Written by Onur Arslan, employment lawyer at Arslan Advocaten. Registered in the areas-of-law register of the Netherlands Bar for employment law and personal injury. Last updated: 31 August 2026.

See also: Are you being dismissed while on sick leave? Read about dismissal during illness, or go to our employment law page. We can also discuss your case in Dutch or Turkish.

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May you resign during illness?

Legally you may: there is no prohibition on giving notice yourself while you are ill. Financially, however, it is one of the most risky decisions you can take as an employee, because you as a rule forfeit both your continued payment of wages and your right to a benefit with it. So the answer "yes, you may" is both correct and misleading, and that is precisely why this question is so often answered wrongly.

The prohibition on termination during illness protects you against your employer. Article 7:670(1) of the Dutch Civil Code begins with the words "The employer cannot give notice during the time the employee is unfit to perform their work because of illness". It says nothing about the employee. So you simply retain your own power to give notice, with the one-month notice period that article 7:672(4) of the Civil Code prescribes for the employee, with effect from the end of the month (paragraph 1).

What you set in motion with that notice is the problem. If you put your own signature under the end of your employment, three things happen at once:

What you lose	Why
Continued payment of wages during illness	the right in article 7:629 of the Civil Code is tied to the existence of the employment contract; with the end date it stops
The protection of the prohibition on termination	you no longer need it, because you are ending the contract yourself
Prospect of unemployment benefit	the UWV can find you culpably unemployed (article 24(2)(b) of the Unemployment Insurance Act)
Prospect of a sickness benefit	the UWV can regard ending the contract yourself as an act of detriment (article 45(1)(j) and (7) of the Sickness Benefits Act)
Your employer’s reintegration duty	the obligation in article 7:658a of the Civil Code to help you into suitable work, including at another employer, ends with the employment

What drives people to this is almost never a legal consideration. It is a conflict with a manager, a company doctor who does not listen, the feeling that "this cannot go on", or the wish to start again somewhere else. Those feelings are entirely understandable. Only: the means that seems to bring relief is precisely the means that removes your safety net. The calmer routes — an expert opinion from the UWV, a conversation about a different role, mediation, or a negotiated termination in which your benefit position has been calculated — take weeks, but do not cost you your income.

By way of illustration. A warehouse worker has been at home ill for a few months. Contact with his manager is awkward, the company doctor advises a return to work he cannot yet manage, and he decides he "has had enough of this". He gives notice himself, expecting that a benefit will follow. With the end date, however, the continued payment of wages during illness stops, and both unemployment benefit and sickness benefit thereby become a question instead of a certainty. The question that should have been answered before that notice is what comes in its place financially — and whether an expert opinion or mediation would have offered the same way out without removing that safety net. This is an example situation illustrating the rule, not a case of our firm.

If you have already said it. Notice by an employee is strictly tested in the case law. What is required is a clear and unambiguous statement directed at ending the employment contract. The Amsterdam subdistrict court put it this way: "According to the case law, notice of an employment contract by an employee requires a clear and unambiguous statement directed at the ending of the employment contract. That is a strict test, which serves to protect an employee from the great consequences that a voluntary termination" of the employment has. The ‘s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal calls this settled case law. A statement made in emotion, a message saying "I’m not coming back" or an oral "I quit" is therefore not automatically valid notice — certainly not where your illness affected the forming of your will. In that case report immediately, in writing, that you did not intend to give notice and have the matter assessed.

Sources: arts. 7:670, 7:672 and 7:629 of the Dutch Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl); Amsterdam District Court ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2024:6483 and ‘s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal ECLI:NL:GHSHE:2025:2863 (rechtspraak.nl).

May you resign while you are receiving sickness benefit?

You may then too, but the UWV can refuse your sickness benefit in whole or in part, because by ending the contract yourself you have acted to the detriment of the benefit fund. This is the question most often asked on this page, and it is the question with the most expensive wrong answer.

The basis is directly in the statute. Article 45(1)(j) of the Sickness Benefits Act provides that the UWV refuses the sickness benefit in whole or in part, temporarily or permanently, "if by their acts and omissions the insured person prejudices or could prejudice the General Unemployment Fund, the Implementation Fund for Government, the Return to Work Fund or the employer bearing its own risk". Paragraph 7 of that same article makes express what falls under that: "Detriment within the meaning of paragraph 1(j) also includes the situation in which the insured person has, without proper grounds, failed to put up a defence against or has consented to a termination of the employment" in the period in which they are ill.

