Amsterdam city council is to intervene in the row over a reported ban on short skirts for counter staff at the borough department of Nieuw-West.

Council officials will meet the female line manager who sent round the email banning short skirts and knee-high boots as well as staff who raised the issue, local broadcaster AT5 said.

The email followed a discussion among staff in Nieuw-West after one counter worker turned up to work in a skirt so short ‘you could see her buttocks’, AT5 reported.

The city has denied there is a ban on short skirts and said the mail was not sent in reaction to complaints from visitors to the council offices either. ‘It was meant as clarification following an internal discussion,’ the city said in a statement.

Counter workers are required to dress in a representative and professional way but it is up to them how to interpret this, the council said.

The reported ban #rokjesgate was a trending topic on Twitter on Wednesday.