Booking.com and works council clash over office days
The Amsterdam court is hearing a dispute over a proposed minimum of two days in the office.
Booking.com and the works council of its Amsterdam headquarters will face each other in court on Tuesday. The company wants around 7,000 employees to work in the office at least two days a week, while the works council has not agreed to this.
According to ANP, in a report published by a regional news site, the case concerns Booking.com Holding B.V. The company says the existing practice is not being changed because a recommendation to work in the office two days a week has already applied since 2022. The works council evidently does regard the proposed standard as a change requiring its consent.
The legal question centres on the Works Councils Act. In June 2025, the Amsterdam court ruled in a case involving Asus Europe that a home-working arrangement could fall under working conditions. In that case, the works council had the right to consent to a decision on the number of days worked from home.
That earlier ruling does not automatically decide Booking.com’s case. Among other things, the judge must assess how the existing recommendation worked in practice, exactly what Booking wants to change and whether that change falls under a scheme requiring the works council’s consent. The wording of the company’s policy may also matter: legally, a recommendation has a different meaning from an obligation.
For employees, the practical difference is considerable. A fixed office standard affects commuting time, the organisation of workplaces, the combination of work and care responsibilities, and the way teams work together. For employers, presence and collaboration are instead linked to organisation, the supervision of new employees, information security and the use of office space.
The case is taking place against the backdrop of a broader debate about hybrid working. After the coronavirus period, many organisations made arrangements allowing for working from home, but later tried to tighten those arrangements. Dutch courts do not give works councils a veto in every case, but may grant them the right to consent when a change affects working conditions.
No ruling on Booking.com’s dispute was available at the time of going to press. The hearing therefore mainly clarifies the legal question before the court; it does not yet say whether Booking.com may introduce the standard. A ruling could become relevant to other large employers seeking to turn recommendations on hybrid working into fixed obligations.
One story, several perspectives
What is established
- Booking.com wants to introduce or tighten a standard of at least two days in the office.
- The works council has not agreed.
- An earlier Amsterdam ruling involved the right to consent to a home-working arrangement, but concerned a different employer.
Left
Arguments Working from home has become part of employment conditions, and employees must retain influence through their works council over a return to the office.
Values Worker power, participation, work-life balance and equal access to work.
Consequences An obligation could disproportionately affect employees with caring responsibilities or long commutes and must therefore be strongly justified.
Centre
Arguments Employers and employees must make arrangements for each organisation that combine collaboration and flexibility; the works council is the institutional forum for this dialogue.
Values Balance, feasibility and legal certainty.
Consequences A clear procedure can limit conflicts, while leaving room for tailored arrangements and temporary review.
Right
Arguments The employer must be able to determine how work is organised and require attendance where necessary for collaboration, productivity or company culture.
Values Management responsibility, efficiency and contractual clarity.
Consequences Too much employee participation can slow rapid decision-making and make employers less flexible in organising their business.
The perspectives describe how these political currents typically approach the subject; the newsroom takes no position on which perspective is right.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The current procedural information comes from ANP reporting, while the legal background comes from a public ruling by the Amsterdam District Court. The text makes no claim about the outcome of the case and makes clear that the earlier Asus ruling is not automatically decisive.
- confirmed Booking.com and its works council faced each other at the Amsterdam court on 6 October 2026. — This is stated in the ANP report published by Digitaal Dagblad. source
- confirmed Booking.com wants a minimum of two office days per week for approximately 7,000 employees. — The same ANP report gives this number and proposed standard. source
- confirmed In 2025, the Amsterdam District Court granted the works council the right to consent to a change in home-working days. — The ruling in the Asus Europe case explicitly states this. source
Editor's note
The hearing, the number of employees and Booking.com’s position come from ANP reporting. The legal context was checked against a published 2025 ruling; no ruling in the Booking.com case was available at 12.34 p.m.Sources
- Booking.com en ondernemingsraad naar rechter vanwege thuiswerken — ANP via Digitaal Dagblad
- ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2025:3782 — Rechtbank Amsterdam
More on this in Dutch media
- NU.nl — „booking.com thuiswerken”
- De Telegraaf — „booking.com thuiswerken”
- Trouw — „booking.com thuiswerken”