{"id":4607,"date":"2026-05-31T21:27:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T21:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arbeidsjurist-eindhoven.nl\/?p=4607"},"modified":"2026-06-15T08:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T08:36:07","slug":"settlement-agreement-due-to-illness-eindhoven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arbeidsjurist-eindhoven.nl\/en\/kennisbank\/vaststellingsovereenkomst-bij-ziekte-eindhoven\/","title":{"rendered":"Settlement Agreement During Illness in Eindhoven: Know Your Rights"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Settlement agreement during illness: these are your rights<\/h2>\n

A settlement agreement during illness requires extra caution regarding your unemployment benefit (WW) and other benefits. Below you can read what rights you have as an employee.<\/p>\n

Are you ill and has your employer offered you a settlement agreement? If so, it is important to know where you stand legally before you sign anything. In Eindhoven and the Brabant region we see this situation arise regularly, and the consequences of making the wrong choice can be significant \u2014 particularly when it comes to your right to a benefit or your severance payment.<\/p>\n

What the dismissal protection during illness means for you<\/h2>\n

As soon as you are ill, a statutory prohibition on dismissal applies. In principle, your employer cannot unilaterally terminate the employment contract during the first two years of illness. This period of protection runs from the first day of sick leave and places you as an employee in a strong legal position. If you nonetheless sign a settlement agreement (VSO), you do so on your own initiative \u2014 and that has consequences.<\/p>\n

There are a few exceptions to this prohibition on dismissal. Consider, for example, a situation in which the application for dismissal had already been submitted to the UWV before your first sick-leave notification, a situation involving cessation of the business, or a summary dismissal on grounds of an urgent reason. Outside those exceptions, you as an ill employee are in a legally strong position.<\/p>\n

Risk to your unemployment benefit (WW) or Sickness Benefit<\/h2>\n

Signing a settlement agreement while you have not yet recovered can undermine your benefit entitlements. The UWV assesses whether you as an ill employee are available to the labour market \u2014 a requirement for the unemployment benefit (WW). If you are not, because your recovery is still expected to take too long, the UWV may refuse the WW benefit. The same applies to a Sickness Benefit: by voluntarily agreeing to a departure, you relinquish the very protection that the law affords you.<\/p>\n

Do you expect to recover within the foreseeable future and are you in fact available to the labour market? In that case, a settlement agreement may be worth discussing under certain conditions. But even then, having the agreement reviewed by a legal professional is indispensable before you sign.<\/p>\n

Offered a settlement agreement after two years of illness<\/h2>\n

Once the two-year period has elapsed, the prohibition on dismissal lapses. Your employer may then apply for a dismissal permit from the UWV, or offer you a settlement agreement. In the latter case, you are entitled to a transition payment. The accrual of that payment stops in principle on the day you have been ill for two years \u2014 this follows from the Xella ruling of the Supreme Court. Always have the calculation checked; employers sometimes propose an amount that is too low.<\/p>\n

Bear in mind that if the UWV has imposed a wage-payment sanction on your employer for insufficient reintegration efforts, the period of continued salary payment may be extended by up to one year. The prohibition on dismissal runs concurrently in that case. This can affect the end date of your employment \u2014 and therefore also the amount of the transition payment.<\/p>\n

The statutory maximum transition payment is \u20ac 102,000 gross as of 1 January 2026. If your annual salary is higher, that salary serves as the maximum. Through a settlement agreement, it is sometimes possible to negotiate a higher payment than the statutory transition payment alone.<\/p>\n

Special situation: illness and pregnancy<\/h2>\n

If you are both ill and pregnant at the same time, the protective regimes stack up. Pregnancy carries its own dismissal protection, which continues until six weeks after maternity leave. Periods of absence due to pregnancy or maternity leave are also not counted towards the calculation of the two-year period for illness \u2014 the end date of the dismissal protection may therefore fall later than you expect. This makes your negotiating position in a settlement agreement potentially stronger, but it also increases the risk if you sign too quickly.<\/p>\n

Compensation scheme for employers in cases of long-term illness<\/h2>\n

Many employees are unaware that there is also a financial incentive for your employer. Employers can reclaim the transition payment paid after two years of illness from UWV through the compensation scheme. This makes it less objectionable for your employer to pay you the full transition payment. Feel free to use this as a negotiating argument.<\/p>\n

Practical tips before you sign<\/h2>\n