Note the difference from unemployment benefit, because that difference explains almost all the confusion about this subject. For unemployment benefit, article 24(6) of the Unemployment Insurance Act in fact provides that failing to put up a defence against, or consenting to, a termination by or at the request of the employer does not constitute a breach. With illness such an exception is absent: the Sickness Benefits Act in fact expressly designates it as an act of detriment. So anyone who takes their knowledge about settlement agreements from unemployment-benefit practice and applies it to a sick employee reaches a dangerously wrong conclusion.

Two qualifications, which you should not read too quickly as a way out:

• "Without proper grounds". The statute leaves room for situations in which there was a good reason. What amounts to proper grounds depends entirely on the circumstances and is assessed by the UWV itself.
• Calibration to culpability. Article 45(2) of the Sickness Benefits Act prescribes that a measure is calibrated to the seriousness of the conduct and the extent to which you can be blamed for it, and that a measure is in any event dispensed with "if every form of culpability is absent".

Both provisions offer a defence after the fact. Neither is a guarantee in advance. So have your position assessed before you give notice or sign, not after the UWV’s decision lands on the mat.

Sources: art. 45 of the Sickness Benefits Act and art. 24 of the Unemployment Insurance Act (wetten.overheid.nl).

Can I still get unemployment benefit if I resign?

In principle not. Anyone who ends their employment themselves without continuation not being something that could reasonably be required of them is culpably unemployed, and the UWV then permanently deducts an amount from the benefit — in practice that means: no unemployment benefit. That applies whether you are ill or not.

The statute is unusually direct here. Article 24(2)(b) of the Unemployment Insurance Act: the employee has become culpably unemployed if "the employment was ended by or at the request of the employee without its continuation being attended by such objections that this continuation could not reasonably be required of him". Article 27(1) attaches the sanction to that: the UWV permanently deducts an amount from the benefit, "unless the failure to comply with the obligation cannot be blamed on the employee to a predominant extent" — in that case half is deducted for a maximum of 26 weeks.

On top of that, unemployment benefit poses an additional problem for anyone who is ill. Article 19(1)(a) of the Unemployment Insurance Act excludes the right to unemployment benefit for anyone receiving a benefit under the Sickness Benefits Act. So the two benefits do not exist alongside each other. Anyone who leaves employment while ill in principle ends up on sickness benefit, not on unemployment benefit.

The exception in article 24(2)(b) — "such objections that continuation could not reasonably be required of him" — is narrow and is not readily accepted. Dissatisfaction, an unpleasant atmosphere or a conflict with a colleague as a rule do not suffice. Anyone who believes their situation really was untenable is well advised to record and substantiate that in advance, rather than argue it afterwards.

Sources: arts. 19, 24 and 27 of the Unemployment Insurance Act (wetten.overheid.nl).

Can you be dismissed if you are ill?

As long as your incapacity for work has not yet lasted two years, your employer can in principle not give notice to terminate the employment contract. That is the prohibition on termination during illness, and it is one of the strongest protections employment law knows — but it has exceptions, and it applies only to notice of termination. Anyone who reads the prohibition as "nothing can happen to me" reads it too widely.

The text of article 7:670(1) of the Civil Code: "The employer cannot give notice during the time the employee is unfit to perform their work because of illness, unless the unfitness: a. has lasted at least two years, or six weeks for the employee who has reached the [state pension] age, or b. began after a request for permission as referred to in article 671a has been received by the Employee Insurance Agency (…)."

Two things stand out from that.

The order determines everything. Sub-paragraph b means: if you fall ill after your employer has applied to the UWV for the dismissal permit, the prohibition on termination does not protect you. Falling ill during dismissal proceedings that are already under way is therefore not a brake. The same applies before the subdistrict court: article 7:671b(7) of the Civil Code provides that the prohibition does not apply "if the illness began after the application for rescission was received by the subdistrict court". Reporting sick after receipt of an application for dismissal does not help — and it damages your credibility if you are not actually ill.

Adding up periods of illness. For the two-year period, periods of incapacity for work are added together if they follow one another with a break of less than four weeks, unless the unfitness does not reasonably arise from the same cause. So recovering briefly and dropping out again does not restart the clock. Periods of unfitness during pregnancy or maternity leave in fact do not count.

The two-year period can moreover become longer. Article 7:670(11) of the Civil Code extends it among other things by the duration of a wage sanction imposed by the UWV and by the delay where the work-capacity application has been made late. So anyone receiving a letter at two years minus one week should always check whether the period really has expired.

