Salary suspended or stopped in case of illness?

If you are on sick leave in the Netherlands, you are entitled to receive at least 70 % of your salary for a maximum period of two years (104 weeks). During your sick leave, both you and your employer must fulfil your reintegration obligations. If you fail to meet them, your employer can stop or suspend your salary.

It is important not to confuse a salary being suspended and a salary being stopped. Therefore, the differences between each option are explained below.

Salary suspended  

With salary being suspended, the employer postpones salary payment to the employee. According to the law, an employer can suspend a salary if the employee does not allow the employer to verify whether they are actually sick. This is the case, for example, if the employee fails to provide information or appear at appointments with the company doctor.

Suspending one’s salary is primarily used as a means of pressure to ensure that an employee cooperates sufficiently. If an employee participates in the company doctor’s appointments after the salary has been suspended and the company doctor concludes that the employee is sick, then the employer must pay their salary retrospectively.

Salary stopped 

When salary is stopped, this goes beyond it being suspended and can be seen as a sanction. The employee then loses their right to their salary. This means that the salary does not have to be repaid when the employee starts to fulfil their obligations after the salary was stopped.

Because this measure can have a major impact on an employee, the salary freeze can only be applied in certain cases. For example, according to Dutch law, the employer can freeze a salary if an employee deliberately causes their own illness, refuses to perform suitable work, has provided incorrect information about their health when they joined the company knowing that they would be unable to perform the job, or would not cooperate with the Plan of Action from the company doctor. 

Conclusion

Salary being stopped or suspended are two separate measures that can be applied in different situations. If you believe your employer has used one of these measures without justification, please contact us. We would be happy to advise you about your questions.

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