Illness of the employee

In case of illness of an employee, the performance of the employment contract will be temporarily suspended and the employee must immediately (and latest within two working days) inform his/her employer of his/her illness and provide a medical certificate.

A manual worker (blue collar employee) who:

• has been employed for less than 1 month, is – in case of illness – not entitled to guaranteed salary at the employer's expense;
• has been employed for at least 1 month, is – in case of illness – entitled to a guaranteed 100%  weekly salary at the employer's expense during the first 7 days[1];
• Since the coming into force of the Unification law on the 1^st of January 2014, the exclusion of the first day of illness from the guaranteed salary (Carenz-day) has been eliminated. Consequently, manual workers are entitled to payment from their first day of illness.
• After the first 7 days of illness, the manual worker can then claim a specific percentage of his/her salary for the following 23 days at the employer's expense.

A white collar employee is entitled to a guaranteed salary during the first 30 days of illness/incapacity. Illness and disability insurance will then take effect as of the 31st day of incapacity.

[1] Article 52 § 1 Wet 22 augustus 1978 betreffende de Arbeidsovereenkomsten.