Sources: arts. 7:670 and 7:671b of the Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl).

When does the prohibition on termination during illness not apply?

The prohibition lapses in a limited number of cases described in the statute — and it does not apply at all from the outset where the employment ends in a way other than by notice of termination. That last point is why people who think themselves protected nevertheless lose their job.

Situation	What applies	Legal basis
You fail without proper grounds to cooperate with reintegration	the prohibition lapses, but only if the employer has first given you a written warning or stopped your wages for that reason	art. 7:670a(1) of the Civil Code
You consent to the notice in writing	the prohibition does not apply; you may revoke that consent within fourteen days	art. 7:670a(2)(a) and (5) of the Civil Code
Notice during the probationary period	the prohibition does not apply	art. 7:670a(2)(b) of the Civil Code
Summary dismissal for an urgent cause	the prohibition does not apply	art. 7:670a(2)(c) of the Civil Code
The undertaking stops its activities entirely	the prohibition does not apply, except for the employee on pregnancy or maternity leave	art. 7:670a(2)(d) of the Civil Code
Dismissal on reaching pensionable age	the prohibition does not apply, provided it is unconnected with the illness	art. 7:670a(2)(e) of the Civil Code
Your fixed-term contract expires	no notice is given; the contract ends by operation of law	art. 7:667(1) of the Civil Code
Termination by mutual consent	no notice is given; the protection of art. 7:670 does not come into play	art. 7:670b of the Civil Code

Rescission by the subdistrict court is the most important qualification. The main rule is that the subdistrict court does not rescind where a prohibition on termination applies (article 7:671b(2) of the Civil Code). But paragraph 6 of that article gives two ways out: the court can rescind after all if the application "is unconnected with circumstances to which those prohibitions on termination relate", or if "there are circumstances of such a nature that the employment contract ought to end in the employee’s interest".

In practice that comes down to one test: can you think the illness away and is there then still an independent ground for dismissal left? Subdistrict courts apply that criterion in the same way. If a damaged working relationship is presented while the damage arose around the report of illness, the company doctor’s appointments and the reintegration, then the application is connected with the illness and fails. The Midden-Nederland District Court put it briefly: if the employee is incapacitated for work at that moment, then the prohibition on termination during illness applies and that stands in the way of rescission, unless one of the two exceptions arises.

Sources: arts. 7:670a and 7:671b of the Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl); Midden-Nederland District Court ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2026:3266 and ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2026:98, Rotterdam District Court ECLI:NL:RBROT:2026:447, Oost-Brabant District Court ECLI:NL:RBOBR:2026:174 (rechtspraak.nl).

How long must my employer continue to pay my wages if I am ill?

In principle 104 weeks — two years — at at least 70% of your pay, whereby for the first 52 weeks you keep at least the statutory minimum wage applicable to you. Many collective agreements and employment contracts top that up, often to 100% in the first year and 70% in the second. So always look in your own collective agreement first before assuming the statutory minimum.

The statutory basis is article 7:629(1) of the Civil Code. The provision contains one ceiling that is often missed: the right exists "in so far as the pay does not exceed the amount referred to in article 17(1) of the Social Insurance Funding Act, in respect of a pay period of one day". If you earn more than that maximum daily wage, the statute gives you no entitlement above that ceiling; only your collective agreement or contract can cover that.

When you can lose the right to continued payment of wages. Article 7:629(3) of the Civil Code lists the grounds exhaustively:

• the illness was caused by your intent, or arises from a defect about which you gave false information at a pre-employment medical;
• your recovery is hindered or delayed by your own actions;
• you fail without proper grounds to perform suitable work while you are able to do so and the employer gives you the opportunity;
• you refuse without proper grounds to cooperate with reasonable rules or measures aimed at having you perform suitable work;
• you refuse without proper grounds to cooperate with drawing up, evaluating and adjusting the action plan;
• you submit your work-capacity application late without proper grounds.

A wage stop is something different from a wage suspension. With a wage stop the employer takes the view that you have no right to pay — one of the grounds above. With suspension (article 7:629(6) of the Civil Code) it does not doubt your right but the information: it may suspend payment as long as you do not comply with reasonable written rules about the information it needs in order to establish your right to pay. If you supply that after all, back payment follows. In both cases article 7:629(7) of the Civil Code applies: the employer can no longer rely on it if it has not told you so without delay. A wage stop announced only afterwards can therefore be challenged.

