Home Current Affairs Corona crisis: employers' frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Corona crisis: employers' frequently asked questions (FAQ)

The corona virus keeps everyone busy, both at home and at work. In addition, the situation raises many labor law questions, especially about the continued payment of wages. However, questions surrounding the taking of vacation days, working from home and employee privacy also arise. We have listed these questions by topic for you below.

Date: March 27, 2020

Modified November 14, 2023

Reading time: +/- 2 minutes

A curfew is in effect throughout the Netherlands starting Saturday, January 23. Meanwhile, the employer and employee forms for working during curfew are online. Our FAQ with labor law questions regarding corona has been updated with several questions from employers about the curfew. In addition, consult this FAQ for frequently asked questions about the NOW-3, payroll deductions, working from home and privacy related to the corona curfew.

Regulations

1. What schemes can I potentially take advantage of at this time as business owner ?

Check the central government website for more information on the schemes.

Emergency measure bridging for job retention (NOW)

2. What does NOW 3 look like?

NOWNew situationOld situationNew situation
Time periodsJanuary through MarchApril through JuneApril through June
Reimbursement rate85%60%85%
Payroll exemption10%20%10%
Minimal loss of sales20%30%20%
Maximum reimbursement daily wage2x1x2x

3. When is my company eligible for compensation under the NOW?

In March, the Working Time Reduction Scheme was discontinued and replaced by the temporary NOW. From March through September, the NOW-1 and NOW-2 have been in effect. As of October 1, 2020, the NOW-3 is in effect This consists of three three-month time periods, until July 1, 2021.

The requirements for the NOW 3.0 are as follows:

To illustrate, if an employer reported the calendar months of July, August, September, October 2020 for the second installment of the subsidy scheme for the turnover period, then the employer reported the calendar months of November, December 2020 and January 2021 for the NOW-3 turnover period.
Are you experiencing a decrease in turnover due to circumstances other than the corona virus outbreak? If so, you can also submit a NOW application. You do not have to demonstrate what your loss of sales is due to.

4. Where and by when can I make the application?

You apply online at the UWV. The NOW can be applied for from February 15 for the months of January, February and March. After receiving the complete application, a decision period of 13 weeks applies, but the UWV aims to pay the first installment of the advance within 2 to 4 weeks. The UWV pays the advance payment in no more than two installments.

5. How high will my allowance be?

This depends on (i) the degree of turnover loss in the chosen reference period and (ii) the amount of the wage bill in the month of June 2020. You choose a reference period for the expected turnover loss. In any case, this should be a period of three consecutive months, starting for the fourth installment on January 1, February 1 or March 1, 2021. It is important to think carefully about which period you want to report and in which period you expect the most turnover loss.

If you have already applied for NOW-3 and the grant has been awarded, the period of revenue decline for the fifth installment of NOW-3 should match that period of revenue decline for which the grant was applied.

The subsidy then amounts to a maximum of 85% of the wage bill for a turnover loss of 100% over the reference period (Note: there may therefore be a difference between the subsidy period and the reference period!).

To illustrate (fourth installment):

The UWV first provides an advance payment of 85% of the wage bill for January through April based on the expected loss of revenue you provide. The reference month for the wage bill is June 2020. If the June 2020 wage bill is not filled, the April 2020 wage bill will be used.

The final determination of the grant will compare the wage bill (as used in the advance payment) to the wage bill for the three-month period October 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020, January 1, 2021 through March 31, 2021, and/or April 1 through June 30, 2021 for which grant is received.

Later, the UWV determines what the actual wage bill was over the chosen three-month period. If the actual wage bill and/or turnover loss turns out to be lower, a recovery of the advance may follow.

6. What is all included in "the wage bill"?

The wage bill is the wage of all employees belonging to your payroll tax number. For 'wages', the social insurance wages from current employment within the meaning of Article 16 of the Social Insurance (Funding) Act are used. This includes overtime, bonuses, shift bonuses, etc. Transition payments and payment of vacation pay in May are not included in the wage bill. If necessary, determine with your accountant or tax specialist which items should and should not be included in the wage bill. Additional charges and expenses such as employer contributions and employee contributions to pensions and accrual of vacation pay are also offset. The exact extent of this is difficult to determine. In the NOW-2, the Cabinet chose to increase the (flat-rate) surcharge from 30% to 40%. A 40% mark-up also applies during NOW-3. However, a maximum per employee applies. Wages eligible for compensation can be a maximum of twice the maximum daily wage per month per individual employee (converted to the three-month period). This amounts to €9,538 gross per month. If an employee earns more than the aforementioned amount, the excess is not eligible for compensation. In the fifth tranche (as of April 1, 2021), the compensation will be capped at once the maximum daily wage ( € 4845 per month).

