Season · replacement staff · continued payment of wages
Sickness absence insurance (verzuimverzekering) for agricultural businesses
In farming, absence rarely happens at a quiet moment: the obligation to continue paying wages runs for two years while you have to buy in replacement staff at peak rates in the middle of the harvest or the lambing season.
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 for yourself what it would cost.
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
Sickness absence insurance (verzuimverzekering) covers the wages you are legally required to continue paying a sick employee, for up to two years. For agricultural businesses the pinch point is not that amount but the timing and the ease of replacement. A milker, a tractor driver or a foreman in the greenhouse is worth something different in week 20 of an absence than on paper, and the agency worker you bring in during the season costs more than the person who fell ill.
So when choosing the form of cover, pay attention to exactly who is on your payroll. Seasonal workers on a temporary contract are covered by the insurance as long as the employment lasts. If the contract ends during illness, the employee moves to the UWV as sick on leaving employment and the absence payment stops. Peak workers who come through an employment agency or a contracting firm are not on your wage bill and are therefore not covered &mdash. Their absence is their own employer's problem.
The business owner and family members working in the business without an employment contract fall outside a sickness absence insurance. Disability insurance (AOV) is needed for that. We set out your wage bill, your seasonal pattern and your need for replacement staff side by side and consider whether an excess period in working days or a longer waiting period suits the way you run your business.
What does sickness absence insurance cover for agricultural businesses?
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.
Wages are not the same as replacement
The policy pays a percentage of the insured wages. What you pay in season for a hired tractor driver or a contractor who takes over the work is usually above that. Work out your actual replacement costs per role instead of your wage bill, and ask whether an additional allowance for replacement staff or occupational health services can be covered. Without that extension you bear the difference yourself.
The wage sanction from the UWV is not insured
If you fall short as an employer on reintegration — no plan of action, no company doctor in good time, no second-track programme &mdash. The UWV can extend the continued payment of wages by up to a year. That extension falls outside the sickness absence insurance. You pay that third year yourself. In a seasonal business where administration comes second, this is the most expensive risk on this page.
What an absence policy never covers
Excluded are pregnancy and maternity leave (the WAZO benefit exists for that), absence that was already running on the start date, illness of the business owner, and the wages of employees who are not on your policy statement. Nor does it cover personal injury that your employee recovers from you: that runs through employer's liability and Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code, a separate policy.
Absence and liability meet in the shed
If someone is off work after an accident with a power take-off shaft, a loose animal or a forklift truck, two cases run at the same time. The sickness absence insurance continues to pay wages. On top of that your employee can hold you liable under Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code, and with livestock the strict liability under Article 6:179 of the Dutch Civil Code towards third parties comes into play. Make sure your risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E) and your instructions are demonstrably in order &mdash. That is your defence in both cases.
What does your premium depend on?
Insured payroll. The basis for the premium; seasonal peaks can distort the annual wage bill considerably.
Branch within the agricultural sector. Dairy farming, arable farming, greenhouse horticulture and livestock farming have different absence patterns.
Excess period in working days. Ten, twenty or more waiting days per case of illness lowers the premium noticeably.
Percentage and duration of cover: 70 or 100 per cent of wages, and whether the second year of illness is covered.
Absence figures for recent years. Your own absence rate weighs more heavily the larger your workforce is.
Occupational health services and absence guidance. A contracted occupational health service and demonstrable management of the gatekeeper process reduce the risk of long-term absence.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your situation, your risk and your 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.
Only if they are employed by you and are included in the declared wage bill. Employees on a temporary contract are covered as long as the contract runs. If the employment ends while someone is ill, the UWV takes over the payment and your cover stops. Agency workers and employees of a contracting firm are not on your payroll and are therefore not covered.
Am I covered by this insurance as a farmer myself?
No. Sickness absence insurance covers only your statutory obligation to continue paying wages to employees. As an owner, a partner in a partnership or a director and majority shareholder without compulsory insurance, you do not receive wages that fall under that obligation. For your own absence you need disability insurance (AOV), where the assessment is based on your own occupation and the physical demands of the work.
What happens with absence caused by a zoonosis or an allergy arising from the work?
For the sickness absence insurance the cause makes no difference: wages continue to be paid and a payment is therefore made. The cause does become relevant once the employee holds you liable because the condition is work-related. That does not run through the absence policy but through employer's liability, where it is assessed whether you have met your duty of care.
Why an excess period in working days and not in calendar days?
Because short-term absence is common in farming and costs little per case, while the administration and the premium loading for it continue regardless. With a waiting period of, say, twenty working days per case of illness, you bear the cases of flu yourself and insure only the long-term absence that causes the real loss. Work out in advance how many short cases you have each year.
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.
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