Sick leave in the Netherlands: pay, duties and dismissal protection

If you are on sick leave in the Netherlands because illness prevents you from working, your employer must in principle continue to pay at least 70 per cent of your wage for up to two years, and in the first year never less than the statutory minimum wage. The main exceptions: your employer may withhold wages if you do not cooperate with your return to work, and if your fixed-term contract ends during your illness, the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) takes over under the Sickness Benefits Act (Ziektewet).

Against that entitlement stand obligations on both sides. Under the Gatekeeper Improvement Act (Wet verbetering poortwachter), the company doctor draws up a problem analysis by week 6, a plan of action follows by week 8, and around week 93 you apply for WIA benefit. An employer who has not done enough risks up to 52 more weeks of wage payment; an employee who does not cooperate risks losing wages.

What are the core principles of Dutch sick leave?

The Dutch system rests on two ideas: the employer bears the cost of sickness for up to two years, and employer and employee share the responsibility for getting the employee back to work. It is very different from systems with a fixed number of paid sick days a year.

The obligation to continue paying wages follows from Article 7:629 of the Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, BW). It applies to every employee with an employment contract, permanent or fixed-term, for as long as the contract lasts and at most 104 weeks. During that time the employer may not give notice because of your illness. The reintegration duties are set out in Article 7:658a BW and in the Gatekeeper Improvement Act. Both sides have defined roles and must work together on a plan of action (plan van aanpak).

What must you do as an employee when you fall ill?

Report sick on the first day, following your employer’s procedure, and remain reachable. After that you must cooperate with the company doctor and with the reintegration plan.

Most employers expect a phone call to your manager or HR before a set time on the first day. Check your contract or the absence policy (verzuimprotocol), and give the address where you are staying and a phone number. For more detail, see our article on employee obligations during illness.

What do you have to tell your employer?

You only have to say that you are sick. Your employer may not ask about the nature of your illness, your diagnosis or your symptoms, because the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the guidance of the Dutch Data Protection Authority protect that information.

Your employer may ask where you can be reached, how long you expect to be absent, whether you still have agreements or work that needs to be handed over, and whether your illness is linked to an accident caused by someone else, since the employer can then recover the wage costs. You do not need to give your employer a sick note from your general practitioner.

The role of the company doctor

The company doctor (bedrijfsarts) assesses whether you are unable to work and advises your employer on your return. The company doctor does not treat you; that remains the task of your own doctor.

The company doctor is usually engaged through an occupational health and safety service (arbodienst). He or she is bound by medical confidentiality and only tells your employer what you can and cannot do, for example that you can work four hours a day on adapted tasks. Your diagnosis stays confidential. If you disagree with the company doctor, you can ask for a second opinion from another company doctor.

Your main duties

• Report sick promptly according to the procedure.
• Stay reachable and attend appointments with the company doctor.
• Do not hinder or delay your recovery.
• Cooperate in drawing up and carrying out the plan of action.
• Accept suitable work that the employer offers, even if it differs from your normal job.

If you fail to meet these duties without a good reason, your employer may suspend or stop paying your wages under Article 7:629(3) BW. Your employer must inform you of this promptly once it discovers the ground for doing so. Continued refusal to cooperate with reintegration can, in the end, even be a ground for dismissal.

What are the employer’s duties?

From the first day of absence, the employer must involve a company doctor, work with you on a plan of action and keep a complete reintegration file. An employer who falls short risks having to pay wages for a third year.

The problem analysis and the plan of action

The company doctor draws up the problem analysis (probleemanalyse) no later than the sixth week of absence. Within two weeks after that, so by week 8 at the latest, the employer and the employee draw up the plan of action together. The plan states the goal, the agreed actions on both sides and the timetable for evaluation.

The goal may be a full return to the old job, a gradual build-up of hours or other suitable tasks. Concrete actions might be an ergonomic workstation provided by the employer and physiotherapy appointments kept by the employee. The employer appoints a case manager who monitors the process. At least every six weeks, the employer and employee discuss progress, and the plan is adjusted if the situation changes.

The reintegration file

The employer must keep a reintegration file (re-integratiedossier) with the problem analysis, the plan of action, the reports of the company doctor, the evaluations and all relevant correspondence. At the end of the two years, the UWV reviews this file when the employee applies for WIA benefit.

