What is a wage suspension?
Suspension of wages is a measure employers can use to encourage employees to cooperate with the reintegration process. For example, a suspension of wages may be imposed if the employee violates the monitoring requirements during sick leave and/or fails to comply with reasonable written instructions from the employer regarding the provision of information the employer needs to determine the employee’s entitlement to wages (Article 7:629(6) of the Dutch Civil Code). For example, in situations where a sick leave notification is not submitted or is submitted incorrectly, if the employee fails to show up for appointments with the company physician, or if the employee is not at home during sick leave and it is unclear to the employer where the employee is located during that time. In short, a suspension of wages means that continued payment of wages is suspended until the employee once again cooperates with his or her (reintegration) obligations. This must, however, be preceded by a clear and reasonable warning, after which a suspension of wages may actually take place (only) upon a subsequent violation.