If you want to claim the pay, you need an expert opinion. Article 7:629a(1) of the Civil Code prescribes that the court rejects a wage claim if it is not accompanied by a statement from an expert appointed by the UWV. You apply for that expert opinion yourself at the UWV; it is the most important first step in virtually every wage dispute during illness, and it must in principle be produced with the summons straight away.

Two waiting days are permitted: article 7:629(9) of the Civil Code allows it to be stipulated that you have no right to pay over the first two days. More is not permitted, and it must have been agreed.

Sources: arts. 7:629 and 7:629a of the Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl); Amsterdam District Court ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2025:2507 (rechtspraak.nl).

For the build-up and taking of holiday days during illness rules of their own apply; those are set out in a separate article.

May I sign a settlement agreement if I am ill?

You may, but this is the most dangerous situation in which you can sign a termination agreement — more dangerous than giving notice yourself, because the text makes protection against dismissal and your benefit evaporate at the same time while the agreement looks perfectly tidy. Everything you read elsewhere about "watch the neutral ground for dismissal and the notice period" is not enough here.

Why this is different from the position of a healthy employee:

Item	What happens in the case of illness
Prohibition on termination	you voluntarily give up the protection of article 7:670(1) of the Civil Code; a termination agreement is not a notice of termination, so the prohibition does not come into play
Continued payment of wages	the right in article 7:629 of the Civil Code ends with the employment, regardless of how much of the two years was left
Sickness benefit	the UWV can refuse the benefit for an act of detriment: consenting to a termination during illness is set out in so many words in article 45(7) of the Sickness Benefits Act
Unemployment benefit	article 19(1)(a) of the Unemployment Insurance Act excludes unemployment benefit alongside a sickness benefit; and without a sickness benefit the question remains whether you are available for work
Reintegration	your employer’s second-track obligation (article 7:658a(1) of the Civil Code) lapses
Transition payment	that is not automatically payable under an agreement; it has to be stipulated

By way of illustration. A shop manager has been incapacitated for work for several months when her employer puts a termination agreement to her. The document looks well cared for: the initiative lies with the employer, the reason is worded neutrally and the notice period has been properly worked in. So precisely the three points everyone watches are in order — and that is exactly what makes it look safe. With illness, however, those points do not solve the problem: the continued payment of wages stops with the end date, the protection of the prohibition on termination is voluntarily given up, and consenting to a termination during illness is set out in the Sickness Benefits Act as an act of detriment. So the question is not whether the agreement looks good, but what is left of pay, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit and work-capacity benefit. This is an example situation illustrating the rule, not a case of our firm.

The reflection period does not save this. Article 7:670b(2) of the Civil Code gives you fourteen days to dissolve the agreement without giving reasons, and three weeks if the employer failed to mention that right in the agreement (paragraph 3). Revoking brings you back to square one — it repairs nothing about the benefit position you would have given up.

When can it still be sensible? There are situations in which a well-constructed arrangement is defensible: where the incapacity for work has virtually ended, where the two years are as good as up, or where there is a payment in return that actually covers the benefit risk. But that is the exception, and it requires that pay, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit and work-capacity benefit have each been calculated separately before anything is signed.

*Read on: settlement agreement: signing, the reflection period and unemployment benefit.*

Sources: art. 7:670b of the Civil Code, art. 45 of the Sickness Benefits Act and art. 19 of the Unemployment Insurance Act (wetten.overheid.nl).

My contract expires during illness — is that allowed?

Yes. A fixed-term contract ends by operation of law on the agreed date, even if you are ill at that moment. The prohibition on termination during illness does not help here, because no notice of termination is given. This is the hardest and most underestimated rule of this whole subject.

Article 7:667(1) of the Civil Code: "An employment contract ends by operation of law when the time indicated by agreement or by statute has elapsed." Article 7:670(1) of the Civil Code is addressed solely to the employer that gives notice. So there is nothing to invoke. That the legislature deliberately proceeds on that basis appears from article 7:673e(1)(a)(2°) of the Civil Code, which provides a compensation scheme for precisely the situation in which an employment contract "has ended by operation of law and the employee was, at the time the employment contract ended, unable to perform the agreed work because of illness or defects".

