Can a self -employed person still be at the company drink? ‘It’s about the overall picture’

This article was last updated on August 26, 2025

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Can a self -employed person still be at the company drink? ‘It’s about the overall picture’

“Hey Danny, we accidentally invited you for the summer drink. According to the rules, this is not allowed. Don’t get it personally, because we would have liked to have your personality and company :)”

At the company where Danny de Rooij already carried out several assignments as a freelance data culture, he is suddenly no longer welcome at the summer drink. “What is this?” he thought.

Such a drink, but also the team outing, a Christmas package, a work email or work clothing are all things that can make someone part of a company or organization. They are also working conditions that the tax authorities are looking at at the Enforcement of the Self -employed Act, or self -employed people who behave as employees and therefore should actually be employed.

All working conditions relevant

In order to exclude false independence as much as possible, clients are increasingly wondering whether the above items can still be done. Lawyers also notice that these issues live a lot in recent months. “We see in practice that many companies are not yet on the road,” says lawyer Joost van Ladesteijn. “All working conditions are really relevant for the assessment.”

These circumstances fall under the so -called ’embedding criterion’. That is one of the nine criteria that emerged from it Deliveroo judgment, a case that resulted in important case law about what self -employed people have to meet in order not to be a false self -employed person.

Much uncertainty

Since January, the Tax Authorities have been maintaining active The rules on that are unclear on false independence, but many. The NOS spoke with lawyers about what is and what is not allowed in the field of ’embedding’. In itself it is going to a drink or having a company e -mail not enough to label a freelancer as a sham self -employed. This is only a relatively small part of the nine criteria, explain the lawyers.

The keyword in the assessment of the employment relationship is authority: there may be no relationship between the client and the contractor. “A client may put a certain purpose or result of your desire, but no control over how to get there,” explains Labor Lawyer Bastiaan van Rossum.

The Tax and Customs Administration endorses that the assessment is the overall picture. “All circumstances are important. The ’embedding’ is therefore not decisive. The total assessment only determines whether there is an employment contract or not.”

I do think that clients break a bit by saying that a freelancer should not come to a drink.

Bastiaan van Rossum, Labor Lawist

Suppose you, as a client, have self -employed people who are not on All criteria Say, then it could go to a drink or having a company email could just be the drop that the bucket makes over, according to the lawyers. “If you want to keep everything watertight, you should avoid these things,” says Van Rossum. But by dealing with this too rigidly, you can also scare self -employed people, he continues. “I think that clients are a bit through by saying that a self -employed person is not allowed to come to a drink. That is fine, as long as participation is voluntary. It is about the overall picture.”

Difference with employee

It is a bit of low -hanging fruit, says employment lawyer Hendarin Mouselli. “These are easy points to show that there is a difference, but you should not think that as a client you are not to invite someone to a drink. It can certainly contribute to the labor assessment, but you should not stare blindly.”

Van Rossum does have some ideas about how you can make it clear within the embedding criterion that a self -employed person is not an employee. This could be done, for example, by putting in the signature of the company e -mail that the person is a freelancer, having the self -employed person wearing his own logo on his clothing or having it paid for himself with a drink or outing.

Freelancer De Rooij did not blame his client for no longer welcome to have a drink. “I think it is an exaggerated reaction, but they just have to deal with certain regulations. I thought it was a shame, because you still work together a lot, so on a social level it is nice to be able to be.” He could also laugh about it: “Dangerous to eat a bitterbal with me.”

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