed to be able to have arrived at the opinion that such is the case when the invention has been completed.
2. Prior to any written publication of a patentable invention employees are obliged to report this to their employer in writing. The report shall be made in time and accompanied by a statement of particulars that allow the employer to form an opinion on the nature of the inventions.
3. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 are applicable mutatis mutandis to the copyright connected with the patent to be established.
4. The salary paid by the employer is deemed to include compensation for the loss of the patent.
5. Employers may, in exceptional cases grant the employee additional fair compensation for the economic importance of the invention and taking into account the circumstances in which the work was performed.

Article 1.9 Whistle-blower scheme

Every employer will enter into consultation with the Works Council or Central Works Council in order to make arrangements tailored to each organisation regarding whistle-blowers. The starting point for this local scheme is that employees in a manner that they feel safe and adequate should be able to report a suspect of an abuse in the organisation that they work for.

Article 1.10 Catch-all clause for crew members employed by NWO-I unit NIOZ

1. NWO-I (unit NIOZ) deploys research vessels of its own, including seagoing vessels, to conduct maritime research. Due to the nature of the work on these seagoing vessels, the articles 3.7, paragraphs 3 and 4, and 3.8, paragraph 2, 3.9, 4.1., 4.2, 5.1 through 5.4 and 5.6 do not apply to crew members employed by NWO-I (unit NIOZ) and working on board these seagoing vessels. Instead, the ‘Seafarers’ Regulation for Crew Members Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research‘ (Vaarregeling), agreed upon between parties, applies.
2. So-called ‘boarders’ (opstappers) sail on the research vessels. These are researchers and support staff whose work does not depend on whether they are on board a ship. Articles 3.7, paragraphs 3 and 4, 3.8, paragraph 2, 3.9, 4.1., 4.2. (except for the holidays referred to in paragraph 1) do not apply to boarders, but only for expeditions that last several days. During expeditions, the Seafaring Expeditions Scheme (Regeling zeegaande expedities), agreed upon between parties, applies to boarders.

Article 1.11 Catch-all clause for the Working Conditions Catalogue

1. The employee organisations and WVOI-employers together implement the Working Conditions Catalogue.
2. Amendments are necessitated by changes to legislation on the one hand, and changes in the state of the art and professional service standards on the other. A committee with expertise in the subject-matter first submits its advice on amendment of the Working Conditions Catalogue to representatives of each of the parties. These representatives are authorised to agree to amendments.
3. If the representatives cannot come to an agreement, the proposed amendments are tabled at the collective labour agreement negotiations.

Article 1.12 Code of conduct on sexual harassment, aggression and violence

Each employer adopts a code of conduct to prevent and control sexual harassment, aggression and violence in the workplace. The code of conduct also provides for a complaints procedure.

Article 1.13 Time- and location-independent work

The employer and employee can agree on working hours and location independent. The employer can grant the worker financial compensation and/or benefits in kind to this effect.

Article 1.14 Employees in Public Service

1. Employees who are temporarily relieved from the performance of their work due to work ensuing from service in a public-law body to which they have been appointed or elected, will be granted non-active duty pay while they are relieved from the performance of their work, on grounds of the Incompatibility of Office States-General and European Parliament Act.
2. The employer is not obliged to pay the employees for that part of the position for which they are in public service.
3. For the application of this article, the position of deputy ombudsman is put on a par with service in a public-law body as referred to in the first paragraph of this article.
4. Employees may be eligible for special leave, unless pressing operational interests dictate otherwise, so that they may meetings and sittings of public-law bodies to which they he have been appointed or elected and perform any ensuing duties for these boards, insofar as they are unable do so in their own time.
5. For employees who receive permanent remuneration for the service for which leave has been granted as specified in the previous paragraph, a deduction will be applied to their pay for the duration of their leave.
6. Employees shall be dismissed if, having accepted an office in a public-law body to which they have been appointed or elected, they have been temporarily relieved from the performance of their work, and having left office they cannot, in the employer’s opinion, be reinstated inactive employment.
7. Employees who after long-term special leave, cannot, in the employer’s opinion, be reinstated in active employment shall be dismissed.
8. Employees who accept an appointment as a minister or deputy-minister shall be dismissed on the day on which they accept office.

Article 1.15 Hardship clause

In special cases, provisions of this CAO-OI and from the CAO-OI schemes at the institute or employer level may be varied, if they are in the employee’s favour and if in the employer’s opinion the CAO-OI or pertinent scheme does not provide for the particular circumstances of the individual case.