7. What happens if my payroll for the grant period is less than the June payroll?

The NOW-3 gives employers leeway to drop the wage bill slightly without affecting the amount of the subsidy. You can reduce the wage bill by 10 percent. This can be done, for example, through natural attrition, by reducing wages in agreement with employees (for example, by agreeing on job guarantees in exchange for salary reductions) or, in extreme cases, through layoffs.

If the wage bill dropped more than the exempt percentage, the subsidy is set lower on the excess portion dropped.

If the wage bill of the chosen three-month period is hóger than the wage bill in June 2020, you will not receive more subsidy. If the projected revenue loss over the reference period is higher, you may receive more subsidy.

8. Does the NOW also apply to temporary and payroll employees? And to temporary workers whose employment ended after I invoked the agency clause (for example, at the end of the assignment)?

The NOW also applies to payroll expenses for temporary or payroll employees you employ. Temporary and payroll employers are subject to the same conditions as regular employers.

If a temporary worker was sent away by the client after which you invoked the agency clause, you can offer the temporary worker a temporary contract for the duration of the relief, the Minister has said.

However, the question is whether you want to do this. After all, you would have to continue paying part of the wages of the employee in question anyway, depending on the degree of turnover loss. On the other hand, the dismissal of the temporary worker results in a lower wage bill, which could result in a lower subsidy if it takes you above the exempt percentage. It is wise to weigh this carefully and calculate it.

The same applies to employees for whom the salary continuation obligation is excluded in the employment contract. If you did not continue to pay them wages over (part of) the period for which the subsidy is granted, this may result in a lower wage bill. Also for this group, it is wise to make some calculations because the question is whether the percentage of the salary that you have to continue to pay yourself is more than the part of the compensation that you lose because the wage bill is lower.

9. Can I lay off employees if I want to use the NOW scheme?

The guiding principle of NOW-3 is still to preserve jobs as much as possible. At the same time, there will be more room within NOW-3 for employers to adapt their operations to the new reality. With the corona crisis lasting longer, employers should be given the opportunity to restructure.

Therefore, NOW-2's discount for corporate redundancy has disappeared in NOW-3. In its place is an obligation of effort for employers who lay off staff during a period for which they receive NOW. According to the Cabinet, employees may be expected to assist their employees in finding new employment. If they fail to do so, a 5% cut in NOW benefits will follow.

The employee is thus given the option of proceeding with business dismissal. This leads to a reduction in the subsidy only if it reduces the total wage bill by more than 10%.

In addition to economic dismissal, dismissal on other grounds is of course also possible, as is probationary dismissal or non-renewal of a temporary employment contract. This in turn may have consequences for the wage bill over the chosen subsidy period. If this is lower than the wage bill for June 2020, this will lead to a lower subsidy (see question 6).

10. Are there any other reasons why I should not apply for NOW?

There certainly can be. Questions that are relevant when considering whether to take advantage of the NOW grant include:

If you take advantage of the grant, there are also a number of obligations you must meet. The most important are:

All in all, weighing these obligations may lead you to not wish to take advantage of the NOW scheme. If you are in doubt and would like to spar with us about what is the best route in your case please feel free to contact us.

11. What is the scope of the bonus ban?

The obligation not to provide bonuses will be limited to bonuses and profit sharing paid to the board and management. Bonus means profit sharing and bonuses over 2020 that will be decided in the 2021 annual meeting. Bonuses that see to targets achieved in 2019 are not included. The term board, management (or management) should be understood broadly. The registration in the Chamber of Commerce is not decisive here, nor is whether the persons involved have decision-making or signing authority. Board members, directors or members of management who determine policy are part of the board, directors or management and therefore fall within the scope of the bonus prohibition. The internal name given to this is irrelevant. This provision also covers those who temporarily serve on the board, directors, or management. The bonus prohibition does not extend to other personnel employed in the company who may be variably remunerated through bonuses.

