All employers will be confronted with sickness absenteeism of employees at some stage. Under Dutch law, employees accrue holidays during sickness absence. However, in certain cases, (part of) the days the employees are absent due to illness can be deducted from holiday.
Holiday days may only be deducted from the days exceeding the statutory minimum and not from the statutory holidays. The number of statutory holidays equals four times the number of the employee’s weekly working hours. An employee working full time with 25 holidays therefore has 20 statutory holiday days and 5 days exceeding the statutory minimum. Sick days may only be deducted from the 5 days exceeding the statutory minimum.
In addition, it is required that a deduction from holidays must be clearly agreed upon in the employment contract. If it is not included in the employment contract that sick days are deducted from holidays, sick days can only be deducted with the employees’ consent. Obviously, it is not likely that an employee is willing to consent to this. If an employer wants to deduct sick days from the holidays, it is therefore recommended to include this in the employment contract.
In addition to deducting sick days from the holidays exceeding the statutory minimum employers can limit the risk of (long-term) sickness absence of their employees in different ways, for instance, by introducing a sound sickness absence policy. Russell Advocaten gladly provides advice on such a policy.
Would you like to know more about sickness of employees and holiday entitlements? Or do you have any other questions concerning employment law? Please contact Russell Advocaten:
The government wants to improve the legal position of flex workers with a new law. What will it mean for employers and flex workers if the legislative proposal is adopted? What new rules will you need to take into account?
The statutory minimum hourly wage changes every six months. What are the new amounts as of 1 July 2025?
If a contract has ended, there may still be obligations you want your contract partner to fulfil, such as warranties or confidentiality. You can regulate this through survival clauses. What should you look out for when including such clauses?
A director under the articles of association is appointed by an appointment decision by an authorised body. What might be the consequences if this decision was not established in writing?
With the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration again enforcing the Deregulation of Assessment of Employment Relationships Act (DBA Act), these questions have become even more important. In a recent ruling on Uber drivers, the Supreme Court provided additional guidance on how to determine whether someone is a self-employed person.
If employers want to terminate the employment of an employee for poor performance, they need to take a number of steps before they are allowed to do this. Which actions do they have to take? What issues should expats take into account?
