Hollanda'da uzaktan çalışma anlaşmazlıkları: hibrit ekipler için kurallar

Remote work disputes are employment conflicts that arise from working at a distance: about where the work is done, availability outside working hours, monitoring and behaviour in digital channels. Dutch law has no separate regime for them, and an employee has no statutory right to work from home: under Article 2(6) of the Flexible Working Act (Wet flexibel werken, Wfw) the employer only has to consider a request about the place of work and discuss a refusal, while it must grant a request about working hours unless serious business interests oppose it.

This page explains the rules on home working, the employer’s duty of care for remote staff, how disputes arise and are prevented, how to investigate a complaint lawfully, what happens if a dispute escalates, and the extra issues when someone works from abroad.

Do employees have a right to work from home?

No. The Working Where You Want bill (Wet werken waar je wilt), which would have strengthened requests about the place of work, was rejected by the Senate (Eerste Kamer) in 2023, and nothing has replaced it.

Under Article 2 Wfw an employee with at least 26 weeks of service may ask in writing, at least two months in advance, to change working hours, working times or place of work. The employer must grant a change in hours or times unless serious business or service interests (zwaarwegende bedrijfs- of dienstbelangen) oppose it. For the place of work, the employer only has to consider the request and consult the employee if it refuses.

Under Article 2(12) Wfw, if the employer has not decided one month before the requested start date, the change takes effect as requested: silence is not a refusal. Under Article 2(18) Wfw the Act does not apply to employers with fewer than ten employees; there the contract, staff handbook or collective labour agreement (cao) governs.

An employer may therefore in principle call staff back to the office, and refusing to come is refusing to do the agreed work. Whether it may do so in a specific case depends on good employership under Article 7:611 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW): what was promised, what has been tolerated for years, medical or care reasons, and the notice given. Our article on iyi işveren davranışının sınırları explains that standard.

Does the employer’s duty of care extend to the home office?

Yes. Article 7:658 BW requires the employer to take the measures reasonably needed to prevent harm in the performance of the work, Article 7:611 BW requires good employership, and the Working Conditions Act (Arbowet) applies to work at home as well.

Under Article 5 Arbowet the written risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E) must cover home working: screen work, ergonomics, working hours and workload. Under Article 3(2) Arbowet the employer must pursue a policy to prevent or limit psychosocial workload, which covers work pressure as well as bullying, aggression, discrimination and harassment, including in a team chat.

There is no separate Dutch statute on a right to disconnect, but the duty to limit psychosocial workload already requires attention to availability outside working hours; see our article on the bağlantıyı kesme hakkı. If pressure turns into illness, reintegration and continued payment of wages apply, as explained in our guide on Hollanda yasalarına göre hastalık, tükenmişlik ve iş baskısı.

The duty is not unlimited: the employer cannot inspect a private home at will, and the employee must also work safely and report problems. But an employer that has never asked how remote staff work, and never recorded the answer, is in a weak position. Where an employee suffers a health complaint, the claim against the employer is an employment law matter; any personal injury claim itself is handled by a personal-injury specialist.

Who pays for the home workplace?

Under Article 44 Arbowet the costs of complying with the Act may not be charged to employees. A suitable chair, a screen at the right height and a safe setup are the employer’s responsibility where the employee works from home structurally.

Contributions to internet, energy and other equipment are a matter for the contract or cao. A tax-free home-working allowance exists, but its maximum is set each year, so refer to the mechanism in your policy rather than a fixed figure and have the tax treatment confirmed by a tax adviser. Keep an inventory list of what was supplied and an annual confirmation from the employee.

Where does remote conflict come from?

Four patterns cause most disputes: messages without context that read as curt, proximity bias in favour of employees who are present, availability creeping into evenings, and workload that remains invisible until a sick note arrives. They surface later than in the office, which makes them more expensive.

Proximity bias also has a legal side. If promotions or projects go disproportionately to office-based staff, and home workers are mainly employees with care duties or a disability, the complaint can become a claim under equal treatment law. The various işyeri çatışması türleri each have their own escalation path.

Almost everything in a remote team leaves a written record. That helps an investigation, and it also means a careless chat message by a manager becomes evidence.

How do you prevent remote work disputes?

With a written remote working policy, applied consistently. It should cover channels, core hours, response times, performance measurement, equipment and expenses, working from abroad, and who decides on a return to the office and on what grounds.

For a general scheme the works council is usually involved. Under Article 27(1)(l) of the Works Councils Act (Wet op de ondernemingsraden) the council must consent to any arrangement for facilities aimed at or suitable for monitoring attendance, conduct or performance; a monitoring tool introduced without consent can be challenged. Working time and absence rules also require consent under Article 27.

Onboarding is a cheap moment for prevention: pair a new employee with a colleague other than the manager and set clear expectations for the first months. Under Article 7:652 BW a probationary period is at most two months for a permanent contract, so a remote onboarding that gives the manager no view of the new employee leads to late decisions. Review the policy periodically and record why exceptions were made, because uneven enforcement turns into an equal treatment argument.

How do you spot and defuse a dispute early?

Watch for patterns: a contributor who goes quiet in shared channels, curt one-line replies, colleagues who stop tagging each other, or a drift away from video calls. None proves anything alone, but a pattern deserves a conversation.