The change to the group provision in the NOW-1 allows an individual operating company that has 20% or more revenue loss to apply for NOW subsidy based on its own percentage of revenue loss but if the group pays out dividends or bonuses or buys back its own shares because it is still achieving moderate or positive operating results as a group, it must also absorb the operating companies' losses itself and take responsibility for continuing to pay staff.

When the bonus prohibition or the obligation not to buy own shares has been violated, the NOW grant is set at zero.

12. Is turnover loss determined per individual or legal entity or per group?

The basic principle of the scheme is that if there is a larger composition of legal or natural persons, such as a group, the decrease in turnover of the entire group is the basis for the subsidy. On April 22, 2020, Minister Koolmees announced the NOW scheme was amended on this point. With the amendment, operating companies that are not eligible for the NOW Scheme because the group's turnover drop is less than 20% may still apply for the NOW Scheme, if the operating company itself has 20% or more turnover loss. In that case additional conditions do apply. Want to know more about the change to the NOW scheme for groups of companies? Read the article 'Change of group provision in the NOW scheme'.

13. Can start-up business owners also qualify for the NOW?

When it comes to start-ups business owners , it follows that the NOW scheme can be used if at least one month of turnover has been made before March 1, 2020. In that case, a different measurement period applies to you for the turnover calculation than for businesses that have already existed throughout 2019. For start-up business owners , the months from when business operations began through February 2020 are taken, converted to 3 months. The turnover in the 3-month period in 2020 or 2021 (measurement period) is compared proportionally to the turnover as of the calendar month that business operation began. For the situation where the business did not yet exist during all of 2019, the application form will include a further explanation with instructions on how to calculate the turnover loss correctly.

For example, if you started your business in April, you are not eligible to rely on the NOW. After all, you do not meet the requirements because there is no relevant loss of sales involved.

The Cabinet did announce on Jan. 21, 2021, that it would introduce another scheme for startups that started a business between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2020. The exact details are still to be determined.

14. From when can I submit a final application for grant determination?

The application period for final determination for NOW-1 opened on Oct. 7, 2020. Final determination for NOW-2 may be made after November 15, 2020. Applicants may also, if they wish, submit determination applications for NOW-1 and NOW-2 simultaneously after November 15, 2020. The application must be submitted within 24 weeks of November 15. A form will be made available for this purpose. The 24-week deadline will be extended to 38 weeks if the employer is required to submit an audit report. For the NOW-3, the application period for final determination starts in September 2021.

15. Do I need to provide an auditor's report for the final revenue loss determination?

Not all companies are required to provide an auditor's report for the final revenue loss determination. The amount of the grant is the measure of how you will have to account for the grant amount received with figures. The NOW-3, like the NOW-2, includes a limit of €100,000. For an advance above this amount, the company will have to justify it with an auditor's report from an accounting firm.

If you receive an advance of less than €100,000, but still receive a grant of €125,000 or more upon determination, you will also need to provide an auditor's report. You will have to estimate yourself whether the grant will be set at € 125,000 or more. There is a calculation aid for this on the UWV website.

16. Can I also apply for subsidies for my sick employees?

Yes, those costs are also covered by eligible payroll expenses. Whether you are insured for sickness is irrelevant. Different rules apply to the payment of ZW benefits by self-insured carriers.

17. My company is located abroad. Can I still qualify for the grant?

Yes, provided you employ workers in the Netherlands and you also pay sv wages in the Netherlands.

18. Can I temporarily loan my employee to another employer who does have enough work and does this affect NOW?

Yes, helping each other in these crisis times is possible. When you lend workers on a not-for-profit basis (at most at wage rates and a small markup), this is peer lending. When you charge for the loan it may affect your entitlement to NOW. This is because your entitlement to and amount of NOW relief is determined by your loss of revenue. After all, if you charge for lending, you are generating revenue. You should also take into account that the Workforce Allocation Act for Intermediaries (Waadi) may apply, from which, among other things, follows the obligation to pay the hirer's remuneration. Do not forget any applicable collective bargaining agreements. It is wise to properly record all agreements in an agreement with the party you are working with and the employee being hired out.

In addition, make sure that if you lend temporary staff for payment, you record this as a business activity in the Commercial Register of the Chamber of Commerce to avoid high fines.

Does the NOW-3 take into account seasonal work in its wage determination?

