As a catering employee, you naturally want to know if you are receiving enough salary in your bank account. In the CLA catering, you can read what the CLA salary is and what your salary should be. Do you want to know immediately if you’re getting what you deserve? Use our ‘Check your money’ calculator and check your salary.
Pay slip
Your employer is required to provide a (digital) pay slip with your first salary payment and with any changes. If you have a variable salary or, for example, fluctuating (overtime) hours, your employer is obliged to provide a pay slip every month. Even if there are no changes, you should always receive a salary slip if you request one.
Click on 'Read more' to see what is always listed on a pay slip
- Your name and that of your employer.
- Gross salary and what you take home net.
- An explanation of the payment (salary, overtime, types of allowances and hours).
- Deductions such as pension, income tax, personal contribution to Zvw and national and employee insurance premiums.
- The statutory minimum salary and the minimum holiday allowance.
- The period for which you are paid, for example, the month of May.
- The number of hours worked.
- Whether there is a written (or written addendum) employment contract.
- Type of employment contract, for example, permanent or on-call worker.
Gross/net salary
Your payslip shows the amount you earn gross, as well as how much you pay in taxes and premiums. What you are left with is the net salary. The net salary is the amount that is ultimately deposited into your bank account.
On our website, you will find all the information about how the payroll tax credit works exactly, allowing you to pay less tax on your earned money.
Annual Statement
In addition to your payslips, you will receive an annual statement at the end of the year. This is a summary of all the payslips you have received that year. You use this for your annual income declaration with the Tax Office.
Pay Rise as of 1 January 2026
Do you work under the CLA catering (part A or part B) with an employer affiliated with the new CLA catering? Then you will receive a pay rise as of 1 January 2026.
As of 1 January 2026, actual wages and salary scales will be increased:
- Salary scales 1 and 2 will be increased by the statutory minimum salary. As of 1 January 2026, this is 2.16%.
- Salary scales 3 to 9 (part A) will be increased by 2.5%.
- Salary scales 3 to 11 (part B) will be increased by 2.5%.
The increase is calculated on the actual salary you earned on 31 December 2025.
You will only receive this pay rise if you have been employed by your employer for at least 1 year on 1 January 2026. Also, your salary after the increase must never be lower than the new base salary of the job grade you are classified in.
As of 1 July 2026, the statutory minimum salary will be re-established and indexed. If amounts in the salary table fall below the statutory minimum salary on 1 July 2026, those amounts will be increased to the level of the statutory minimum salary.
One-off Payment
You will receive a one-off payment of €225 gross in October 2026 if you are employed on 1 October 2025 and still employed on 1 October 2026. Do you work part-time? Then you will receive this amount pro rata to your contracted hours.
Pay Rise Inflight Catering
Different arrangements apply to employees in inflight catering. As of 1 January 2026, actual wages and salary scales will be increased by 2.5%. You do not need to have been employed for at least 1 year for this.
Abolition of Social Funds (FBA/FBS)
The social funds (Fund for the Promotion of Labour Relations Contract Catering (FBA) and Fund for the Promotion of Social Relations (FBS)) will be abolished and liquidated in 2026. This means that employers and employees will not have to pay premiums for these funds from 1 January 2026. The deduction of 0.2% from the salary will be discontinued. This means you will gain 0.2% in purchasing power, separate from any pay rise agreed in the CLA.
Do the salary check to easily see if your salary is correct.
Job classification
Upon employment, you must be assigned to a job role. This role must be stated in the employment contract. The CLA for contract catering recognises various job grades. Both operational and administrative staff are classified within these. All roles are described in the Contract Catering Industry Reference Job Handbook.
Are you covered by Part B of the CLA? Then the employer uses the Hospitality Industry Reference Job Handbook for job classification.
Check the CLA catering for your salary or go directly to the calculation tool.
New pay structure and job framework
In the CLA 2024-2025, CLA parties had already agreed that by 1 April 2025 at the latest, all employees would be subject to the new hospitality pay and job structure (Part B). This decision was postponed in 2025 to 1 January 2026. CLA parties have now agreed to form a working group that will provide advice to CLA parties by 30 June 2026 on how to transfer employees from Part A to Part B. The ORBA points are decisive here. ORBA points are a system for evaluating roles within the CLA catering. They determine which pay scale applies to your role and the minimum salary you receive. If the transfer results in a positive salary adjustment, you will receive this positive difference retroactively to 1 January 2026.
This does not apply to inflight.
Youth salary and non-skilled workers
If you work in contract catering, you no longer deal with youth wages. Young catering staff receive the applicable CLA salary.
Are you new to the catering industry and working in inflight? Then you will be classified at an introductory pay scale for a maximum of the first 6 months. You can find this introductory pay scale in the pay scale applicable to you. Employees receive at least the statutory minimum hourly salary for every hour worked.
Are you covered by Part B of the CLA? Then different rules apply. Part B refers to a skilled worker. An important term, as it affects your salary. You are a skilled worker if you meet one of the three conditions:
- You are 18 years or older and have a recognised vocational diploma for the role;
- You have demonstrable experience hours (1,976 hours) in the role acquired on or after your 18th birthday;
- You are in job grade V or higher.
If you are 20 years or older, you should receive at least the salary that corresponds to your pay scale. All pay scales can be found in the CLA catering. To find out which pay scale you belong to, check your job grade. The job grades are linked to the pay scales.
If you are older than 18 but younger than 20, you are a young skilled worker. You then receive at least the following percentage of the salary of your job grade. The percentages apply from the day of your birthday.
- 20 years: 100%
- 19 years: 90%
- 18 years: 80%
Minimum salary for non-skilled workers and BBL students in catering
The wages of non-skilled workers and BBL students are linked to the statutory minimum salary. If you are a BBL student or not a skilled worker, you receive at least the base salary at job grade I with the following CLA youth salary percentages linked to your applicable minimum (youth) salary. The lower BBL scale is not applied.
- 20 years: 100%
- 19 years: 90%
- 18 years: 80%
- 17 years: 60%
- 16 years: 50%
- 15 years: 40%
Download the CLA catering for all pay tables.
Your employer does not pay your salary or pays it late
If you work, you are entitled to a salary. The timing of when your employer must pay your salary depends on your employment contract or CLA. If there are no specific agreements, your salary must be paid by the last day of the month at the latest.
If you receive your salary late, email or call your employer and ask for the reason. There might have been an issue with the transfer or your employer may have financial problems. During this conversation, ask if your salary can still be paid. If this does not happen, send your employer a salary claim letter or contact us.
In the case of late salary payment, you are entitled to claim a statutory increase and statutory interest due to the delay. The statutory increase is 5% per day from the fourth to the eighth working day after the day the salary should have been paid. After that, you receive 1% for each subsequent working day, with a maximum of 50% of your salary. If the matter goes to court, the increase can be reduced to a lower amount (for example, 10% or 15%). Your employer does not have to pay the increase if it can be proven that the delay was not their fault.
Is your employer late with payment and you can't resolve it yourself? Then contact us. We can help you with claiming your salary.