Employee sickness absence: What to do?

Questioner

I am an employer. My employee is sick very often, which means I miss a lot of assignments. I have pointed out to her that she is sick a lot and she also says that she is a weak person who is often sick. Because I have already discussed this with her regularly, I now want to give her an official warning. Is that allowed and what do I have to comply with?

Lawyer

In principle, you may not dismiss your employee if they are incapacitated for work. For employees who are very often ill, the dismissal ban does not apply during the time that the person has recovered sufficiently to be able to work. However, you cannot simply dismiss this employee. In order to dismiss this employee, a permit must be requested from the UWV. You must then demonstrate that the consequences of this are serious for your organization. For example, for the progress of the production process or for the workload. It is possible that other employees will come under heavy pressure because the employee is regularly absent. The UWV will then look at, among other things: the consequences of the absenteeism for the organization, the level of absenteeism in the rest of the organization, and the possibilities for improving the working conditions. In this regard, the UWV can ask an insurance doctor and/or occupational expert for advice. If it is plausible that the absenteeism is related to the working conditions, the UWV can ask the Labor Inspectorate to conduct an investigation. An official warning is not required. This is more necessary, for example, if there is excessive behavior or a serious incident. You can let your employee know that you are considering applying for a dismissal permit. However, I would not really threaten to do so, because it is still questionable whether you will receive this permit.