Ask open questions about obstacles, keep the performance conversation separate from the interpersonal one, and end each conversation with a short written summary sent to everyone involved. A neutral summary written at the time carries much more weight in court than a reconstruction afterwards.

If the parties no longer talk directly, mediation is the next step, and it works by video with breakout rooms and clear ground rules. For factual, low-emotion disputes, shuttle mediation in writing can work better. Our iş uyuşmazlıklarında arabuluculuk rehberi Süreci açıklıyor.

How do you investigate a complaint remotely?

Set a defined scope, appoint an investigator who is not involved, hear both sides and record the outcome in writing. What changes remotely is the evidence and the interviews.

Dijital kaydın güvenliğini sağlamak

Instruct the people involved in writing not to delete relevant material, and suspend automatic deletion of the relevant mailboxes and channels. Then define what will be reviewed: named accounts, a set period, a set subject.

Reviewing e-mail and chat is processing of personal data under the GDPR. The employer needs a lawful basis, usually a documented legitimate interest; employee consent is rarely valid. The review must be limited to what the complaint requires, employees must have been told in advance that monitoring can occur, and a systematic review may require a data protection impact assessment. See our guides on GDPR kapsamında e-posta verilerinin korunması hem de İşyerinde kamera gözetimi. Evidence from disproportionate monitoring can be disregarded by the court.

Video üzerinden yapılan röportajlar

Interview each person alone, on a secure platform, and explain the process, confidentiality, that recording requires agreement, and that there will be no reprisals. Send the interviewee your note and let them correct it.

A report of a suspected wrongdoing involving the public interest may fall under the Whistleblowers Protection Act (Wet bescherming klokkenluiders). Under Article 2 of that Act an employer with at least 50 employees must have an internal reporting procedure, and the reporter is protected against detrimental treatment.

What happens if the dispute is not resolved?

If an employee refuses a reasonable instruction to come to the office, the employer can in principle withhold wages for hours not worked, but only after a clear written warning and an opportunity to comply. An employer that has itself excluded the employee from work cannot rely on this.

If the working relationship has broken down, the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) can dissolve the contract on the ground of a seriously and permanently disturbed working relationship under Article 7:669(3)(g) BW. The court looks at what both sides did to repair it; an employer that never offered mediation is at a disadvantage. The employee is in principle entitled to the transition payment (transitievergoeding) under Article 7:673 BW, capped at €102,000 in 2026 or one annual salary if higher, and the court can award additional fair compensation if the employer acted seriously culpably.

Many cases end in a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst). Under Article 7:670b BW it must be in writing, and the employee may dissolve it within fourteen days without giving reasons, or three weeks if the agreement does not mention this right. The wording must protect the employee’s unemployment benefit position.

What changes when an employee works from abroad?

Three questions arise, each with its own answer: which employment law applies, where the employee is insured for social security, and where the employee pays tax. Require prior written permission for a set period and location, conditional on the necessary filings.

Under the Rome I Regulation the parties can choose the applicable law, but that choice cannot deprive the employee of the mandatory protection of the country where the work is habitually carried out. An employee who works from abroad for a long period may acquire that country’s dismissal protection, whatever the contract says.

Within the EU, EEA and Switzerland, social security in principle follows the place of work. A multilateral framework agreement on cross-border telework allows employees who telework from their country of residence for less than half of their working time to remain insured in the employer’s country, if both countries have signed it and an application is made; in the Netherlands the A1 certificate is issued by the Social Insurance Bank (SVB). Tax follows the applicable tax treaty and should be confirmed by a tax adviser before the arrangement starts.

İşveren olarak neleri kontrol etmelisiniz?

• Did you decide on a Wfw request in writing at least one month before the requested start date?
• Does your RI&E cover home working, screen work and psychosocial workload?
• Has the works council consented to the remote working policy and any monitoring tool?
• Are equipment supplied and expenses paid recorded, with an annual confirmation from the employee?
• Did you give a written warning before withholding wages for a refusal to come to the office?
• Have you approved any work from abroad in writing, with social security and tax checked?

Bir çalışan olarak neleri kontrol etmelisiniz?

• Did you submit your request under the Wfw in writing, at least two months before the intended change?
• What did your contract, cao or past practice promise about home working?
• Do you have a medical or care reason that the employer must weigh as a good employer?
• Have you reported problems with your home workplace or workload in writing?
• Do you have written permission before working from another country?

What can we do for you with remote work disputes?

Ürettiğimiz istihdam avukatları assist employers and employees with hybrid working:

• We draft or review your remote working policy, including the works council consent route.
• We assess a request or refusal under the Flexible Working Act within its deadlines.
• We set up a lawful investigation of a complaint, including the GDPR assessment of the review.
• We prepare mediation or represent you before the kantonrechter.
• We negotiate and draft a settlement agreement.

ÖZET

• There is no statutory right to work from home; the employer only has to consider a request about the place of work (Article 2(6) Wfw).
• Without a written decision one month before the start date, a Wfw request is granted automatically.
• The duty of care and the Arbowet apply to home working, including psychosocial workload.
• Monitoring tools require works council consent and a lawful basis under the GDPR.
• Working from abroad raises separate employment law, social security and tax questions.

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