Sick pay: continued payment of wages

If you own a company in the Netherlands and one of your employees becomes ill, you are required to pay at least 70% of their last earned wages. You have to do this for a maximum period of 2 years. You must also make efforts for your employee to go back to work (reintegration).

Whom to pay

You must continue to pay wages during illness to:

• employees on a permanent contract
• employees on a fixed-term contract
• on-call employees (both those on fixed-hours and zero-hours contracts)

For which employees do you not have to pay? 

In some cases you can apply for sickness benefits (Ziektewetuitkering, in Dutch) for your employee to the Employee Insurance Agency UWV. In most cases UWV will pay this benefit (100% of the daily wages) directly to you. Then you continue to pay the employee’s wages and offset the benefit against this.

You can apply for a sickness benefit if your employee is ill because of, for example:

• pregnancy or childbirth
• organ donation

Or if your employee:

• is covered by the no-risk policy (no-riskpolis, in Dutch). For example if they have a work-limiting disability (such as someone on a WIA, WAO, WAZ, or Wajong benefit)
• falls under the compensation scheme for older employees (in Dutch) 
• works flexibly (is on an agency contract, on-call contract, zero-hours contract, is a trainee or an intern, or a freelancer)
• has reached state pension age (AOW pension age)

How much to pay

If your employee is ill, you should pay their wages for at most 2 years:

• During the first year of illness you pay 70% of the employee's normal wages. If this amounts to less than the minimum wage, you should supplement it up to the minimum wage amount.
• During the second year of illness you also pay 70% of the employee's normal wages. However, you do not need to supplement if the amount is less than the minimum wage.
• You also have to pay at least 70% of all wage components your employee would have received in normal circumstances (i.e. not ill). For instance overtime, personal allowances, and other benefits.

If your employee is off sick because of organ donation, pregnancy or giving birth, you need to pay 100% of their normal wages.

On-call employees

For employees on a zero-hours contracts or a zero-hours contract with a preliminary agreement you must continue to pay if the employee falls ill during a call-up period. You continue to pay until the on-call period ends. 

End of contract during illness

Does your employee's contract come to an end while they are ill? If the employee is not yet ill for 2 years, you have to report their illness to UWV at the last day of their contract. As soon as the contract ends you do not have to continue to pay their wages. You can apply for sickness benefits for your employee to UWV. 

AOW age employees

If your employee is older and entitled to old age pension (AOW), and becomes ill, you must continue to pay at least 70% of their normal wages. If that amount is lower than the minimum wage, you need to supplement it. You must continue to pay their wages for 6 weeks.

Continued payment after 2 years of illness

Is you employee still sick after 2 years? You no longer have to continue to pay wages. You are allowed to dissolve the employment contract. The employee may be eligible for a benefit under the Work and Income (Capacity for Work) Act (Wet werk en inkomen naar arbeidsvermogen, WIA, in Dutch). 

Returning to work

You must consult with the employee about their returning to work (reintegration obligation). Your employee has to cooperate in efforts to go back to work. Within the two-year period, you have the option of temporarily discontinuing payment of wages if they do not cooperate sufficiently. Insufficient cooperation can even serve as grounds for dismissal.