Your employee is not working

If you are a Dutch employer and your employee works exclusively in Belgium, your employee will normally be insured under the Belgian social insurance system.

Your employee wants to take leave

Under Belgian and Dutch employment law, employees are entitled to take leave. The rules that apply to an employee depend on the employment contract you have concluded with them.

Your employee is ill or incapacitated for work

If your employee is ill, you are required to continue paying them their salary for a maximum of 1 month. This is called guaranteed income. If your employee’s illness is not work-related (e.g. it was not caused by an industrial accident and it is not an industrial disease), when they stop receiving their guaranteed income they will receive a benefit from the insurance agency they are registered with.

As an employer, you are required to take out industrial accident insurance for your employee with a recognised Belgian insurance company.

Your employee’s responsibilities

Your employee is entitled to medical care in Belgium and Belgian benefits, such as incapacity benefit. To be able to claim these benefits, your employee needs to take out insurance with a Belgian mutual health insurance fund (ziekenfonds) or with the regional office for health and disability insurance (Hulpkas voor Ziekte- en Invaliditeitsverzekering; HZIV). If your employee is resident in the Netherlands, they must also take out health insurance with the Dutch health insurer CZ free of charge under the agreement between Belgium and the Netherlands. In Dutch, this is called the ‘Verdragspolis’. To take out this insurance, your employee will need an S1 form from their Belgian health insurance fund or the HZIV.

Your employee becomes unemployed

If an employment contract between your company and an employee ends, you must inform the Dutch National Office for Social Security (Rijksdienst voor sociale zekerheid; RSZ). 

If this results in the employee being fully unemployed, they can apply for unemployment benefit in their country of residence.

If you are a Dutch employer and your employee works exclusively in Germany, your employee will normally be insured under the German social insurance system.

Your employee wants to take leave

Your employee is entitled at least 20 days of paid leave per year, and may be entitled to additional leave under the collective labour agreement or the Tarifvertrag. In order to take up all of their annual leave, your employee needs to have been in your employment for at least 6 months. In the first 6 months, your employee may take a maximum of 2 days of leave per month. Employers may decide for themselves whether they want to pay holiday allowance. This is not mandatory.

Your employee is ill

If your employee is ill, you are required to continue paying them their salary for a maximum of 6 weeks. After 6 weeks, your employee will receive a sickness benefit from the German Krankenkasse, provided they have compulsory German health insurance. If your employee has voluntary or private health insurance, they will only receive a sickness benefit if they are insured for daily sickness allowance (Krankentagegeld).

You are not responsible for your employee’s reintegration; this is the responsibility of the Krankenkasse.

Your employee is incapacitated for work

If after 78 weeks your employee is no longer able to work, they will be entitled to claim a German incapacity benefit from the Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV). If your employee also worked in the Netherlands, they will additionally be entitled to claim a benefit from the from the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) under the Dutch Work and Income According to Labour Capacity Act (WIA). The UWV will then determine whether your employee is incapacitated for work in accordance with the rules that apply in the Netherlands. This benefit will only be awarded for the years your employee worked in the Netherlands.

Your employee is ill due to an industrial accident

If your employee is ill due to an industrial accident or an occupational disease, they can claim an occupational accident benefit. Your employee is compulsorily insured for this purpose under the German occupational insurance accident scheme (Unfallversicherung), which is administered by trade insurance agencies known as Berufsgenossenschaften. As an employer, you are required to register with the Berufsgenossenschaft that administers the scheme for your particular sector or industry.

Your employee is pregnant

If your employee works in Germany and becomes pregnant, she will receive German maternity benefit (Mutterschaftsgeld). For 6 weeks before the due date and 8 weeks after the birth, she will receive the equivalent of her full net salary. The Krankenkasse pays a maximum of €13 per day, and the employer pays the rest.

Your employee may also be entitled to Elternzeit and Elterngeld. Elternzeit is similar to parental leave, and is paid to parents who work in paid employment, whether they work full-time, part-time, as a contractor, or in a mini job. 

Both parents are entitled to Elternzeit until the child reaches the age of 3. Your employee can save part of the Elternzeit for use at a later date, provided they use it over a period of no more than 12 months before the child reaches the age of 8. To do so, the employee must send you a written request stating the dates of the period of Elternzeit at least 7 weeks before the period is due to start.

For more information on Elternzeit and Elterngeld, your employee should contact the educational authorities (Erziehungsstellen) and family benefit agencies (Elterngeldstellen).

If you are a Belgian or German employer and your employee works exclusively in the Netherlands, your employee will normally be insured under the Dutch social insurance system.

Your employee wants to take leave

Each year, an employee has at least 4 times the number of hours they work per week in leave. If an employee works 25 hours per week for the whole year, they will have at least 100 hours of leave. Some employees have more hours of leave under their collective labour agreement. In the Netherlands, most employers have a collective labour agreement that determines their employees’ employment conditions. In some cases, employees agree their own terms with their employers.

Some employers also pay their employees holiday allowance, although this is not compulsory. Holiday allowance is at least 8% of the employee’s salary and is reserved every month. Holiday allowance is paid at least once a year, usually in May or June.

Your employee is ill or incapacitated for work

If your employee is on long-term sick leave, you are required to pay them at least 70% of their salary for a period of 104 weeks (2 years). In the Netherlands, collective labour agreements often state that the employer will pay the difference between the employee’s sickness benefit and their full salary for the first year. An employee’s contract may not be terminated during this period.

If you have a contract with an occupational health and safety service or the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV), they will help supervise your ill employee. Over the course of the first 2 years, you will write a reintegration report together with your employee. If after 2 years your employee is still ill, your employee may use this report to claim a WIA incapacity benefit from the UWV.

Your employee’s responsibilities

Employees are insured in the Netherlands under the Dutch Long-term Care Act (Wlz). They are therefore required to take out Dutch health insurance.

Your employee is pregnant

An employee is entitled to maternity leave as from 6 weeks before the due date, and for a further 10 weeks after the birth. The employee may also opt to start their initial period of maternity leave 1 to 2 weeks later, i.e. 4 of 5 weeks before the due date. The period of maternity leave after the birth will then be 1 to 2 weeks longer.

Parents are entitled to a maximum of 26 weeks of parental leave, which they may use until the child reaches the age of 8. They may claim a benefit from the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) for a maximum of 9 of the 26 weeks of parental leave. This benefit is equivalent to 70% of their daily wage and must be claimed before the child reaches the age of 1. If an employee wishes to claim this benefit, the employer must submit a claim on their behalf. The employer is not allowed to refuse such a request.

Your employee lives in Germany

If your employee lives in Germany, they may be entitled to German family benefits (Elterngeld). The same applies to your employee’s partner. Elterngeld is an allowance of approximately 67% of the recipient’s last paid salary. However, a monthly minimum and maximum apply. This allowance is payable as from the child’s date of birth for a minimum of 2 months and a maximum of 14 months.

Your employee becomes unemployed

If you terminate an employment contract between your company and an employee, you must inform the Dutch Tax Administration (Belastingdienst) before the contract expires. Which country is competent to pay your employee unemployment benefit will depend on the situation on the date of their dismissal.