Illness and holidays

Illness while on holiday

If you become ill during your holiday and if this means that you are no longer able ‘to enjoy your holiday’, then you must report your illness and log your absence due to illness in DSPE (please see ’Reporting illness’).

At the end of your holiday, you will have to make an appointment for a consultation with the occupational physician. The occupational physician will assess the extent of absence during your holiday. The occupational physician may ask you to present a medical certificate from the physician, the hospital and/or the chemist you consulted during your holiday.

Based on the report of the consultation issued by the occupational physician, your supervisor will determine how many holiday hours will be considered as absenteeism. You will then be able to cancel your holiday leave in DSPE and log a new request for the amended number of holiday hours.

If the occupational physician has determined that you have recovered following your holiday, you must notify your supervisor and log your recovery in DSPE immediately. If you have not recovered at the end of your holiday, you and your supervisor must follow the next steps in the AUAS Incapacity Protocol.

Going on holiday when ill

Given that every employee should be able to use up their statutory holiday leave, you will be able to take your holiday during your absence due to illness, even if you are (partially) incapacitated for work. In your case, the holiday will then serves as a method of recuperation (rest and recovery). Before you take your holiday, you should discuss this with your supervisor in the usual way. In addition, it is crucial that the occupational physician must have provided a positive recommendation (‘no objection to holiday’): after all, your holiday should not damage or hinder the reintegration process.

Calculation of holiday leave in relation to long-term illness

If you are unable to work due to illness, you will continue to accrue holiday hours on the statutory minimum number of holiday hours just as any healthy employee would. This is four times the number of hours that you work per week (for 1 FTE and a 40-hour work week: 4 x 40=160 hours). In addition, you will accrue supplementary holiday hours in full for the first 6 months that you are ill. At the end of this period, you will continue to accrue supplementary holiday hours on the hours you have worked.

If you use up holiday hours during the period you are ill, you will be exempted from your reintegration obligations and you will be required to use up the statutory holiday hours. If you are only partially ill, you must use up your statutory hours for your full working hours – this is because you accrue holiday hours for full-time employment. Statutory holiday hours that you were unable to use due to illness can be carried over to the following year. The statutory holiday hours will remain valid for a further 6 months.

During the first six months of your period of illness, you will also be using up the supplementary holiday hours in full. At the end of this period, in the case of partial incapacity for work you will partially use up supplementary holiday hours, given that you will accrue partial holiday hours after a six-month period.

Registration of leave during illness period in DSPM

When registering leave in the DSPM, you will not be able to distinguish between statutory and supplementary holiday leave. Each month, the PSA will correct the accrual of supplementary holiday leave based on the disability percentage of employees who have been ill for longer than 6 months. For that reason, you must enter any change in the number of hours you have returned to work for (always based on the recommendation of the occupational physician) via DSPE to ensure accurate registration of supplementary leave. The leave overview in the DSPE allows you to see what your holiday leave balance is.

In the leave planner, you will not be able to distinguish between statutory and supplementary leave if you are ill. If you still use a leave planner and you have fallen ill, then the total number of holiday hours must be calculated manually.

More information

• A-Z Leave
• The Collective Labour Agreement for Universities of Applied Sciences (CAO HBO) is available under ‘Working Conditions ’ on Mijnrap.nl* en the ‘Popular CLA topics ’ contains an outline of the key topics in the CLA such as holidays and illness.