What you do have:

• The duty to notify. With a contract of six months or longer with a fixed end date, your employer must tell you in writing at the latest one month before the end whether it is extending and on what terms (article 7:668(1) and (2) of the Civil Code). If it does not do so at all, it owes a payment equal to one month’s pay; if it does so late, then pro rata (paragraph 3). That payment stands apart from the question whether you are ill.
• The prohibition on detriment for a wrong reason. Not extending is permitted, but not extending because you have fallen ill may in the circumstances conflict with good employership or with a prohibition on discrimination. That is a heavier route than the prohibition on termination and calls for substantiation.
• Your employer must report you as leaving employment while ill. Article 38(2) of the Sickness Benefits Act requires it to do so on the last day of the employment. If it does not do so, or not properly, it risks an administrative fine of at most € 455 (paragraph 3). Do not rely on it happening: ask in writing for confirmation.

Sources: arts. 7:667, 7:668 and 7:673e of the Civil Code and art. 38 of the Sickness Benefits Act (wetten.overheid.nl).

Leaving employment while ill: how does the Sickness Benefits Act work then?

If you are still ill at the moment your employment ends, the UWV takes over your employer’s role: you in principle receive a sickness benefit of 70% of your daily wage, for at most 104 weeks. In that situation the Sickness Benefits Act is a safety net, not a second salary: the percentage is the same as the statutory minimum with continued payment of wages, but the collective-agreement top-up you had as an employee as a rule falls away.

The figures are in the statute itself. Article 29(7) of the Sickness Benefits Act: "The sickness benefit (…) amounts to 70% of the insured person’s daily wage." Article 29(5): "No sickness benefit is paid after a period of 104 weeks of unfitness for work has elapsed, counted from the first day of the unfitness for work." For anyone who has reached the state pension age that period is six weeks. For the calculation of those 104 weeks, periods of illness are added together where there is a break of less than four weeks.

Who falls within the safety net:

Situation	Explanation
Ill on the day the contract expires	you leave employment while ill; the employer reports that on the last day of the employment (art. 38(2) of the Sickness Benefits Act)
Ill within four weeks after the end of your insurance	the after-effect in article 46(1) of the Sickness Benefits Act: you have an entitlement "as if he had remained insured"
Ill while on unemployment benefit	the unemployment benefit first continues for thirteen weeks; after that, sickness benefit (art. 29(2)(d) of the Sickness Benefits Act)
Agency worker whose contract ends during illness	the placement no longer ends because of illness, but the contract does end on the agreed date
Pregnancy, childbirth or organ donation	a scheme of its own with a higher benefit (arts. 29(8) and 29a of the Sickness Benefits Act)
Employee with a no-risk policy	the UWV pays the sickness benefit, even though there is still an employer (art. 29b of the Sickness Benefits Act)

What you have to do yourself. Report sick as your contract or staff rules prescribe, as a rule on the first day of illness and at the latest on the second (article 38a(1) of the Sickness Benefits Act speaks of reporting "on the second day of that unfitness"). Confirm that report in writing. Then check whether you have actually been reported as leaving employment while ill and whether the UWV has taken a decision. If you disagree with that decision, you have six weeks to lodge an objection (article 6:7 of the General Administrative Law Act) — a period that is hard and that the UWV does not stretch.

Earning on the side alongside the benefit. Income from work is in principle set off against the sickness benefit. So always report work and income immediately: failing to pass on information, or doing so late, is an independent ground for a measure or fine (article 45(1)(i) and article 45a of the Sickness Benefits Act).

Sources: arts. 29, 29b, 38, 38a, 45 and 46 of the Sickness Benefits Act (wetten.overheid.nl) and art. 6:7 of the General Administrative Law Act; UWV, "Amount of the sickness benefit".

What is the first-year sickness benefit assessment?

After 52 weeks the UWV assesses whether you can still earn at most 65% of your reference income per hour through work. If you can earn more, your sickness benefit stops. For many people this is the unexpected turning point of their period of illness, and it almost always comes too early for anyone still fully in treatment.

The test is in article 19aa(1) of the Sickness Benefits Act. The right to sickness benefit continues after 52 weeks if the insured person (a) is unfit to perform their work and (b) "as a directly and objectively medically determinable consequence of illness, defect, pregnancy or childbirth is able to earn through work at most 65% of the reference income per hour". If it is established that you can earn more, the benefit continues until one month after that day (paragraph 2).

What you need to know about this:

• The assessment is not about your own job, but about generally identified jobs: work that an occupational expert considers suitable given your capacity. That can be work you have never done.
• The insurance doctor establishes your capacity; the occupational expert calculates the earning capacity. Both steps can be challenged, and in practice that regularly happens successfully.
• If the benefit stops, an appeal to unemployment benefit as a rule follows — provided you are entitled to it and are available for work. That is not self-evident, and it is precisely there that people fall between two stools.
• You lodge an objection within six weeks. Have the medical substantiation assessed before that period expires; afterwards the decision is in principle unassailable.