Also in NOW-3, as previously in NOW-2, there is no separate provision for seasonal firms or other employers with a higher wage bill in the measurement period than in the reference period, such as newly started firms and firms that have grown through acquisition.

20. How does the effort obligation from the NOW-3 to encourage developmental counseling and/or training work?

The training obligation in NOW-3 has remained the same as in NOW-2. It is an effort obligation for employers to encourage their employees to engage in further or retraining. The fundamental changes our society and economy are undergoing require different business models, with a different use of people and resources. It is therefore desirable that employees have the opportunity to prepare for these new circumstances and apply for development counseling or retraining to retain their jobs.

Employers can encourage employees in this by, for example, making (free) time available and providing resources through, for example, a training & development fund (O&O fund). The training itself is not part of the NOW regulation; the employer's obligation to make an effort - as an accompanying policy - is. This enables employees to more easily anticipate the changing labor market.

21. My company paid vacation benefits to employees in June. How does this affect the amount of the NOW grant?

When determining the subsidy, the UWV will remove the additional period salaries, such as, for example, bonuses and the payment of vacation allowances from the wage bill. This will prevent employers from having to repay the NOW subsidy upon determination only because of the payment of vacation pay in June, because their wage bill in October, November, December is lower than that of June.

Continue to pay wages?

22. When do I have to continue paying my employee's wages?

Employees who are infected with the corona virus and experience symptoms from it are entitled to continued pay during illness. Employees who are healthy may (still) not be able to come to work. For example, because your company is closed, or because of the government's measure to quarantine people who have been in contact with a corona patient. In that case, there is no illness. In those cases, the following situations can be distinguished:

  1. The employee can work from home: in such a case, the employer can require the employee to work from home (or from another place). In that case, the employee is logically also entitled to wages.
  2. The employee cannot work from home: the old main rule was "no work, no pay. This was only different if the reason for not working was within the employer's sphere of risk. This main rule has been replaced by a change in the law as of January 1, 2020 by 'no work, well pay' unless the non-work is within the employee's sphere of risk. The employer will have to provide evidence of this. The corona virus will in most cases not qualify as an employee risk, nor as an employer risk. This means that the (new) main rule: 'no work, but wages' applies and the employer is in principle obliged to continue paying wages.
  3. Other circumstances for the account and risk of the employee: sometimes, despite the foregoing, the employer does not have to continue paying wages, for example in the case of an employee who went on vacation despite a negative travel advisory and is now unable to return. Or in the case of an employee who does not want to come to work for fear of infection, even though you as the employer have taken the measures prescribed by the RIVM. Under these circumstances, in principle, the employee is not entitled to wages.

23. Is my employee entitled to paid leave if his/her child cannot attend school or daycare?

If parents need to care for children due to school/childcare closures, the employee can initially take (paid) emergency leave to take measures. Think of arranging a substitute babysitter. If this ultimately fails, then this is at the employee's expense and risk. After all, the children are the employee's responsibility. The employee may be able to take vacation days or unpaid leave to care for the children in such a situation.

24. Is my employee entitled to paid leave if the employee needs to care for a sick child and/or sick partner?

Suppose your employee's child and/or partner is sick (with the corona virus or not), but your employee himself is not. What leave options then come into play?

Emergency leave

If the employee is called away to pick up the child, he is entitled to emergency leave. This leave applies for as long as the employee needs to resolve this emergency (such as picking up the child and arranging for a babysitter).

Short-term care leave

If the employee needs to care for the child and/or partner, the employee can request short-term care leave for up to two weeks per year. Under the law, during that period there is an obligation to continue to pay wages at 70% of the salary and full accrual of vacation days. The collective bargaining agreement may contain different rules.

Long-term care leave

If the employee needs to care for the child and/or partner for a longer period of time, the employee can request long-term care leave. During this care leave, there is no obligation to continue paying wages, but the accrual of vacation days continues. The collective agreement may contain different rules.

25. I work with an annual hours standard for my employees and due to the corona virus I do not have work for my employee at the moment, can I ask my employee to take his plus hours?

Since the effective date of the Balanced Labor Market Act, many employers have started working with an annual hours standard whereby the employee receives a fixed periodic salary for a fixed amount of hours, accumulating plus and minus hours. If your employee is currently unable to work, he is indeed subtracting from his plus hours. If the employee does not have enough plus hours, or no plus hours at all, then he accrues minus hours that he will make up at a later time.