If the UWV concludes that the employer has not done enough without a good reason, it imposes a wage sanction (loonsanctie). The employer must then continue to pay wages, and to work on reintegration, for up to 52 more weeks. Careful records are therefore the best protection against that risk. If reintegration fails and ending the contract becomes the only option after two years, read our article on how to handle a dismissal lawfully.

How does the reintegration process work?

Reintegration follows two tracks. The first track aims at a return to your own job with your own employer; the second track looks for suitable work elsewhere when that return is no longer realistic.

First track: back to your own job

The first track (spoor 1) aims at a return to your own job or to other suitable work with your own employer. It can include a gradual return with reduced hours, adapted tasks, such as temporarily removing heavy lifting from your duties, or adjustments to your workplace.

The plan of action from week 8 forms the basis for this track. During the first year, you and your employer evaluate progress regularly and adjust the plan if needed. In practice, the first track remains the focus for as long as a return to your own employer is realistic.

Second track: suitable work elsewhere

If it becomes clear that you cannot return to work with your own employer, the second track (spoor 2) starts. This means looking for suitable work with another employer.

The decision is usually taken at the first-year evaluation around week 52, but earlier if it is already clear that a return is not possible. Your employer pays for and organises the search, often through a reintegration agency, and you must cooperate fully under Article 7:660a BW.

Key milestones

The two-year period has fixed milestones. The UWV checks at the end whether they were met.

How much sick pay do you receive?

The legal minimum is 70 per cent of your wage for 104 weeks, up to the maximum daily wage (maximumdagloon). In the first year the payment may not fall below the statutory minimum wage; in the second year that floor no longer applies.

Many employment contracts and collective labour agreements (cao) are more generous. A common arrangement is 100 per cent of the wage in the first year and 70 per cent in the second year. Check your contract and any applicable cao to see what applies to you.

Waiting days

Your contract or cao may provide for waiting days (wachtdagen). This means your employer does not pay wages for the first day or first two days of illness. Under Article 7:629(9) BW, at most two waiting days may be agreed. They may not be applied again if you fall ill within four weeks of the end of a previous period of illness, because the two periods are then treated as one.

What happens after two years?

After 104 weeks, your employer’s obligation to pay wages ends. If you are still unable to work, you can apply for benefit under the Work and Income (Capacity for Work) Act (Wet werk en inkomen naar arbeidsvermogen, WIA).

The UWV assesses how much you can still earn. If you have lost less than 35 per cent of your earning capacity, you are not entitled to WIA benefit. If you are fully and permanently unable to work, you receive the IVA benefit; in other cases the WGA scheme applies. The amount depends on your former wage, your remaining earning capacity and, for the WGA, whether you use that capacity. After two years of illness the prohibition on giving notice also ends, so your employer can then apply to the UWV for permission to dismiss you.

What if there is no employer to pay you?

If you fall ill without an employer who owes you wages, the UWV pays a benefit under the Sickness Benefits Act. The UWV then also takes over the reintegration role.

You rely on the Sickness Benefits Act if, for example:

• your fixed-term contract ends while you are ill: your employer pays until the last day of the contract and the UWV takes over from there;
• you work through an employment agency and your assignment ends while you are ill;
• you fall ill within four weeks after your employment ends and you have no new job or other benefit;
• you are covered by the no-risk policy (no-riskpolis), under which the UWV reimburses your employer for sick pay, so that a history of occupational disability is no reason not to hire you.

If you are unable to work because of pregnancy, childbirth or organ donation, your employer continues to pay your wage and can claim a Sickness Benefits Act benefit of 100 per cent of the daily wage from the UWV. In other cases the benefit is 70 per cent of the daily wage, up to the maximum daily wage, for up to 104 weeks.

When may your employer stop paying your wages?

Only on the grounds listed in Article 7:629(3) BW. Most of them concern a failure to cooperate with recovery or reintegration without a good reason.

Your employer may withhold wages if:

• you caused the illness intentionally, or it results from a condition about which you gave false information in a pre-employment medical examination;
• you hinder or delay your recovery;
• you refuse, without a good reason, to do suitable work that your employer offers;
• you refuse, without a good reason, to cooperate with reasonable instructions or measures aimed at your return to work;
• you refuse, without a good reason, to cooperate in drawing up, evaluating or adjusting the plan of action;
• you do not apply for WIA benefit in time.

Your employer may also suspend payment if you do not follow reasonable written control rules, such as the rule to be at home at certain times or to attend the company doctor. A suspension is temporary: once you comply again, payment resumes, including the suspended amount. A stop is final for the period concerned. The difference matters, so check which of the two your employer is applying.