Sources: art. 19aa of the Sickness Benefits Act (wetten.overheid.nl); Overijssel District Court ECLI:NL:RBOVE:2025:2943 (rechtspraak.nl).

Reintegration, the action plan and the wage sanction

As long as you are ill, obligations apply on both sides: your employer must actively help you into suitable work, and you must cooperate with that. If your employer does too little, the UWV can extend its duty to continue paying wages by at most 52 weeks; if you do too little, your pay can be stopped and your protection against termination lapses. This is the part where most files are won or lost, long before there is any question of dismissal.

What your employer must do. Article 7:658a(1) of the Civil Code requires it first to promote your placement within its own business (the first track). If it is established that your own work is no longer possible and there is no other suitable work in its business, then it must promote your placement "in the business of another employer" — the second track. Suitable work is in that connection "all work that is suited to the employee’s strengths and abilities, unless acceptance cannot be required of them for reasons of a physical, mental or social nature" (paragraph 4). Together with you it draws up an action plan, which is evaluated regularly and adjusted where necessary (paragraph 3, and article 25(2) of the Work and Income Act).

What you must do. Article 7:660a of the Civil Code requires you to comply with reasonable rules, to cooperate with drawing up, evaluating and adjusting the action plan, and to perform suitable work that your employer gives you the opportunity to do. If you refuse that without proper grounds, the employer can stop your pay and the two-year protection in article 7:670(1)(a) lapses — but only if it has first given you a written warning or stopped your pay for that reason (article 7:670a(1) of the Civil Code). That formal requirement is your most important defence: an employer that goes straight to court without a warning is in a weak position.

The wage sanction. If it appears on the work-capacity application that the employer has made insufficient reintegration efforts without proper grounds, the UWV extends the period in which you have a right to pay, "so that the employer can remedy its shortcoming (…)". That extension amounts to at most 52 weeks (article 25(9) of the Work and Income Act). As long as that sanction runs, your protection against termination runs on as well: article 7:670(11) of the Civil Code extends the two-year period by exactly that period.

The assessment framework the UWV uses is settled fare in the case law: if a satisfactory result has been achieved — have you resumed work in a degree and kind that matches your remaining possibilities — then no sanction follows. If that result is absent, the UWV assesses whether the employer could reasonably have arrived at the efforts made, whereby first the employee’s own work, then other work in its own business, and only after that the second track come up for consideration. A second track started too late is by far the most common reason for a wage sanction.

At the latest thirteen weeks before the waiting period expires, the employer draws up the reintegration report in consultation with you and provides you with a copy (article 25(3) of the Work and Income Act). Read that report critically: it is the document on which the UWV bases its judgment, and your own view belongs in it.

Sources: arts. 7:658a, 7:660a, 7:670 and 7:670a of the Civil Code and art. 25 of the Work and Income Act (wetten.overheid.nl); Gelderland District Court ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2026:6466, Zeeland-West-Brabant District Court ECLI:NL:RBZWB:2026:2648 and Midden-Nederland District Court ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2019:305 (rechtspraak.nl).

Are you yourself being subjected to a wage measure because your employer considers you are not cooperating enough? Read how best to respond to a wage stop.

104 weeks ill: dismissal after two years of illness and the transition payment

After two years of incapacity for work the prohibition on termination lapses and your employer can give notice with the UWV’s permission — and you are then in principle simply entitled to the transition payment. Illness is not a ground for exclusion, and the argument "paying two years of wages has already cost me enough" is legally not an argument.

Two cumulative requirements apply to that dismissal. Article 7:669(1) of the Civil Code requires a reasonable ground and that redeployment within a reasonable period, with or without training, in another suitable role is not possible or is not appropriate. The reasonable ground is in paragraph 3(b): "illness or defects of the employee as a result of which they are no longer able to perform the agreed work, provided the period referred to in article 670(1) and (11) has expired and it is plausible that no recovery will occur within 26 weeks (…) and that within that period the agreed work cannot be performed in an adapted form". Those 26 weeks are an independent test: an expected recovery within six months stands in the way of dismissal.

