From 2 August 2022, the Work and Care Act allows for paid parental leave. The collective labour agreement includes a supplement to this right, in Chapter 4, Section 4.
Scope and duration
The number of hours of paid and unpaid leave you can take is 26 times your agreed weekly working hours. Of these 26 weeks, a maximum of 13 weeks’ leave may be paid.
The leave must be taken before the child's 8th birthday.
Application deadline
The leave must be requested via self-service option at least 2 months before the desired effective date. In doing so, you specify:
- when you want the leave to take effect
- the duration of the leave
- the desired number of hours of leave per week
- the desired division of those hours over the working week
In case of illness, in theory the leave continues. Only in unforeseen circumstances the leave can be stopped mid-term and the remainder taken at a later time.
If necessary, the leave can be divided into several periods. Even then, the above conditions must be met. For reasons of efficient operations and administrative workload, the number of periods into which the leave can be divided is limited to three periods of at least four weeks.
You are advised to discuss the matter of your leave with your manager well in advance.
After you have made your application, your manager may alter the details of your leave, providing he or she gives reasonable notice, if there are compelling operational reasons for doing so. Your manager will inform you of any such changes no later than four weeks before the proposed start date of the leave.
Partially paid parental leave
As already mentioned, the period of paid leave lasts up to 13 times your agreed weekly working hours.
If you take paid leave, or part of it, during your child’s first year of life, then you are entitled, during that period, to payment of 70% of the total of your salary and any allowances.
If you take paid leave, or part of it, after your child’s first year of life, then you are entitled, during that period, to payment of 62.5% of the total of your salary and any allowances.
During the period in which you take paid leave, your pension will continue to accrue in full, with the employer and employee paying the same proportions of the premiums as usual.
See also the page FAQ partially paid parental leave.
To arrange paid parental leave, go to the Parental leave (partially paid) self-service option.
Unpaid parental leave
If you wish to take unpaid parental leave, whether in combination with paid parental leave or not, you – as the employee – will be liable for both employee and employer pension contributions for the hours of unpaid leave.
In accordance with Article 6:2 of the Work and Care Act, you are free to determine yourself the period, your schedule, and the number of hours per week of unpaid parental leave that you take. Obviously, you should discuss this with your manager. The manager will normally approve your request, unless there are compelling operational or business interests not to do so.
To arrange unpaid parental leave, go to the Unpaid parental leave self-service option.
Adoptive- or foster parenthood, multiple births
Employees who adopt or foster a child are also entitled to parental leave. In such cases, ‘first year of life’ should be taken to mean the first year following the date on which the child was adopted or fostered.
In cases of multiple births or the adoption of more than one child, the employee is entitled to parental leave for each child. However, you are only entitled to leave for one foster child.
Illness during parental leave
If you fall ill during your period of parental leave, the leave will continue regardless, in the way previously agreed with your manager. In some situations, an illness may be designated as an unforeseen circumstance. In such cases, you may submit a request for your leave to be halted. Please see the explanation below, under ‘Unforeseen circumstances’.
Unforeseen circumstances
In the event of unforeseen circumstances, you may request not to take your parental leave (paid or unpaid), or for it to be halted. Your manager will normally approve any such request unless there are compelling operational or business interests not to do so. If your request is honoured, any current leave will be discontinued no later than four weeks after the submission of your request. The remaining part of your parental leave can then be taken at a later time if your manager agrees.
Suspension or interruption of leave
If you are on maternity leave, post-natal maternity leave, adoption leave, or foster care leave, you may choose to halt or interrupt your period of parental leave (paid and unpaid). Your manager may decide that you need to give four weeks’ notice to apply for this. You may request and take the remaining part of your leave at a later time.
Termination of employment
In the event of your employment coming to an end, you may carry over the number of weeks’ parental leave to which you are still entitled according to the Work and Care Act to your new employer. This does not apply to the additional rights deriving from the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch universities, unless your new employer is also covered by the same agreement.
You may ask your old employer for a statement showing how many weeks’ parental leave (paid and unpaid) you are still entitled to at the time your employment came to an end. At VU Amsterdam, you can ask the HR Service Desk for this statement.
More information
- FAQ partially paid parental leave
- Collective Labour Agreement, Chapter 4, Section 4
- www.overheid.nl > Wet arbeid en zorg (Work and Care Act), Chapter 6 - only available in Dutch