According to the bill, employers would have had to accommodate employees' requests to work remotely from home within the EU, with an assessment of reasonableness and fairness, considering all the case circumstances.

The bill immediately raised doubts about its usefulness and necessity, as well as the implications and burdens for employers in terms of regulations, taxation, and social security.

The Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (NVO-NCV) had already underlined that there was no need for the law since, under current legislation, it is already possible to access flexible forms of work. Additionally, the social partners and employees can agree on the contractual terms of the workplace.

Indeed, Dutch employers are still obliged to consider employees' requests to work from home under the current law.

Under the Flexible Work Act, employees employed for at least six months by an employer with ten employees or more can request a change of place of work. The request must be made in writing and submitted at least two months before the intended date of the change. The employer has to consider the request for a change in the workplace and consult with the employee if the request is rejected.

A solution for employers should be to consider including remote work arrangements in their internal policies and find tailor-made remote work arrangements directly with the employees.