Vacation during sick leave in the Netherlands: rules, pay and expiry

Yes, you can take a vacation during sick leave in the Netherlands: a sick employee keeps accruing statutory holiday and may ask to take it, and the days taken are paid at the full wage under Article 7:639 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW). The employer decides on the request and may refuse only for weighty reasons (gewichtige redenen) under Article 7:638 BW; the advice of the company doctor (bedrijfsarts) on whether the trip hinders recovery is an important input, but it is advice, not a decision.

This page explains how holiday and sickness interact, how a request is handled, what you are paid, when holiday days expire during a long absence, what happens if you fall ill during a booked holiday, and how disputes are resolved.

Why are holiday and sick leave separate entitlements?

Sickness is a status in which the employer owes wages under Article 7:629 BW; holiday is an entitlement the employee accrues and uses under Articles 7:634-7:645 BW. Because they are separate, being ill does not switch off holiday accrual.

Under Article 7:635(1)(d) BW an employee who is unable to work because of illness keeps accruing statutory holiday over the whole absence, as a working colleague does. The statutory minimum under Article 7:634 BW is four times the agreed weekly working hours per year, so a full-time employee who is absent for two years builds up two full years of statutory holiday.

A genuine break from work and reintegration can support recovery, particularly in mental health absence such as burnout. What the law does not accept is a break that sets recovery back or delays the reintegration process.

Who does what?

• The employee makes the request, preferably in writing with the dates, and cooperates with the medical assessment.
• The employer decides. Under Article 7:638(2) BW the employer fixes the holiday in line with the employee’s wishes unless weighty reasons oppose it.
• The company doctor advises only on whether the absence would hinder recovery or reintegration. The doctor does not decide the request.

If the medical advice is positive and the employer still refuses, the refusal must rest on its own weighty reasons under Article 7:638(2) BW. An employee with positive medical advice does not yet have approved holiday.

How do you request holiday while on sick leave?

Submit a written request with the dates. Under Article 7:638(2) BW, if the employer does not put forward weighty reasons in writing within two weeks of your written request, the holiday is fixed as you requested.

Most employers ask the company doctor or occupational health service (arbodienst) to assess the request. The doctor looks at the complaints, the treatment and the stage of reintegration, and checks whether appointments fall within the requested period. Under medical confidentiality and the GDPR, the doctor tells the employer only whether you can be absent and under which conditions, not your diagnosis.

Before you book, do the following:

• Discuss the plans with your employer and the company doctor, including the destination and duration.
• Ask the employer to confirm in writing that the holiday is approved and that the days count as holiday.
• Agree how you can be reached and whether reintegration appointments are moved.
• Check your travel insurance, as some policies exclude trips while you are unfit for work.

Travelling without permission carries risk. Under Article 7:629(3)(b) BW you lose the right to wages for the time your recovery is hindered or delayed through your own conduct, and under Article 7:629(6) BW the employer can suspend wages if you do not follow reasonable written control rules. Dismissal during sickness is generally prohibited, but persistent refusal to cooperate with reintegration can in serious cases lead to dismissal.

When may an employer refuse?

Once the medical advice is positive, refusal is hard to justify. The weighty-reasons test of Article 7:638(2) BW requires a serious business problem; ordinary staffing pressure or the cost of cover is not enough.

Refusal is more defensible where the dates clash with the reintegration process itself, such as an occupational health appointment, an agreed trial placement or an evaluation under the Gatekeeper Improvement Act (Wet verbetering poortwachter). Even then, moving the dates is usually the better answer than an outright refusal.

Can the employer deduct sick days from your holiday?

Only with your consent. Under Article 7:637(1) BW days on which you do not work because of illness can only be treated as holiday if you agree to it in that specific case.

Under Article 7:637(2) BW a written agreement may provide that sick days count as holiday, but only up to the number of days agreed above the statutory minimum. The four statutory weeks are protected because they exist for real rest. Our overview of statutory leave and holiday entitlement in the Netherlands explains the difference between statutory and extra days.

What are you paid for holiday taken while sick?

Holiday days are paid at your normal wage, not at the sick-pay rate. Under Article 7:629(1) BW the employer owes at least 70% of the wage during sickness for up to 104 weeks, with the statutory minimum wage as a floor in the first 52 weeks; under Article 7:639 BW you keep your full right to wages during holiday.

Many collective labour agreements (cao) top up sick pay, often to 100% in the first year, so check your cao. A month with an approved holiday week can show two rates on the payslip: the sick-pay rate for the absence and the full wage for the holiday. If the holiday days appear at the lower rate, they were probably registered as sick days.

Holiday allowance (vakantiegeld) of at least 8% of the gross wage under Article 15 of the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act (Wml) continues to build up during sickness.

Do reintegration duties stop during holiday?

During days formally registered as holiday you are off duty: no reintegration appointments, work calls or emails. Outside those days the duties under the Wet verbetering poortwachter continue in full.

Under the Regeling procesgang eerste en tweede ziektejaar the employer must obtain the company doctor’s assessment within six weeks of the first day of sickness if long-term absence is expected, and employer and employee draw up a plan of action (plan van aanpak) within two weeks of that assessment. The plan is evaluated regularly, and the application for a WIA benefit follows in the second year of sickness.

If UWV finds insufficient reintegration efforts by the employer, it extends the employer’s duty to pay wages by up to 52 weeks under Article 25(9) of the WIA (wage sanction). An employee who obstructs reintegration loses the right to wages for that time under Article 7:629(3) BW. See our articles on what a reintegration plan is and why it matters and on the employee’s obligations after illness and when wage sanctions apply.

