Special leave

Leave for family reasons and care leave

• Emergency leave or short-term sick leave

  If you require leave to deal with an urgent personal problem, you can request emergency leave or short-term sick leave. This leave is only granted in case of exceptional personal or unforeseen circumstances for which you require time off work.

  For more information, please visit the page Emergency leave or short-term sick leave.

• Care leave

  Care leave can be short-term (fully or partially) paid leave or long-term leave. Long-term care leave is always unpaid. For more information, please visit the page Care leave. 

• Informal care leave

  Informal care involves unpaid, typically long-term care, provided to a person in your immediate social environment and residing in the Netherlands. The person may be the partner, parent or child, but also another family member, friend or acquaintance. It is important to realise that informal carers often do not have a choice: they have an emotional bond with the person in need of care and have no other option but to care for them. 

  Read more information about leave options and special arrangements on the page Informal care.

• Leave for family reasons

  There are various leave options for family reasons such as a marriage (your own or your child's) or a bereavement (of a close family member). Information on leave options like bereavement leave can be found on the page Leave for family reasons.

Leave for having and caring for children

• Maternity leave

  You can find information on maternity leave, leave for multiple pregnancies and extra leave in the case of hospitalisation of your baby on the page Maternity leave. 

• Childbirth leave and additional childbirth leave

  Partners of a pregnant woman are entitled to paid childbirth leave. Partners of women who have recently given birth are also entitled to additional childbirth leave. 

  For more information, please go to the page Childbirth leave and additional childbirth leave. 

• Parental leave

  To facilitate parents who care for children up to eight years old, the Work and Care Act offers the option of unpaid parental leave. VU Amsterdam employees may also be eligible for partially paid parental leave with retention of 70% of your salary. For more information, please go to the page Parental leave.

• Adoption and foster care leave

  If an employee adopts a child or takes in a foster child, they are entitled by law to a maximum of six weeks of leave during a 26-week period to allow the parents and child to form an attachment. The employee is entitled to remuneration during this leave. VU Amsterdam will supplement this remuneration up to 100% of the salary (= salary + certain allowances). After you have received your manager’s approval, you can request this leave using the Special leave self-service option; under ‘Type of leave’ select ‘Adoption leave and foster child leave’.  

  Statutory requirements

  Article 3.2 of the Work and Care Act stipulates that an employee is entitled to (unpaid) leave for adopting a child or taking a child into foster care. The leave entitlement is a maximum of six consecutive weeks during a period of 26 weeks. The leave entitlement applies from four weeks prior to the first day on which the child will be or has been adopted or taken into foster care. The employee must submit a document proving that a child has been or will be adopted or taken into foster care.

  See Section 3 of the Work and Care Act for the conditions.

  Multiple children

  If several children are adopted or taken into foster care at the same time, the leave entitlement will only apply for one of the children. 

  Taking leave in instalments

  The employee can request to take the leave in instalments over the period of 26 weeks. The employer may refuse this request if it conflicts with compelling operational or business interests.

  Remuneration

  The employee will be fully remunerated during the leave (Article 1.1 paragraph 1(r) and Article 4.12 of the Collective Labour Agreement). UWV will compensate VU Amsterdam up to the maximum daily wage, just as with maternity leave. 

  Fringe benefits

  Several schemes include details of how fringe benefits are affected by leave. Further information can be found in the schemes in question. 

  Commuting allowance

  Article 2.4 of the Commuting allowance scheme stipulates that the payment of commuting allowance will terminate if leave is taken for longer than six weeks. In the case of part-time leave, the level of compensation will be determined on the basis of the number of days worked.

  More information

  Collective Labour Agreement > articles 4.10, 4.12
  Government of the Netherlands > Adoption leave
  Government of the Netherlands > Foster care leave

• Right to express milk

  Expressing milk at work

  According to Article 4.8 of the Working Hours Act, employees who wish to breastfeed their child on their return to work are entitled to use up to a quarter of their working hours to express milk or feed their child at work or at home during the child’s first nine months of life. This time is remunerated by the employer. 

  The employee must inform her manager in advance that she wishes to make use of this right (preferably prior to or during her maternity leave) and reach an agreement with the manager on how to exercise it. This will allow the manager to take measures in good time, such as arranging a temporary replacement or taking the employee’s teaching schedule into account. 

  There are various lactation rooms on the campus, but employees may also choose to go home to express milk or feed their baby. 

Other types of leave

• Vitality Pact

  The Vitality Pact is part of the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities and aims to enable employees to continue working in a healthy and vital manner until they reach the state pension age. For more information, please visit the page Vitality Pact. 

• Sabbatical leave (Long-term saving model)

  The long-term saving model allows the employee to accrue leave hours over a number of years in order to take a longer period of uninterrupted leave. For more information, please visit the page Long-term saving model.

• Leave to attend a training course

  If your employer has instructed you to take a training course or you are taking a course that will contribute to your career development, you may, under certain conditions, be applicable for fully or partially paid leave.

  You can request this leave using the Apply for or amend special leave self-service option; under ‘Type of leave’ select ‘Other leave types’. 

  More information

  Training for employees: the rules and allowances

• Leave for trade union work

  Leave is granted to trade union members in certain situations. They are entitled to paid leave in the following situations, unless this conflicts with operational or business interests:

  • to attend employee organisation meetings, provided that the employee participates as a board member of the relevant organisation, a representative, or a board member of another organisational unit: maximum 120 hours per year
  • the employee is appointed to carry out administrative and/or representative activities within an employee organisation or within the employer’s organisation, which activities are intended to support the objectives of the organisation: maximum 208 hours per year
  • to follow a course at the invitation of an employee organisation: maximum 48 hours per two years

  If the employee is a member of the managing board of an employee organisation, the total leave as meant under section 5.2 of the special leave scheme is 320 hours per year; in all other cases, the maximum is 240 hours per year

  An employee appointed as a paid board member of an international employee organisation as meant in Article 1.1(d) of the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities may take unpaid special leave for a maximum of two years

  After you have received your manager’s approval, you can request this leave using the Apply for or amend special leave self-service option; under ‘Type of leave’ select ‘Other leave types’. 

• Leave if required to relocate

  If, in the exceptional case you are required by VU Amsterdam to relocate, you are entitled to leave:

  • to seek a new home: 1 day
  • for the relocation: 2 days

  You can request this leave using the Apply for and amend special leave self-service option; under ‘Type of leave’ select ‘Other leave types'. 

• Transtion leave

  The employee who is transitioning or about to transition to another gender will be entitled to a maximum of two weeks paid transition leave per calendar year for the duration of the employment to spend on the necessary medical and non-medical interventions and any recovery time needed, without being required to report sick. The manager will grant the request for transition leave.

  In the event that an employee becomes incapacitated for work following a medical intervention (including surgery), the start date of the leave will be the first day of the incapacity for work.  

  The employee may take the transition leave in stages. The employee must submit a request for transition leave to the manager in writing at least eight weeks before the envisioned start date of the transition leave. The request includes:

  • the nature of the leave
  • the expected duration, optionally supported by a declaration from a registered attending physician (this is not an obligation)
  • the envisioned start date and (if applicable) the number of hours spreading over the week  

  After the manager’s approval, this leave is registered by using the self-service option Apply for or amend special leave, under Time type Transition leave. 

  According to CLA article 4.26 this provision will remain in force until such date as the legal right to transition leave is enshrined in law, but in any case until no later than 1 January 2026.

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