January 2023 - Netherlands - Domestic cleaning agency Helpling goes bust

The Dutch arm of Helpling, the online domestic cleaning agency, has gone bust, seven years after it set up operations in the Netherlands.

The company had been unable to pay its debts to its German parent.

Helpling was taken to court by the FNV trade union in 2021 which argued that the cleaners who found work via the platform had the legal status of temporary employees, with rights to sick and redundancy pay. While the union won on some points, the appeal court ruled that Helpling did not have to employ its cleaners on regular contracts and a second appeal is now pending.

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