The transition payment. The payment amounts to one third of a month’s salary per year of service, with a proportionate part for the remaining period; the statutory maximum in the version applying from 1 January 2026 is € 102,000, or the pay over twelve months if that is higher. For the employer there is a compensation scheme: article 7:673e of the Civil Code allows it to reclaim the payment made from the UWV where the employment was terminated after the two-year period because of illness, or where it ended by operation of law while you were then incapacitated for work. Paragraph 3 extends that to termination by agreement. Note the limit in paragraph 2: the compensation amounts to no more than what would have been payable on termination on the day after the two-year period expired — so a wage-sanction period does not count towards it.

*Read on: transition payment: entitlement, calculation and tax.*

Sources: arts. 7:669, 7:673 and 7:673e of the Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl); UWV, compensation of the transition payment in the case of long-term incapacity for work.

No dismissal after 2 years of illness: the dormant employment

If your employer simply lets the employment run on after two years of illness without pay and without work, then it is in principle obliged, on the basis of good employership, to consent to your proposal to terminate with a payment equal to the statutory transition payment. That is the Xella standard, and it is the most powerful instrument a long-term sick employee has.

The Supreme Court decided that on 8 November 2019 (ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1734). If the requirements of article 7:669(1) and (3)(b) of the Civil Code are met, then the starting point is that the employer must, under article 7:611 of the Civil Code, consent to an employee’s proposal for termination by mutual consent with that payment.

Three things you need to know about this, which have been worked out in the lower case law:

• You have to propose it yourself. The Supreme Court has not accepted any duty to proceed to termination of its own motion; the standard operates at the employee’s request. Waiting does not help.
• The employer may not attach conditions to it. It has been accepted in the case law that an employer may in general not impose further conditions on such a termination — for instance a confidentiality clause with a penalty, or the requirement that your partner co-signs.
• The amount is bounded. The payment need not exceed what would have been payable on termination on the day after the two years of illness expired, and there is an exception where the employer has a justified interest in maintaining the employment, such as real possibilities of reintegration.

Sources: Supreme Court 8 November 2019, ECLI:NL:HR:2019:1734; Limburg District Court ECLI:NL:RBLIM:2024:2280, Overijssel District Court ECLI:NL:RBOVE:2021:191 and Gelderland District Court ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2020:1717 (rechtspraak.nl).

I have fallen ill as an agency worker — what now?

Since 1 July 2023 the agency clause can no longer be invoked because you have fallen ill: the placement, and with it the agency employment contract, does not end during incapacity for work. During illness your contract does still end on the agreed end date. That difference determines whether you get continued payment of wages or a sickness benefit.

Before that change the opposite applied: an agreement with an agency clause was deemed to have ended by operation of law immediately after the report of illness. Anyone reading older information — or dealing with an agency still working on the old rule — should be alert to this.

What you do in the first few days determines the rest:

1. Report sick to the employment agency, not only to the hirer. The hirer is not your employer; formally that report does not count.
2. Confirm the report in writing, with the date and time.
3. Check whether there is an agency clause in your agreement. That one clause determines everything that comes after it.
4. If your contract ends on the end date while you are ill, the agency must report you to the UWV as leaving employment while ill on the last day of the employment. Ask for confirmation and report yourself if necessary.
5. If you fall ill within four weeks after the end of your employment, the after-effect in article 46 of the Sickness Benefits Act applies and you must report to the UWV quickly.

The Collective Agreement for Agency Workers moreover has a top-up to the sickness benefit for anyone incapacitated for work when a phase A contract expires on its end date. Check that provision in your own version of the collective agreement.

*Read on: agency worker: your rights on dismissal, illness and a permanent contract.*

Sources: arts. 38 and 46 of the Sickness Benefits Act (wetten.overheid.nl); Collective Agreement for Agency Workers.

Can I fall ill while on unemployment benefit?

Yes, and this is one of the few situations in which you are not immediately worse off financially: your unemployment benefit simply continues for the first thirteen weeks of your illness, and only after that do you move over to sickness benefit. That follows from article 29(2)(d)(1°) of the Sickness Benefits Act: the sickness benefit is paid "from the first day of the fourteenth week of the unfitness for work", or as much earlier as the unemployment benefit ends.

What matters in this connection:

• Report your illness to the UWV, even though nothing changes about the amount for the first thirteen weeks. Without a report the first day of illness is not established, and that date determines both the thirteen weeks and the 104 weeks.
• Your duty to apply for jobs changes. During illness different obligations apply; the UWV determines which. Do not assume them yourself.
• The obligations under the Sickness Benefits Act already apply during those first thirteen weeks. Article 27(4) of the Unemployment Insurance Act makes the failure to comply with an obligation under article 45(1) of the Sickness Benefits Act an independent ground for a measure in that period too.
• After 52 weeks the first-year sickness benefit assessment follows, with the 65% test described above.