What if you fall ill during your holiday or notice period?

If you fall ill during your holiday, the days of illness do not count as holiday days, provided you report sick in accordance with your employer’s procedure. Under Article 7:637 BW you keep those holiday days.

Report sick immediately, also when you are abroad, and get a statement from a local doctor if you can. Your employer may ask the company doctor to assess your absence afterwards. If you fall ill after your employer has given notice, the notice remains valid and the contract ends on the agreed date. The prohibition on giving notice only protects you if you were already sick when notice was given. After the end of your contract you may be entitled to a benefit under the Sickness Benefits Act.

Can your employer dismiss you while you are sick?

Not because of your illness. During the first two years of illness your employer may not give notice under Article 7:670(1) BW, but a few routes to end the contract remain open.

The prohibition on giving notice also applies in a reorganisation, with one exception: the complete closure of the business. Other routes remain possible. The contract can be ended during a probationary period, by summary dismissal for an urgent reason, or by mutual agreement in a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst). Be careful with the last one while you are sick: signing it can affect your entitlement to benefits, so have it checked first. The subdistrict court (kantonrechter) can also dissolve the contract on a ground unrelated to the illness, but must first check that the application is not related to the illness.

A fixed-term contract ends automatically on its end date, even if you are sick at that time. The prohibition on giving notice does not extend that date. Your employer does not need permission for this, and the Sickness Benefits Act then applies. If you persistently refuse to cooperate with reintegration without a good reason, your employer can, after stopping your wages and warning you, ask the UWV or the court for permission to dismiss you. After 104 weeks the prohibition ends, and the employer can apply to the UWV for a dismissal permit on the ground of long-term incapacity for work. The employer must then pay you a transition payment (transitievergoeding).

The employer can ask the UWV to compensate that transition payment. A bill (36.869) would end this compensation scheme; the government now aims for 1 January 2028, but the bill is not yet law, so the current scheme still applies. Check the status of the bill before you rely on it.

What if you disagree with the company doctor?

You can ask the UWV for an expert opinion (deskundigenoordeel). Your employer can do the same if it disagrees with the company doctor or doubts whether you are doing enough.

The UWV can give an opinion on whether you are able to do your own job, whether other work offered to you is suitable and whether both parties are doing enough towards reintegration. You pay a fee for the request, and the UWV aims to give its opinion within a few weeks. The opinion is not binding, but the court gives it considerable weight. Before you ask for it, you must usually first ask for a second opinion from another company doctor.

What should you check as an employee?

Your right to wages depends on following the rules from day one. Check these points:

• Did you report sick on the first day according to the absence policy, also when abroad?
• Do you attend every appointment with the company doctor and stay reachable at the address you gave?
• Have you seen and agreed the plan of action within the week-8 deadline?
• If your employer stops or suspends wages, has it told you which ground of Article 7:629(3) BW it relies on?
• Will you apply for WIA benefit in time, before week 93?

What should you check as an employer?

The UWV judges your file at the end of the two years, and prevention under the Working Conditions Act (Arbeidsomstandighedenwet) starts earlier. Check these points:

• Is a company doctor involved from the start, with the problem analysis in week 6?
• Do you evaluate progress at least every six weeks and record agreements in writing?
• Did you report the absence to the UWV in week 42?
• Is track 2 started in time if a return to the own job is unlikely?
• Do employees have access to the company doctor for a preventive consultation, as the Working Conditions Act requires?

What can we do for you with sick leave?

Our employment lawyers assist employees and employers during and after illness; our index of employment law guides lists related articles:

• We check whether a wage stop or suspension meets Article 7:629 BW and demand payment if it does not.
• We request a UWV expert opinion on your fitness for work or on the employer’s efforts.
• We review a settlement agreement offered during sickness for the risk to your benefits.
• We draft the objection against a wage sanction and file it with the UWV within six weeks.
• We prepare the dismissal request to the UWV after 104 weeks and calculate the transition payment.

Summary

• Your employer pays at least 70 per cent of your wage for up to 104 weeks, and in the first year at least the statutory minimum wage.
• You only have to report sick; your diagnosis stays with the company doctor.
• The problem analysis follows by week 6 and the plan of action by week 8; the WIA application must be made by week 93.
• An employer who does too little risks a wage sanction of up to 52 weeks; an employee who does not cooperate risks losing wages.
• If there is no employer to pay you, the UWV pays a benefit under the Sickness Benefits Act.

Frequently asked questions