Please note that the employee must receive at least the legal minimum wage per pay period for the hours worked. The moment there is more work in the future and the employee reduces his or her overtime, this can result in the average hours worked being paid less than the minimum wage. This must then be supplemented to the minimum wage.

If your employee still has negative hours at the time the employment contract ends, you should see if the employee can still be used to make up the negative hours. Is this not possible before the end of the employment contract and have you always paid the average agreed hours? Then you may only set off the overpaid salary in the final settlement if it is reasonable for the employee to make up the lost hours. In principle, coronavirus is not covered by this, which means that the employee may leave your employment with a minus hours balance.

26. As an employer, may I ask employees to perform work other than that for which they were hired?

Yes, as an employer you may ask this of the employee on the grounds of good employment practice. However, the proposal for other work must be reasonable. To assess whether the employer's request to perform other work is reasonable, all the circumstances of the case must be considered, including the nature of the changed circumstances, the nature and far-reaching nature of the request, and the position of the employee involved. With these being times of crisis, an employee may be expected to perform other work more quickly.

Vacation

27. Can I require my employee to take his vacation days?

In principle, as an employer, you cannot unilaterally determine that an employee must take vacation days. Indeed, as an employer, you may not "impose" a vacation on an employee. Different arrangements may be made in the applicable collective bargaining agreement or employment contract.

In addition, there are conceivable situations in the corona crisis in which the employee may possibly be required to take vacation days on the basis of good employee conduct. For example, consider the situation where employees are sitting at home and unable to work, but where enforcing vacation may be the difference between survival and bankruptcy for you as an employer. If, as an employer, you have a legitimate interest in the employee taking vacation days that outweighs the employee's interest in not doing so, a plea of good employee character might be able to help. A good employment practice appeal is only possible in individual cases.

Another situation arises if the vacation was already planned. Should the employee, due to the corona virus, want to change the vacation that has been determined, you can enter into consultation with the employee, indicating that you have counted on the employee going on vacation (from a business organizational point of view) and that you hope that the employee will fulfill his vacation in another way - partially, if necessary. In this, the employee has an obligation to behave as a good employee.

If your employee has a lot of statutory vacation days left over from 2020, you should make your employee aware of this. This is because these will expire on July 1, 2021. This way, you may still be able to encourage your employee to take vacation days.

28. Should I comply with my employees' requests to "catch up" on vacation later this year?

No you don't have to if it causes problems around operations and staffing. It is important that tailor-made agreements are made that meet the wishes of the employee as much as possible, while allowing the employer to keep the organization running. The employer must also behave as a good employer.

Forcing an employee to take ADV hours because of less work due to corona virus may be possible, if it is agreed in writing that you as the employer can determine when the employee must take the ADV hours. In fact, based on current case law, vacation laws do not apply to ADV hours. Check the applicable collective bargaining agreement or terms of employment to see what has been agreed upon in this regard.

29. May I revoke my employee's vacation when there is a lot of work or when it is expected (due to corona virus or illness) to be understaffed?

Yes, as an employer you can revoke or change an employee's vacation days if there are compelling reasons for doing so. Consult with the employee and explain the situation. These will almost always have to be situations of force majeure on the part of the employer. The 'corona crisis' is certainly a force majeure situation. You can therefore revoke granted vacation days with an appeal to a peak of work expected or an appeal to understaffing due to illness. However, it is important that there are sufficient leads from which it follows that there is an (expected) peak or temporary underutilization.

Please note here that a change to already established vacation days may be grounds for paying damages. This is because the law stipulates that the employer must compensate the damage suffered by the employee as a result of the change. If employees have already booked a vacation and they have to cancel it because of the revocation of vacation days, the employer will have to compensate these damages. In addition, the fact that the employee agrees to the modification of a vacation previously determined by you does not automatically imply that he waives his right to compensation.

Working from home

30. Can I require my employee to come to work?

Workers suffering from mild health complaints (sneezing, sore throat, runny nose, mild cough, elevation up to 38 degrees) should stay home. Furthermore, the government recommends that, if possible, employees work from home as much as possible. Therefore, it is important to discuss the possibilities of working from home with your employee. If it is not possible for the employee to work from home, then in principle you may require your employee to come to work.

However, as an employer, you must ensure a safe and healthy workplace and take measures that reduce the risk of infection. These measures must be in line with RIVM guidelines.