Outside registered holiday days you must remain reachable at the agreed address, give the information the employer reasonably needs, and cooperate with reasonable reintegration proposals. Our guide on employee obligations during illness sets out the details, and Dutch employee sickness rights covers the other side.

What if you fall ill during a booked holiday?

Days on which you are ill during a fixed holiday do not count as holiday, unless you agree in that specific case (Article 7:638(8) BW). The days go back into your balance and are recorded as sick leave.

Report sick on the first day through your employer’s normal procedure, also from abroad, and get a dated certificate from a local doctor. If you only report on your return, expect an argument that the days were holiday after all. Under Article 7:638(8) BW a written agreement may treat sick days during holiday as holiday only for the days above the statutory minimum.

The same works the other way around: if you recover during an approved holiday while on sick leave, report your recovery, because the reintegration process resumes from that moment.

How does sick leave interact with other leave?

Sickness normally takes precedence over other leave because it does not need to be requested. Care leave and calamity leave under the Work and Care Act (Wet arbeid en zorg) presuppose that you would otherwise be working, so they are not available while you are personally unfit.

Special leave for a funeral or a move usually rests on the cao, and there too sickness takes priority. Illness during pregnancy before maternity leave starts is sickness and does not shorten the maternity leave; for pregnancy-related illness the benefit runs through UWV. For employees without fixed hours, the wage during sickness is calculated from a reference period; see our article on sickness during a zero-hours contract.

When do holiday days expire during a long absence?

Statutory days expire six months after the end of the calendar year in which they were accrued (Article 7:640a BW), unless you were reasonably unable to take holiday until then. Days above the statutory minimum, and statutory days covered by that exception, become time-barred five years after the end of the year in which they arose (Article 7:642 BW).

The exception is narrower than many employees assume. An employee who is partly fit, or fit enough to take holiday although not fit to work, is not “reasonably unable”, and the six-month period keeps running. European case law on the Working Time Directive also requires the employer to give the employee a real opportunity to take holiday and to warn in good time that days are about to expire.

What happens to the holiday balance when employment ends?

Under Article 7:641 BW you are entitled to payment of holiday not taken when the employment ends. After a long absence the balance can be large: statutory days that survived the six-month rule plus extra days within the five-year period.

The transition payment (transitievergoeding) is a separate entitlement and is not affected by the holiday balance. An employer that ends the contract after two years of sickness can apply to UWV for compensation of the transition payment under Article 7:673e BW. Our employment law guides explain how these entitlements fit together.

How are disputes resolved?

If you disagree about fitness for work or reintegration, ask UWV for an expert opinion (deskundigenoordeel). Under Article 7:629a BW a claim for wages during sickness is rejected unless it is accompanied by such an expert statement, unless obtaining one cannot reasonably be required.

Either party can apply for the expert opinion, for a fee. UWV answers a defined question, such as whether you are fit for your own work or whether reintegration efforts are sufficient. The opinion is not binding but carries weight with the subdistrict court (kantonrechter).

A dispute about the holiday itself is a civil matter for the kantonrechter, who can be asked in summary proceedings to fix the holiday as requested. Because of the two-week rule in Article 7:638(2) BW, the written correspondence often decides the case. Where the real issue is a workplace conflict rather than illness, mediation or negotiation about the employment relationship is usually the better route.

What if you receive a sickness benefit from UWV?

If you receive a Sickness Benefits Act (Ziektewet) benefit directly from UWV, for example because your contract ended during sickness, you must report a planned stay abroad to UWV in advance. Travelling without reporting can lead to suspension or reduction of the benefit and recovery of amounts paid.

The same reporting logic applies to a WIA benefit. If both an employer and UWV are involved, inform both. Employees who remain employed have no duty to report a trip to a public body, but control rules in the contract or the absence policy (verzuimreglement) can require an address abroad.

What should you check as an employee?

• Did you submit your holiday request in writing with exact dates, and note the date of submission?
• Has the employer responded with written weighty reasons within two weeks (Article 7:638(2) BW)?
• Are approved days registered as holiday and paid at the full wage on your payslip?
• Did you agree to any deduction of sick days from your holiday (Article 7:637 BW)?
• Did you report sick on the first day, with a local medical certificate, if you fell ill during holiday?
• If you receive a Ziektewet or WIA benefit, did you report your stay abroad to UWV in advance?

What should you check as an employer?

• Did you ask the company doctor for functional advice only, without the diagnosis?
• Did you respond in writing within two weeks, with concrete weighty reasons if you refuse?
• Are holiday days registered and paid at the full wage rather than the sick-pay rate?
• Do you obtain the employee’s consent in each case before treating sick days as holiday?
• Have you warned the employee in good time about statutory days that are about to expire?
• Are the deadlines of the Wet verbetering poortwachter met, to avoid a wage sanction of up to 52 weeks?

What can we do for you with holiday during sick leave?

Our employment lawyers advise employees and employers on sickness, reintegration and holiday entitlement:

• We review a refusal of your holiday request against the weighty-reasons test of Article 7:638 BW.
• We calculate your holiday balance, including days that have not expired under Article 7:640a BW.
• We draft the request or the written response with reasons within the two-week deadline.
• We prepare the application for an expert opinion from UWV.
• We bring or defend a claim before the kantonrechter, including summary proceedings.

Summary

• You keep accruing statutory holiday during sickness and may ask to take it.
• The employer decides and may refuse only for weighty reasons; without a written refusal within two weeks the holiday is fixed as requested.
• Holiday days are paid at the full wage (Article 7:639 BW), not at the sick-pay rate.
• Illness during a booked holiday turns the days back into sick days if you report it properly (Article 7:638(8) BW).
• Statutory days expire after six months unless you were reasonably unable to take them; the five-year period then applies.

Frequently asked questions