As soon as you take someone on, three obligations arise that run separately: continued pay during sickness, contributing towards disability benefit and providing a safe workplace.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out your own premium with the calculator.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The first is continued payment of wages. If an employee falls ill, you continue to pay their wages for two years and bear the cost of reintegration. Sickness absence insurance absorbs that, but the cover only starts after a waiting period you choose yourself, and occupational health services are sometimes included and sometimes not. If your reintegration efforts fall short, the UWV (the Dutch employee insurance agency) can impose a third year of continued pay; that sanction is not insured.
The second is the period after that. If the employee remains unfit for work, the WGA follows and that benefit counts towards your premium for years or, if you carry the risk yourself, towards your own account. This is a question of funding and not of liability; it is entirely separate from whether you did anything wrong.
The third is the liability. Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code places a far-reaching duty of care on you for the safety of the workplace, including for agency workers, self-employed professionals and trainees doing work you could have had staff do. Article 7:611 DCC adds the road to that and Article 6:170 DCC makes you liable towards third parties for your people's mistakes. Recovery from the employee themselves is virtually ruled out by Article 7:661 DCC.
What does insurance for staff and employment cover?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basics
Liability
AVB for property damage and injury, BAV for professional errors.
Damage to third parties
Employers' liability
Care, custody and control as an extension
Your business
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
Business contents at replacement value as new
Goods at cost price
Business interruption or additional costs
If you employ people
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
Continued pay for 104 weeks
Group personal accident
WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
Situation
AVB
BAV
Cyber
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
No
Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error
No
Yes
No
Downtime after a ransomware attack
No
No
Yes
Data breach involving personal data
No
Sometimes
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
The road falls between two policies
Your liability insurance excludes damage involving motor vehicles, and the WAMcover on the car does not pay the driver for their own injury. If an employee drives for work and is injured with no other party involved, you carry that loss yourself under Article 7:611 of the Dutch Civil Code. WEGAS insurance closes that gap, and not only for the car but also for the bicycle and for commuting if you include it.
Hired-in staff simply count
Agency workers, seconded staff, self-employed professionals and trainees fall under the duty of care in Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code. For your premium they count towards the payroll and for your cover they have to be declared. If a hired-in worker is injured at your site, you are the one who is sued, even where the agency is formally the employer. Record who gives the safety instruction ; without that arrangement both parties assume the other did it.
Fines and sanctions are for your own account
A fine from the labour inspectorate after an accident, a wage sanction from the UWV and a penalty payment are not compensation but a punishment, and therefore cannot be insured. Deliberate acts and wilful recklessness on your part also fall outside every cover. What is insured is the loss suffered by the employee themselves: loss of earning capacity, damages for pain and suffering, the cost of adapting the home. Do not mix those two categories in your picture of the risk.
Accidents and sickness absence are not the same thing
Group personal accident insurance pays a fixed amount on permanent injury or death, regardless of fault. Sickness absence insurance pays wages. Liability cover only pays where you fell short in your duty of care. Businesses often think they have one of the three and turn out to be missing the other two; so go through, event by event, which policy pays. See the SME insurance package for how they fit together.
What does your premium depend on?
Payroll and number of employees — The main basis of calculation for sickness absence, WGA and employers' liability; including hired-in workers.
Sector and nature of the work — Office work, manufacturing, construction and care each have their own absence and injury pattern and therefore their own rate.
Waiting period chosen — For sickness absence the number of waiting days per case of illness makes the difference between a low and a high premium.
Sickness absence figures for recent years — The historic absence rate and the number of long-term cases weigh heavily in acceptance.
Age profile of the staff — For accident and sickness absence cover, the make-up of the workforce affects the expected claims burden.
Extensions included — Occupational health services, reintegration support, WEGAS and group personal accident cover are priced separately.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
How long do I have to keep paying wages during sickness?
In principle two years, together with the cost of reintegration. After that comes the WGA, whose costs carry through into your premium or your own account for years. Sickness absence insurance covers the continued payment of wages after the waiting period you choose. If the UWV imposes a wage sanction because your reintegration fell short, that third year falls outside the cover.
Am I liable for an accident involving an agency worker?
Yes, as a rule. Article 7:658(4) of the Dutch Civil Code extends your duty of care to everyone who carries out work for you without being employed by you, so including agency workers, self-employed professionals and trainees. The fact that the agency is formally the employer makes little difference. Declare these groups to your insurer and record in writing who provides the safety instruction.
Can I recover the loss from the employee who made the mistake?
Almost never. Article 7:661 of the Dutch Civil Code protects the employee: only in the case of a deliberate act or wilful recklessness do they bear the loss themselves. For a careless moment during work you remain liable, including towards third parties, through Article 6:170 DCC. A clause in the contract of employment departing from this rarely stands up in practice.
Is accident insurance the same as liability?
No. Group personal accident insurance pays an amount agreed in advance on permanent disability or death, regardless of who is at fault. Employers' liability cover only pays where you breached your duty of care, and then the employee's full loss. Businesses regularly confuse the two and only discover after an accident that the second is missing.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