31. Am I required to continue paying fixed travel expenses if work is done from home or the employee is home due to illness?

No, not in principle. The employer has no legal obligation to reimburse the employee's travel expenses. If no travel expenses are incurred because an employee works from home or stays home due to illness, then it is reasonable that the fixed travel reimbursement stops. However, it is advisable to inform your employees of this. There may be other agreements on travel expenses in the collective bargaining agreement or terms of employment.

As an employer, you can also choose to continue to pay the fixed travel expenses even if there is no travel. In principle, the law states that the employer may continue to pay travel expenses for up to six consecutive weeks of the employee's absence. After that, the Internal Revenue Service will consider the reimbursement to be disguised wages. The employer may then only pay the travel allowance again from the month following the month in which the employee returns to work.

On April 14, the Cabinet announced that this legal rule will not apply during the corona crisis. If the employer wishes to reimburse the travel expenses, it is allowed and the tax authorities will not consider the reimbursement as disguised wages.

32. I want to provide a home office allowance to my employees. What can and may I provide untaxed compensation?

Nibud has calculated that the cost of daily maintenance per employee averages about €2 per day. You can place the reimbursement of these costs in the free space of the work-related costs scheme (WKR). The percentage of the free space above €400,000 of the fiscal wage will be reduced from 1.2 percent to 1.18 percent as of January 1, 2021. The free margin is the portion of the total wage bill that you, as an employer, can use for untaxed allowances and benefits in kind to employees, such as a home office allowance. With this reduction, larger organizations will have less free space and therefore less money to spend. It still applies that when exceeding the free margin, 80% final tax must be paid. So every euro too much free space actually costs the employer €1.80. The free space has also been temporarily increased to 3 percent for 2021 due to the corona crisis.

33. I want to prevent my employees who now structurally work from home from later claiming the right to work from home. How do I do that?

An employee, if they have been employed for more than 26 weeks, can request that you allow them to work from home. However, your employee cannot force the possibility of working from home. However, you should seriously consider an employee's request to work from home under the law (Flexible Working Act).

You can then deny this request by the employee to work from home. For example, because, as a rule, the employee's job does not lend itself to it or because you have defined in your policy which jobs do or do not allow working from home. This is why it is important to communicate during the "corona crisis" that working from home is only temporary and that after this crisis ends, work will resume as normal - at the company location.

Not unimportant: if you have not made a decision within one month before the intended time of commencement of working from home, the employee's request must be granted. Finally, collective bargaining agreements can deviate from the provisions of the law.

34. Am I responsible as an employer during the "corona crisis" for a good home office?

If someone works at home because you ask them to, then you must also provide the appropriate resources for this. In fact, an employer must include every workplace in his health and safety policy, including the home office. This means that the home workplace must be ergonomically designed, have good artificial lighting, etc. So coordinate this well with the employees and, if necessary, have them pick up the items from work (desk, desk chairs, computer screens) and install them at home in the same way.

Perhaps the Inspectorate SZW will be a bit more lenient in enforcing the Occupational Health and Safety Act during this period, but that is not a given. You may still be liable for employee injury (think RSI, for example), even when working from home. Important to know: it does not matter for liability whether or not working from home is done at the employee's request. The employer remains responsible for the home office.

Privacy vs. Corona

35. As an employer, may I ban the corona app for employees?

Although some employers are concerned that using the app will force staff into home quarantine more quickly and then unable to work, installing and using the corona app is a personal choice. As an employer, you are not allowed to say anything about it. Not even if the app is on during working hours.

36. May I ask an employee, who calls in sick, if he has the corona virus or take my employees' temperature?

No. In most cases, you are not allowed to ask your employee what is bothering him when he calls in sick. You cannot require your employee to provide this information. As for taking employees' temperature, it is permissible if the temperature is only read and not processed. The question is, however, to what extent just reading the temperature contributes to detecting corona infections because we now know that many people only have cold symptoms or even no symptoms at all.

37. As an employer, do I have a reporting obligation when I suspect corona contamination?

If you as an employer suspect that your employee is infected with the coronavirus, you are not legally obliged to report it to the Public Health Service. This also applies to colleagues and the employee involved himself. If the company doctor diagnoses corona, he does have an obligation to report it to the GGD.

