A staffing agency which claimed government help to pay workers and then charged its clients the full rate has been told by a court in Arnhem that it is being unreasonable and must stop doing so.

The court said payroll company Nett Staff could not expect clients to pay 100% of the staffing costs when it has been able to claim 80% from the government under the NOW scheme to help firms through the coronavirus crisis.

‘This is not in line with the government’s intentions, which are aimed at keeping jobs,’ the court is quoted as saying by the Financieele Dagblad.

The FD says this is the first case of its kind involving the use of NOW subsidies, which have so far been claimed by 140,000 companies.

The case was taken to court by tent and temporary storage company Kroftman, which had argued Nett Staff was being paid twice – once by them and once by the government.

The government opened the NOW scheme up to staffing agencies and payroll companies to tide them over if work contracts dried up.

Nett Staff is appealing against the ruling, the FD said.