Compassionate and Special Leave

After your wife/partner has given birth, you are entitled to paternity leave (geboorteverlof) of 1x the number of working hours per week. For example, if you work full-time, you are entitled to 39 hours leave, which is five working days. This leave is paid leave. Paternity leave should be taken in the following way:

• If your wife/partner has given birth at home: within four weeks after birth
• If your wife/partner has given birth at the hospital: within four weeks after your child has come home

Please inform HR if you want to take paternity leave. 

Partners can take up to a maximum of five weeks (five times the number of working hours per week) supplementary paternity leave. During this leave, MPI will request a benefit from UWV on behalf of the partner. 

This leave must be taken within six months after the birth of the child and the one week paternity leave (see above) has to be taken first. 

Please inform HR if you want to take supplementary paternity leave. HR will then request the benefit from UWV. 

For further leave around the birth, also for a partner, please see Pregnancy and maternity leave and Parental leave. 

Emergency leave is leave you can take when you suddenly and unexpectedly need to take time off. For example when your child becomes ill (maximum four days per year), partner's delivery (one day), death of a first or second degree family member: partner, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild (2 days, can be determined on a case-to-case basis), in case of sudden technical difficulties in your house or for a medical appointment. The period should be reasonable, so the length can vary from a few hours to a few days. This leave is paid leave. 

You are entitled to short-term compassionate leave if you have to look after your partner, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild or housemate. The condition is that you are the only one who can provide this care (for example, when the person concerned is in the hospital, you are not entitled to this leave). Your partner and child should be registered at your address, for all other relatives, this is not necessary. 

Every year, you are entitled to no more than twice the number of hours you work in one week. For example, if you work 36 hours per week, you can take up to 72 hours short-term compassionate leave every year. During any short-term compassionate leave that you take, you will continue to receive at least 70% of your salary. 

You are entitled to long-term compassionate leave when you are caring for your partner, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild or housemate, who has a life-threatening illness. The condition is that you are the only one who can provide this care (for example, if the person concerned is in the hospital, you are not entitled to this leave). Your partner and child should be registered at your address, for all other relatives this is not necessary. Every year, you are entitled to a maximum of six times the number of hours you work in one week. For example, if you work 32 hours per week, you can take up to 192 hours of long-term compassionate leave every year. This leave is unpaid leave. 

Compassionate and special leave can be requested by filling in a Holiday Request form (choose the applicable leave) and should be approved by the director of your department. 

Special leave for 25 and 40 years employment anniversary is one working day. 

More general information on the various types of leave can be found here.