Special leave
Vacation leave
Please see 🏝️Holiday and vacation leave
Study leave
For every year, you are entitled to 5 days of study leave based on a 40-hour work week, which will be calculated pro rata if you work part-time. These will expire on 31 December. You can use the study leave if your selected training takes place during working hours. You can apply for leave by using the request for leave procedure.
Unpaid leave
Employees with a permanent contract have the option of applying for unpaid leave for up to 12 months for educational purposes, travel or other special activities requiring a longer leave of absence from work. This can also be used for short term leave for instance extra vacation. The following rules apply:
- Vacation days must be used first in order to request unpaid leave.
- Applications for leave are submitted to the People Officer role.
- It is necessary to provide as much notice as possible of (long term) sabbatical leave; at least 3 months before the preferred start date.
- No salary will be paid by during the agreed period and benefit arrangements can be suspended.
- In the days that you take unpaid leave, you do not build up holiday pay, no holiday hours, no unemployment rights and no pension. You can read more about this on the Rijksoverheid webpage.
- If the employee falls ill during the leave, he / she is not entitled to continued payment of salary during the period of unpaid leave.
- Up to one month of the unpaid leave, employer will keep paying for pension scheme. After one month pension scheme will not be paid, until the employee resumes his daily work.
- In case of a longer period of unpaid leave, you will not receive a travel allowance (nor an internet allowance and other related allowances).
- Taking unpaid leave could affect your annual salary raise
- Suppose you choose to take unpaid leave for a duration of two months or more throughout the entire calendar year in addition to your regular holiday leave and purchased holiday leave. In that case, the standard salary raise will not be implemented. As a result, you will not qualify for an annual salary raise if your leave extends for 3.5 months or more, encompassing both paid and unpaid leave periods.
Special leave for activities and (family) situations
There may be special situations where you are not able to work. The following are the most common situations. In these cases, you are entitled to special leave with full pay. Common sense applies here. If, for example, you are invited to a wedding reception only at the end of the day, you do need to work in the morning. You can apply for leave by using the regular request for leave procedure.
| Situation | Maximum special leave |
|---|---|
| Deposition for marriage | 1 day |
| Marriage or registered partnership of yourself | 2 days |
| Marriage or registered partnership of a child, brother, sister, parent, parent-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-in-law, provided that the ceremony is attended | 1 day |
| Moving house | 1 day per calendar year |
| Paternity leave | 1 workweek and max 5 weeks additional |
| Spouse/partner, relatives by blood or marriage of the 1st degree passing away | From the day of death until the day of the funeral or cremation |
| Relatives by blood or marriage of the 2nd degree passing away | 2 days the day of death and the day of the funeral or cremation |
| Relatives by blood or marriage of the 3rd and 4th degree passing away | The time to attend the funeral or cremation |
| Necessary doctor's visit which cannot take place outside of working hours | Max 8 hours on a yearly basis see explanation |
| 12,5 / 25-year relationship with your partner | 1 day |
Doctor’s visit
A doctor's visit means a visit to the doctor, the dentist, a specialist or a therapist to which you are referred. You plan it in your own time, if that is not possible then consult with your circle which times are convenient (e.g. beginning or end of the working day). We continue payment of the salary for the time that is needed for the doctor's visit, within the working day, to a maximum of two hours per visit. For seeing a specialist there is a maximum of four hours per visit. You will work the remaining hours before or after the doctor's visit. The maximum number of hours to be reimbursed can not exceed 8 on an annual basis. In special cases, there can be a deviation of this, in consultation with the employer.
'Other' Special Leave Situations -non-family
Other personal situations: like loved ones passing away, marriage, the anniversary of non-family members *
Of course, happy or unpleasant things can also happen to non-family members. Therefore, we want to provide leave for these situations. The assessment of whether you want to make use of these days is up to you, but please consult the People Officer role upfront. Some examples: marriage or funeral of a person that is important to you.
Maternity/ Paternity/ Parental Leave
We have a separate page for 🐥Maternity / Paternity / Parental Leave .
Emergency leave, short-term and long-term care related leave
Working flexibly is very normal in our organization. You get the opportunity to organize your own working hours according to your own preferences. Working from home, even in the evenings, is no problem. So if you can not work during the daytime because of some reason, it is fine with us if you finish it at another time. We give you a lot of freedom and responsibility and trust that you know how to use it well.
If there are urgent private circumstances that are of a very serious nature, you may be eligible for emergency leave, short-term medical care leave, or long-term care leave. Our starting point for this is the legal framework of the Work and Care Act (Wet Arbeid en Zorg). We would like to look at the possibilities with you.