Sources: art. 29 of the Sickness Benefits Act and arts. 19 and 27 of the Unemployment Insurance Act (wetten.overheid.nl).

Common mistakes with dismissal and illness

Most of the damage arises not from what the employer does, but from what the employee decides themselves in the first few weeks. These are the mistakes we see most often and which can rarely be repaired afterwards.

1. Giving notice yourself to be rid of the situation. It brings relief and it as a rule costs you both pay and benefit.
2. Signing during illness because the payment looks attractive. First work out what two years of continued payment of wages is worth; that amount is often many times higher.
3. Thinking that the prohibition on termination also protects a fixed-term contract. It does not.
4. Reporting sick after receipt of an application for dismissal. The prohibition on termination does not then apply, and it damages your position.
5. Not turning up at the company doctor. This is the most used ground for a wage stop and, after a warning, for the lapse of your protection against termination.
6. Not applying for an expert opinion when your wages are stopped. Without that statement the court in principle rejects your wage claim.
7. Refusing suitable work without substantiation. Refusing is permitted, but only on proper grounds that are medically supported.
8. Letting the six-week objection period expire. A UWV decision against which no objection has been lodged in principle stands.
9. Trusting that the report of leaving employment while ill has automatically been made. Check it, in writing.
10. Waiting with a dormant employment. The Xella standard operates at your request; without a proposal nothing happens.

Step-by-step plan

In the first weeks of your illness:

1. Report sick as your employer’s rules prescribe and confirm that in writing.
2. Keep everything: the report of illness, summonses, the company doctor’s advice, feedback.
3. Cooperate with the action plan and record your own view in it.
4. Do not take irreversible decisions while your medical situation is still changing.

In a conflict about pay or reintegration:

1. Ask in writing for the reason for a wage stop or suspension, and for the date on which it was announced.
2. Apply for an expert opinion from the UWV.
3. Respond in writing to a warning; never leave an allegation unanswered in the file.

On a proposal to terminate:

1. Sign nothing and promise nothing; ask for time to think and have it assessed.
2. Have pay, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit and work-capacity benefit each calculated separately.
3. Check whether the transition payment has been calculated correctly and whether there is reason for more.

If your contract is expiring or the two years are approaching:

1. Check whether you have been notified in time (at the latest one month before the end date).
2. Check whether you have been reported as leaving employment while ill.
3. Work out whether the two-year period really has expired, including any extension.
4. With a dormant employment, make a written proposal to terminate yourself.

When do you need a lawyer?

Not every report of illness calls for a lawyer, but there are moments at which the difference between having and not having expert assistance translates directly into months of income.

Sign	Why it matters
You are considering resigning	this is the moment at which there is most to lose and least to repair
You are given a settlement agreement while you are ill	your benefit position and your protection against termination are at stake at the same time
Your wages have been stopped or suspended	the grounds are exhaustive and the announcement must have been without delay
You are accused of insufficient cooperation	without a correct written warning the employer is in a weak position
The subdistrict court receives an application for rescission while you are ill	the "think-it-away test" in article 7:671b(6) of the Civil Code determines the outcome
Your sickness benefit is refused or stopped	the six-week objection period starts running immediately
The two years are approaching	redeployment, the 26-week test and the transition payment call for preparation
Your employment is dormant	the Xella standard operates only on your own proposal
Your contract is not extended shortly after your report of illness	the notification payment and possible detriment are worth investigating

Your situation in particular

Situation	What it turns on
Settlement agreement during illness	settlement agreement: signing, the reflection period and unemployment benefit
Dismissal after two years of illness	transition payment: entitlement, calculation and tax
Illness as an agency worker	agency worker: rights on dismissal, illness and a permanent contract
Fallen ill because of a workplace accident	compensation for pain and suffering in personal injury cases
Fallen ill because of a medical error	medical errors and liability

About this advice

Arslan Advocaten assists employees from offices in The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Eindhoven. We assess a dismissal proposal, a wage stop or a UWV decision free of charge and tell you what your position really is before you sign anything. Besides Dutch we speak Turkish and Polish.

Call 070 450 0300 or send us your question via the contact form. We will tell you where you stand and what the next step is.

This page gives general information and is not legal advice on your own case. No rights can be derived from the principles set out here.