Sick Leave

If you are sick, you are expected to report this before the start of your working day (no later than 10:00 a.m.). You should call or email your line manager (director or research group leader), or if appropriate your department's/group's secretary. If your sickness is due to an accident (both private or work-related), you should report this when you call in sick. This is important for your entitlement to continued payment of your salary. It also determines the steps you must take when returning to work. 

When you call in sick, your line manager will ask you:

• How long you think it will last
• If it is connected to work and what they can do to facilitate your return to work

Your line manager will also make arrangements to stay in touch with you while you are on sick leave. Your line manager, or their secretary, passes the notice of sick leave on to HR and it will be recorded in the personnel administration system. 

When you have recovered, you should report this on the first day of return to your line manager, who will again pass the notice on to HR. 

If necessary, an appointment with the company doctor at the Occupational Health Service will be arranged by HR. In case you return to work before the date of the appointment or if you wish to change the appointment, you need to contact the Occupational Health Service yourself and inform HR. 

Visits to general practitioners, specialists (including fertility treatment), dentists, therapists, and the like should preferably take place outside working hours. If this is not possible, visits can take place during working hours. This also applies to accompanying a first degree family member (partner, child, parent, brother/sister, grandparent, grandchild) to a doctor's visit. For pregnant employees, visits to doctors/midwives are always allowed during working hours. 

Holiday accrual continues during sick leave. Employees who are fully or partially prevented from working as a result of sickness continue to accrue their normal holidays during sick leave. This also means that if a sick employee goes on holiday or takes leave, the holidays will be deducted in accordance with their normal working time per day. The supervisor will ensure that sick employees take holidays. If a sick employee does not take holidays, their statutory holidays will become void at the end of the second year. This does not apply when the employee cannot take holiday for (special) medical reasons. 

If you report sick during your holidays, the following rules apply:

• You should call or email your line manager or department/group secretary on the first day of sickness
• You must indicate the address where you reside and the telephone number at which you can be reached at all times
• The employer will inform the Occupational Health Service

In case of sickness during your holidays abroad, the following additional rules also apply:

• You should consult a doctor abroad and obtain a certified medical certificate. This certificate must be issued in English. It should state the commencement, nature, and expected duration of the sickness, as well as the prescribed treatment
• If you specify that you are not able to travel, upon return to the Netherlands, you should submit a certified declaration of non-travel ability issued by the doctor you consulted abroad
• If you are able to travel, upon your return to the Netherlands you immediately need to contact your employer, so an appointment with the company doctor of the Occupational Health Service can be arranged

From the moment you report sick and follow all of the rules above, your holidays will be changed into sick leave days. 

During the first year of sickness, you are paid 100% of your salary. From the second year of sickness, the payment will be reduced to 70% of your salary. If the period for which you are sick is interrupted by a period during which you work for 28 days or less, then the new period of absence due to sickness is a continuation of the prior period. The date on which your salary will be reduced is then postponed by the number of full recovery days that occurred in between. HR will arrange for this and will inform you.