Informing us that your employees cannot work due to the weather

To report your employees cannot work, complete the Employees cannot work due to the weather form (‘Verzuim melden wegens onwerkbaar weer’). You will need to log in to the employer portal with your EH3 level eHerkenning account to do this.

Let us know by 10:00 a.m. that your employees cannot work due to extreme weather conditions. Do this on the first day that your employees are unable to work. You must continue to report this each day at 10:00 a.m. for as long the weather prevents your employees from being able to work.

If your employees have to stop working due to prolonged rainfall, you can report this to us after 10:00 a.m. as long as it is on the same day.

If you own a business in an industry that is affected by extreme weather, you will have to bear some of the cost of this. This means if your employees are unable to work due to extreme weather, you will have to pay their wages for a number of waiting days (‘wachtdagen’) before they are entitled to an unemployment benefit.

The weather determines how many waiting days you will have to pay your employees’ wages for:

• In the event of frost, black ice or heavy snowfall: 2 waiting days apply per winter season (which runs from 1 November to 31 March). 
• In the event of other types of extreme weather such as storms: 2 waiting days apply per year. 
• In the event of prolonged rain: 19 waiting days apply per year.

The following days do not count as days on which your employees cannot work due to the weather:

• public holidays
• special leave
• part leave days or weekends
• time off in lieu (‘ATV-uren’) or scheduled days off
• holiday leave, other types of leave and mandatory days off
• mandatory days off for older employees

If the extreme weather continues beyond the set waiting days, you can apply for an unemployment benefit for your employees (in Dutch). Upload your completed application form and any supporting documents to the employer portal. You will need to submit a separate form for each employee. 

Keep in mind this is not a regular unemployment benefit, but a benefit specifically meant for periods of extreme weather. 

Please note: You have up to 26 weeks to apply for an unemployment benefit, starting from the day you informed us that your employee was unable to work. If you apply for the benefit on time, it will be paid within 6 weeks of your application.

You will only be able to apply for an unemployment benefit if all of the following criteria apply to you:

• Your collective agreement (‘CAO’) has a provision for this.
• You did everything you could to ensure your employees could continue working, but in the end, the weather made this impossible.
• Your employee is unable to work solely because of bad weather, not for any other reason.
• Your employee has lost at least 5 hours of work a week due to the weather, or at least half of their usual hours if they normally work less than 10 hours per week.

Please note: If your employee qualifies for an unemployment benefit while working for another employer during this period of extreme weather, they will need to report the number of hours they worked for this other employer. Please make sure that this form is then also included in the application for the unemployment benefit.