Rights and obligations when working from home
The official government advice is:
Where possible, try to work from home.
Obviously this is not possible for everyone. Carpenters, police officers and, for example, health care personnel cannot do much at home. This is different for office workers and in many cases it is possible to work from home.
Good employment practices
When you start working at home, the employer must enable you to do your work. This means that, for example, your employer should be able to let you use a company laptop if necessary. Your employer cannot assume that everyone has a reliable laptop. If it is the case that you need other office supplies to carry out your work, your employer must also make these available.
Good employment
When working from home you have an obligation as an employee to perform work personally and to follow the instructions of the employer. You also have an obligation to behave as a good employee. The obligations that you have when you work at the office of course also apply to working from home.
Consult with each other
If it is not possible to work from home, the employer and employee must look for a suitable solution. The employer may not impose holiday days unilaterally, so you cannot send holidays. This is of course possible in consultation.
Wage payment obligation
As an employee, you are entitled to wages unless the employer can prove that the reason for not paying arises from a risk that lies with the employee. This is clearly not the case with regard to the Corona virus.
Emergency Fund Bridging Employment:
An employer can submit a request for exemption from the prohibition of 'short-time working'. If a permit is issued for this, an increased unemployment benefit of up to 90% applies.
