Working in the Netherlands: Everything you need to know about maternity leave

In this article you can find some useful information about maternity leave and expecting a child in the Netherlands as an expat. It is good to note that any maternity leave requests are to be handled by your employer. This consists of the aforementioned maternity leave and also childbirth leave, in total you will receive a minimum of 16 weeks. The methods for how you could ask for these leaves are written below in this article.

Your maternity leave starts at the latest, six weeks before your delivery date. It is important to know that your employer has no right to deny your request for leave.

Maternity allowance

When you are on maternity leave you are in your legal right to receive maternity allowance. Your employer will request your payment with the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV). As an employee you do not have to ask for this as it is mandatory in your maternity leave rights and will be fully taken care of by said employer. As a result your employer will simply continue to pay you the regular wages during the time of your maternity leave.

The maternity allowance is equal to the average wage you earn per day. In the event that you fall ill before your maternity leave begins, this will have no effect on the payment that you will receive from the Employee Insurance Agency and your standard wages.

Independent business owner

If you are a business owner and you are expecting a child you are eligible to receive a maternity benefit from the ZEZ (the “Independent and Pregnant” business owners agency). At the time of childbirth you can apply for maternity benefits from the “Employee Insurance Agency” (UWV). The “Independent and Pregnant” business owner benefits can last at least 16 weeks.

Calculating your maternity leave

At the time in which you are pregnant you have a right to six weeks off and after your baby is born you have a right to at least ten weeks of paid leave. The method to see how much time you have off is rather simple. Your maternity leave ends at the moment that you give birth, at that point you enter your childbirth leave which is the minimum 10 week relief period.

Childbirth leave

You technically enter this phase after you have given birth thus eliminating your maternity leave. Complications may occur with timing such as a late birth. In this case, your childbirth leave will begin on the day that your child is born rather than the scheduled date. You must also add the difference between these two dates to the final total of the 16 weeks from both leaves.

We hope that you have found sufficient information on this topic in our article. If you have any more questions and want more in depth information click on this link from the national government website for further explanations on this subject. Health for Internationals also provides more information on this topic and other health related topics.