When you have been sick, we understand you may want to know:
Because many employees at Knikkers work flexibly without fixed hours, this is not always a simple calculation. That is why we use a model that tries to determine working hours as fairly and objectively as possible.
We believe sickness payment should match the actual work pattern someone has built up over time.
That also means:
This model therefore works both ways:
We believe that is fair for:
It also prevents a lot of confusion and inconsistency, because we always look at the same thing in an objective way:
the actual built-up work pattern compared to the scheduled sickness week
Within flexible work, schedules often vary from week to week.
That means:
We try to reasonably determine:
what the expected working capacity realistically was at the moment of sickness.
The ABU collective labour agreement requires employers, when there is no fixed or clearly agreed working schedule, to determine what the reasonably expected working capacity is.
The ABU agreement does this by looking at the working pattern over the previous 13 calendar weeks.
We therefore also use this 13-week period as an objective basis to determine what work pattern an employee has actually built up.
We look at:
The central question is:
Does the scheduled sickness week match the work pattern someone has actually built up?
Within flexible work, employees often choose their own availability and sign up for shifts themselves.
Because of that, schedules can vary heavily from week to week.
A sudden high number of scheduled hours in one specific week does not automatically mean that this already represents someone’s structural working capacity.
Sickness payment should match:
We first look at the previous 13 calendar weeks.
From that, we determine how many hours were actually worked.
We then compare this to the scheduled sickness hours.
The ratio is calculated as:
total worked hours during previous 13 weeks
÷
(scheduled sickness hours × 13 weeks)
=
reasonably expected working capacity
This working capacity is then applied to the payable sickness hours.
If waiting days apply, these are processed first before sickness payment is calculated.
An employee is scheduled during sickness for:
Total scheduled:
40 hours
During the previous 13 weeks, this employee consistently worked an average of:
48 hours per week
Over 13 weeks, this employee therefore worked:
13 × 48
=
624 hours
The working capacity is then calculated as:
624 ÷ (40 × 13)
=
624 ÷ 520
=
1.20
The reasonably expected working capacity is therefore:
120%
With 1 waiting day of 8 hours:
40 - 8
=
32 payable sickness hours
The working capacity is then applied:
32 × 1.20
=
38.4 sickness hours
The employee receives:
38.4 payable sickness hours
In this example, you can see that consistently working more hours also leads to higher sickness payment.
An employee has only recently started working at Knikkers.
During the previous 13 weeks, the build-up looks like this:
Week 1 to 10: 0 hours
Week 11: 15 hours
Week 12: 18 hours
Week 13: 19 hours
Total worked during 13 weeks:
0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 15 + 18 + 19
=
52 hours
During sickness, this employee was scheduled for:
22,5 hours
The working capacity is then calculated as:
52 ÷ (22,5 × 13)
=
52 ÷ 292,5
=
0,18
The reasonably expected working capacity is therefore
18%
With 1 waiting day of 7.5 hours:
22,5 - 7,5
=
15 payable sickness hours
The working capacity is then applied:
15 × 0,18
=
2.7 sickness hours
2.7 payable sickness hours
This example shows that a very short work history does not automatically create a full structural working capacity.
An employee has worked steadily for a longer period:
22,5 hours per week
Over 13 weeks, this employee therefore worked:
13 × 22,5
=
292,5 hours
During sickness, this employee was also scheduled for:
Friday: 7,5 hours
Saturday: 7,5 hours
Sunday: 7,5 hours
Total scheduled:
22,5 hours
The working capacity is then calculated as:
292,5 ÷ (22,5 × 13)
=
292,5 ÷ 292,5
=
1
The reasonably expected working capacity is therefore:
100%
With 1 waiting day of 7.5 hours:
22,5 - 7,5
=
15 payable sickness hours
The working capacity is then applied:
15 × 1
=
15 sickness hours
The employee receives:
15 payable sickness hours
Waiting days may apply during sickness.
This means that one or more of the first sickness days may not be paid, depending on:
Waiting days are processed first before sickness payment is calculated.
If suitable replacement work is possible, we expect employees to reasonably cooperate with this.
Being sick does not automatically mean:
being fully unable to perform any work.
That is why Knikkers always first looks at
Not cooperating with suitable replacement work may affect possible sickness payment.
Not sure whether something is really sickness?
Or is it mainly stress, overload, or a personal situation?
Then we also ask you to look at:
Not everything needs to immediately become a formal sickness report.
We believe sickness should be taken seriously.
But we also believe sickness payment should fairly reflect:
That is why we try to approach sickness absence in a way that is both professional and human.
