If you are sick, you must report sick in the way your employer has prescribed, be available for the company doctor and cooperate in your reintegration, including suitable work. Your employer may not ask about your diagnosis, but it may suspend or even stop your wages if you do not meet these obligations without good reason.
These rules follow from Articles 7:629 and 7:660a of the Dutch Civil Code (BW) and from the Gatekeeper Improvement Act (Wet verbetering poortwachter). Below we explain what is expected of you, what the employer and the company doctor do, and what happens if you and your employer disagree.
How do you report sick?
You report sick in the way your employer’s absence policy prescribes, usually by telephone to your manager on the first day and before a set time. You also report back as soon as you are fit again.
Most employers set out the rules in an absence protocol (verzuimprotocol), sometimes supplemented by provisions in a collective labour agreement (cao). These so-called control rules (controlevoorschriften) must be reasonable and known to you. They usually cover how and when you report sick, where you can be reached, and when you must be at home or available for a call or visit. Your employer must then report your absence to the company doctor or occupational health service (arbodienst), normally within a week.
What information do you have to give?
You only have to say that you are sick, how long you expect to be absent, where you can be reached, and whether an exception applies, for example whether the sickness is related to an accident caused by a third party. You do not have to tell your employer what illness you have.
Under the General Data Protection Regulation, your employer may not register your diagnosis. Medical details are for the company doctor. The company doctor informs your employer only about your limitations and possibilities: what you can and cannot do, and for how long.
What are your obligations during reintegration?
You must cooperate in drawing up, evaluating and adjusting the plan of action, accept suitable work that your employer offers, and cooperate with other reasonable measures aimed at your return to work (Article 7:660a BW).
Suitable work (passende arbeid) is work that matches your capacities, taking into account your education and experience. It can be a part of your own job, adapted work or, if that is not possible, work elsewhere in the company or even with another employer. You may refuse suitable work only if you have a good reason, for example because the company doctor has advised against it. Your employer, in turn, must do everything reasonable to help you return to work.
What does the reintegration process look like?
The Gatekeeper Improvement Act prescribes fixed steps with fixed moments, from the first week until the end of the second year of sickness. Both you and your employer must follow them.
- Within six weeks: the company doctor makes a problem analysis of your limitations and the prospects for reintegration.
- Within eight weeks: you and your employer agree on a plan of action (plan van aanpak).
- At least every six weeks: you and your employer discuss progress and adjust the plan if necessary.
- In week 42: your employer reports your sickness to the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV).
- Around week 52: you and your employer carry out the first-year evaluation.
- Around week 88: the UWV sends you information about applying for a WIA benefit.
- By week 93 at the latest: you apply for WIA, together with the reintegration report that your employer prepares.
After 104 weeks the wage obligation ends and you may be entitled to a WIA benefit. If the UWV finds that your employer did not do enough to help you return to work, it can extend the employer’s wage obligation by up to 52 weeks (loonsanctie). That is a serious risk for the employer, which is why employers take the reintegration obligations seriously and expect you to do the same.
How much wage do you receive during sickness?
Your employer must pay at least 70 percent of your wage for up to 104 weeks, and in the first 52 weeks at least the statutory minimum wage (Article 7:629 BW). Many contracts and cao’s provide for more, often 100 percent in the first year.
The 70 percent is calculated on your wage up to a statutory maximum. Your contract may provide for up to two waiting days (wachtdagen), for which no wages are due. If you have a fixed-term contract, the wage obligation ends when the contract ends, even if you are still sick.
What happens if you do not meet your obligations?
That depends on which obligation you breach. If you break a control rule, your employer may suspend payment of your wages; if you do not cooperate in your reintegration without good reason, your employer may stop your wages altogether for that period.
The difference matters. With a wage suspension (loonopschorting, Article 7:629(6) BW), you keep your right to wages. Once you comply again, for example by attending the company doctor’s appointment, your employer must pay the suspended wages after all. With a wage stop (loonstop, Article 7:629(3) BW), you lose your right to wages for the period in which you refused suitable work, obstructed or delayed your recovery, or did not cooperate with the plan of action. That money does not come back.
Your employer can only rely on these sanctions if it informs you without delay once it knows, or should know, that you are not meeting your obligations (Article 7:629(7) BW). In practice employers do this in writing, and the letter should say which obligation you breached and what you need to do. A conversation first is often more effective than a sanction.
Can you be dismissed for refusing to cooperate?
Normally your employer cannot give notice during the first two years of sickness (Article 7:670(1) BW). That protection lapses if you persistently refuse to cooperate in your reintegration without good reason, after a written warning or a wage stop.
Even then, your employer needs permission from the UWV or a decision of the subdistrict court (kantonrechter) to end the contract. Such a case depends heavily on a careful file: which obligations were agreed, which warnings were given and how you responded.
What if you disagree with the company doctor?
You can ask the UWV for an expert opinion (deskundigenoordeel). Your employer can do the same, for example if it disagrees with the company doctor’s view that you are unfit for work.
A UWV expert then gives an independent opinion, for example on whether you are fit for your own work, whether offered work is suitable or whether your employer’s reintegration efforts are sufficient. The opinion is not binding, but the subdistrict court gives it considerable weight. In a wage claim about a disputed sickness, the court usually requires such an opinion first.
Can you go on holiday while you are sick?
Yes, provided your employer agrees. You build up the same holiday entitlement during sickness as when you are working.
Days on which you go on holiday while sick count as holiday days, unless you agree otherwise with your employer. Your employer can ask the company doctor whether the holiday is compatible with your recovery. If you fall sick during a holiday, you report sick according to the absence protocol, also when you are abroad. The days of sickness then in principle do not count as holiday days. Make sure you remain reachable for your employer and the company doctor.
What if you report sick after a conflict at work?
A conflict is not the same as sickness, but stress resulting from a conflict can make you unfit for work. The company doctor assesses whether you are unfit for work.
If the company doctor finds that the main problem is the conflict rather than your health (situational incapacity for work, situatieve arbeidsongeschiktheid), the advice is usually to talk, possibly with a mediator. If you and your employer then decide to part ways, this is usually done with a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst). Note that a termination by mutual consent does not give you a statutory right to a transition payment (transitievergoeding); any payment is a matter of negotiation. You have fourteen days after signing to change your mind without giving reasons (Article 7:670b BW). If you are sick when you sign, discuss the consequences for your benefits with a lawyer first.
What if your fixed-term contract ends while you are sick?
Then the contract ends as agreed and your employer no longer has to pay your wages. Your employer must report you sick to the UWV no later than your last working day.
After that, you may receive a sickness benefit from the UWV under the Sickness Benefits Act (Ziektewet), and your obligations to cooperate in your recovery continue towards the UWV.
In summary
- Report sick as your employer’s absence protocol prescribes, and report back when you are fit again.
- You do not have to disclose your diagnosis; the company doctor only shares your limitations and possibilities.
- You must cooperate with the plan of action and accept suitable work (Article 7:660a BW).
- Breaching a control rule can lead to a wage suspension; refusing to cooperate in reintegration can lead to a wage stop and, in the end, dismissal.
- If you disagree with the company doctor, ask the UWV for an expert opinion.
Our employment lawyers advise employees and employers on sickness, reintegration and wage disputes. The statutory rules are in Book 7 of the Dutch Civil Code. You can also contact us directly.
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