When an employee is unable to work due to illness, both the employer and the employee have obligations aimed at supporting a return to work. But what if the employee does not cooperate?


An employee must cooperate with their reintegration. This includes complying with reasonable instructions from the employer, cooperating in drawing up a plan of action and performing suitable work that is offered.

Two different measures, with different consequences

Under Dutch employment law, suspension of salary payments (loonopschorting) and stopping salary payments (loonstop) are different measures. The right response depends on what the employee is failing to do.

When salary can be suspended

If an employee makes it impossible for the employer to establish whether the employee is unable to work due to illness, the employer may in certain circumstances suspend salary payments. The employer cannot then determine whether it is required to continue paying salary.

A suspension is temporary. If it later turns out that the employee was in fact unable to work due to illness and entitled to salary during that period, the withheld salary must still be paid.

When salary payments can be stopped

The position is different where an employee fails to comply with their reintegration obligations, for example by refusing to perform suitable work. In certain circumstances, this can justify stopping salary payments.

If the employee later starts cooperating with the reintegration process again, salary generally becomes payable from that point onwards. The employee is not automatically entitled to salary for the earlier period in which they failed to cooperate.

Inform the employee first

Before suspending or stopping salary payments, the employer should inform the employee in writing of the intended measure and the grounds on which it is based.

Doing nothing can create a risk for the employer

Continuing to pay salary while an employee fails to meet their reintegration obligations may feel like the cautious approach. But it can have the opposite effect.

The UWV (the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency) expects employers to actively manage the reintegration process. If an employer fails to respond appropriately when an employee does not cooperate, the UWV may impose a wage sanction because the employer did not sufficiently encourage the employee to comply with their reintegration obligations.

The practical point

So the question is not simply whether an employer can suspend or stop salary payments. The more important question is whether the employer is taking the right step, at the right moment, and documenting the process properly.