Employee off sick: continued pay and reintegration for small employers

How much pay do you continue?

The law says: up to 104 weeks at a minimum of 70 per cent of the most recent wages. In the first year of illness that may not fall below the statutory minimum wage (pro rata to the contracted hours). In the second year that floor no longer applies. Many collective labour agreements (cao) require more, for example 100 per cent in year one and 70 per cent in year two. So always check your cao or the employment contract first.

You may agree up to two waiting days without pay, but only if this is in writing and the cao does not prohibit it. Your employee also keeps accruing holiday pay and holiday days while sick, and the payslip simply continues through your payroll tax return.

The steps of the Gatekeeper Improvement Act

Every employer must engage a company doctor or occupational health service (arbodienst). You cannot judge for yourself whether someone is ill or what they can still do. The law sets a fixed timeline, and at the end UWV checks whether you followed it.

1. Day 1: report the absence to the company doctor or occupational health service.
2. By week 6: the company doctor draws up a problem analysis.
3. By week 8: you and your employee jointly draw up an action plan.
4. At least every 6 weeks: a written review of the plan.
5. No later than after week 42: notify UWV (the 42nd-week notification).
6. Around week 52: first-year evaluation.
7. By week 93: your employee applies for WIA (incapacity) benefit, with the reintegration report you compile together.

What does a long-term sick employee cost?

For a large company one sick employee is a line in the budget. For an owner with one or two staff it can hit cash flow hard, especially since you often need to arrange a replacement too.

How to limit the risk

You can carry the risk yourself or insure (part of) it; that is a trade-off, not an obligation. What you control in any case: a contract with an occupational health service before the first sickness report, an absence protocol your employee knows, and contact during the absence. Also check whether you qualify for wage cost benefits or UWV's no-risk policy for employees with a work limitation; UWV then covers part of the wages during illness.

A bill is pending that would let small and medium-sized employers focus on work with another employer earlier in the second year of illness. In 2026 it is still before parliament and changes nothing about the two years of continued pay itself.

Processing it in your records

Continued wages are simply booked as wage costs. If you receive a benefit from UWV under the no-risk policy, book it as a reduction of wage costs. Also keep a separate absence file with the sickness report, the problem analysis, the action plan and every review. That file is your evidence when UWV assesses the reintegration report in week 93.

Frequently asked questions