Booking.com cancels contracts of Iranian hires at last minute due to 'sanction risks'

The contracts of 11 Iranians who were offered jobs at Booking.com's headquarters in Amsterdam were terminated just before the new employees' start dates, according to NRC. Booking cited "economic reasons" such as "sanction risks," but did not give any answers or compensation to the new hires.

At the time their contracts were terminated, many of the Iranians had already quit their old jobs, sold their possessions and said goodbye to friends and family. Booking had promised to arrange their work visas and help the new employees and their partners relocate. At the last minute, however, the Dutch-American hotel website emailed the 11 new hires that their services were "no longer needed."

"We apologize for the inconvenience," the email read, according to NRC. "We wish you every success in the future.”

This message made Zohreh Ghasemi, one of the Iranians who were affected, start panicking. She emailed her new supervisor at Booking, with whom she had been communicating frequently about arrangements for moving to the Netherlands and starting a job there. “She read the message, but did not respond,” Ghasemi told NRC. "No one responded anymore."

Five of the 11 Iranians spoke to NRC. They said the decision upended their lives.

“How is Booking going to compensate for the financial and emotional damage it has inflicted on me and people like me?” said Maede Rajabi, whose contract was canceled only a day before her flight to Amsterdam.

Until Rajabi posted about her frustrations on LinkedIn, Booking gave no explanation to the 11 Iranians about why their contracts were canceled. For a month, the company did not answer their messages. However, an internal document showed that the company second-guessed the new hires because of a possible "sanction risk" for employing Iranian residents –– although it is unclear what risk, exactly, this refers to.

A judge could find that "careless actions" were taken and that the Iranians are entitled to compensation, since the contracts were under Dutch law, said Evert Verhulp, professor of employment law at the University of Amsterdam, according to NRC. But sources told NRC that they could not be compensated for the disappointment.

“It is so disappointing that a Dutch company has acted so unprofessionally," said Mohammad Khallaghi, one of the Iranian hires whose contract was canceled. "I missed opportunities, sold all kinds of personal items. That costs money, but the damage is mainly emotional."