You report the situation of force majeure immediately to the role People Officer. If this is not possible, report it as soon as possible. We may require that you demonstrate to us that you really haven’t been able to work as a result of one of the given reasons. For example, by submitting a medical certificate. In addition, we keep track of these hours.
| Emergency | Short term | Long term |
|---|---|---|
| Keywords: unforeseen, serious, short-term (such as arranging care). | Keywords: you're the only one who can care for your very sick (life-threatening) child, spouse, or parent. | Keywords: for necessary care for others, in case of serious illness. |
| f.e. picking a sick child up from daycare. Waiting for the plumber to fix a burst water pipe. | f.e. helping partner at home, with medical tasks when he/she just had surgery | f.e. caring for a terminally ill partner |
| Paid leave, 100% | Paid leave, 70%, fully supplemented | Unpaid leave |
Emergency leave
Emergency leave is applicable if there has been an unforeseen emergency with the employee, that can not be delayed. One example is a sudden hospitalization of an immediate family member or your partner giving birth. The length of the leave is dependent on the situation, but presumably cannot be longer than one day. Emergency leave is intended for initial care and arranging a structural solution. We expect you to go back to work as soon as the emergency has been resolved. It is possible that the emergency leave becomes short-term care leave. We are obligated as an employer to pay the full salary of the employee during the emergency leave.
Keywords: unforeseen, serious, short-term (such as arranging care)
Short-term medical care leave
You may submit a request for short-term care leave if it is necessary to care for a sick partner or resident children. Short-term care is applicable when you are the only person who has to take care of an immediate family member (child, spouse or parent).
Short-term care takes up to two times the hours worked in a week. So 80 hours per year for a full-time workweek. You can also take days alternately. By law we are required to pay 70% of the salary, we choose to pay your salary during short-term care leave fully.
If the period of short-term care is not enough then you can also have unpaid long-term care in case of a very serious illness.
The employer may ask to give a reason for the leave once you return. Care leave may be refused by the employer if there are valid reasons to do so. For example, if the company will get in trouble because of the absence of the employee.
For the application of this Act (WAZO) the term "life-threatening illness" shall mean a state of health that is so serious that according to objective medical standards the person's life is in serious danger in the short term.
For the purpose of this Act the term "needy" (in need of assistance) is understood to mean: the condition of a person as a result of which he requires assistance for self-reliance, participation, protected living or shelter that is not provided within the framework of a professional providing assistance and that exceeds the usual assistance.
Taking this leave will affect the amount of your untaxed allowances such as the home working allowance and possibly internet or telephone allowance.
Keywords: you're the only one who can care for your very sick (life-threatening) child, spouse or parent
Long-term care leave
Long-term care is possible in case of a seriously ill spouse, child or parent of the employee. From July 1, 2015 you can also take long-term care leave when it comes to necessary care (helplessness or illness) for grandparents, grandchildren, brothers/sisters, other housemates and people with whom you have a social relationship and are dependent on the help of the employee. The payment of the salary won’t be continued during the period of the long-term care leave. The employer may only refuse permission in case of substantial business interests. You can take 6 weeks of long-term care leave a year, distributed over 18 weeks.
For the application of this Act (WAZO) the term "life-threatening illness" shall mean a state of health that is so serious that according to objective medical standards the person's life is in serious danger in the short term.
For the purpose of this Act the term "needy" (in need of assistance) is understood to mean: the condition of a person as a result of which he requires assistance for self-reliance, participation, protected living or shelter that is not provided within the framework of a professional providing assistance and that exceeds the usual assistance.
Taking this leave will affect the amount of your untaxed allowances such as the home working allowance and possibly internet or telephone allowance.
Keywords: unpaid, for necessary care for others, in case of serious illness
Informal care (‘mantelzorg’)
The official definition used by the government: Caregivers provide unpaid care for a chronically ill, handicapped, or helpless partner, parent, child, or another family member, friend or acquaintance for more than 8 hours per week and/or more than 3 months. A caregiver didn’t choose to provide care, it happens to someone because that person has an emotional attachment to the person who needs care.
The practice has shown that care and work can be combined, as long as it is managed correctly. Both by the organization and by you. In this way, overload can be prevented, and caregivers keep both their work and their family responsibilities well-balanced and properly implemented. Research shows that giving visibility to informal care and discussing it can provide very good solutions. Are you a caregiver? Then talk about it with your colleagues and the Request for Leave role, so together we can look at the possible support options there may be in addition to leave. That’s how we will find workable solutions so that informal care and work can be better combined.
Taking this leave will affect the amount of your untaxed allowances such as the home working allowance and possibly internet or telephone allowance.