4. Teleworking

Policies and procedures for telework once the business reopens.

• The advice from the Government to work from home, will be valid at least until 1 September 2020. Under the Dutch Working Conditions Act, an employer must ensure that an employee has an ergonomically sound workplace. An employer must provide the correct work equipment, such as an ergonomic chair, desk and/or keyboard. This obligation also exists when employees work from home, except when employees only work from home incidentally.
• The Dutch Data Protection Authority has not yet disclosed its opinion about the matter of monitoring employees at home. It is likely that this is not allowed without notifying them prior. Also the employer will need a legitimate reason for monitoring and the monitoring needs to be necessary. A legitimate reason could, for example, be abuse of the internet or e-mail use. The necessity means that software may not be used to check whether an employee is sitting at his computer.