The foregoing is without prejudice to your responsibility as an employer to speak to an employee and possibly take action if an employee comes to work with corona-related complaints. Under the right of instruction, for example, you may send this employee home.

38. How do my employees properly secure work at home during the corona crisis?

The Personal Data Authority has provided four tips for working safely from home. This is because with working from home, you are more likely to run the risk of a hack or data breach. Therefore, as an employer, make sure you are well prepared:

  1. Exclude employees from working in a secure environment and be careful when using cloud, storage or email services, especially if they are free. In addition, pay extra attention when an employee processes special personal data from their position, such as medical data, and provide additional security in that case.
  2. Protect sensitive documents and don't just place them on a usb stick or on paper. It is more secure if these documents (will) reside on your organization's server.
  3. Be careful when using (video) chat services. For conversations in which you discuss sensitive data, preferably use the available secure means of communication. That is primarily the telephone. Sometimes organizations have secure options for video calling or chatting. If so, you can do that too, but be careful. During the "corona crisis," we already see many images appearing on the Internet of such (video) chats. Also remind your employees not to record the conversations, for example with their phones.
  4. Beware of phishing emails and inform your employees to delete these messages immediately and not to click on links, open attachments or fill in data. Phishing mails are fake emails with, for example, information about the corona virus. Criminals use them to try to retrieve (sensitive) information or install malware on your computers.

Want to know more about corona and privacy? Read"Corona vs. Privacy in the workplace" and the follow-up to this article"The Personal Data Authority gives more clarity" by Annemarie van Woudenberg.

Frontier Workers

39. My company employs cross-border workers who live in Germany or Belgium. Are these workers still allowed to cross the border?

Border work between Germany and the Netherlands and Belgium and the Netherlands is allowed for border workers who live in one country and work in the other. However, rules regarding testing and quarantine apply.

40. What are the implications of home working days for Belgian and German cross-border workers with respect to tax law?

Frontier workers do not experience a shift in tax law due to home working days due to the corona crisis. This has been agreed with Belgium and Germany.

Home working days as a result of the corona crisis may (in deviation from the treaty text) be treated as days worked in the country where work would have been performed under normal circumstances, under the condition that the rewards for these home working days are however taxed in that country. This approval can be applied retroactively from March 11, 2020. The agreements with Belgium and with Germany are temporary in nature.

Curfew

41. Can my employees still work evening/night shifts during the implementation of the curfew?

A curfew will apply throughout the Netherlands starting Saturday, January 23. This means that, in principle, everyone stays inside between 9 p.m. and 4:30 in the morning.

If the employees must be outside for work during curfew, the employee will need an "Employer's Certificate of Curfew. It is up to the employer to determine whether it is necessary for the employee to be on the street. The employer provides this statement to employees. The Employer Statement can be found here. In addition, the employee must carry the 'Own Statement Curfew' form. This statement can be found here. The completed forms may be shown to the enforcer (if any) either printed or digital. If you fill it out digitally, a signature is not required.

42. Does the Employer Statement also apply to volunteers, temporary workers and/or self-employed workers?

Does your company hire temporary workers? Then as a hirer you are also required to provide the temporary workers with an Employer's Declaration. The Employer's Declaration also applies to freelancers. No Employer's Declaration may be issued to volunteers. It seems that only volunteers who must provide necessary assistance to the needy or medical assistance to humans or animals are allowed out the door. That does not require an Employer's Declaration. The volunteer only needs a Self-Declaration Evening Curfew.

43. How should the form be completed?

On the Employer Statement, the employer states when the employee needs to be outside for work. In principle, this should be as detailed as possible. However, the employer can also check the box "I cannot specify fixed times for the employee. This seems to be particularly intended for on-call shifts, for example. It is not necessary to issue a new statement for every day. Try to take this into account when filling out the form and thus also be as comprehensive as possible.

Note!

If an employee turns out to be wrongfully out, it will be considered "abuse. It is unclear exactly what consequences this will have for employers. In any case, employees risk a fine of €95.00. In addition, such an offense is considered a "felony" (the most serious possible criminal offense). It is our advice to point out in writing to the employee when providing the Employer Statement that misuse of the statement may (also) lead to labor law consequences. After all, aside from the potential risk to the employee and the employer, your company does not want to be associated with such abuse.

Do you prefer personal advice? Feel free to call us or send us an e-mail. We are here for you!

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