illness locks in dismissal 🔒

When an employment relationship is under severe strain and can no longer be repaired, going to the subdistrict court is the obvious course of action. However, this recent ruling by the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal on December 1, 2025, shows once again that as long as an employee is sick, the door to dismissal rarely opens.

In this case, the employer attempted to terminate the employment contract on several grounds: poor performance, a disrupted working relationship, and a combination of grounds. The problem was that the employee was already ill at the time the petition was filed. This meant that the prohibition on termination during illness applied. The court can still terminate the employment contract, but only if the facts and circumstances cited for the dismissal are completely unrelated (abstract) to the illness.

The court was clear:

• The alleged shortcomings in performance were insufficiently substantiated.
• There was also no completed performance review file prior to the sick leave notification.
• The disruption of the employment relationship only seemed to escalate after the sick leave notification, partly due to conversations that took place during the sick leave. This is also evident from a report by the company doctor.

As a result, the grounds for dismissal could not be completely separated from the illness.

The result: termination is not possible and the employee must be reintegrated with the employer. The court does see problems with this and recommends that mediation talks should still take place during the first stage of reintegration and/or that the focus should be on the second stage.  

What does this mean for employers?

1. Be extremely careful when dismissing employees who are ill. 
2. Start a file in good time, before illness becomes an issue, or involve the company doctor in the advice to implement an improvement program.
3. Make it clear that any poor performance, culpable conduct, or disrupted working relationship has nothing to do with the employee's incapacity for work. Check this with the company doctor.
4. Be aware that the court will apply strict criteria when assessing a prohibition of dismissal due to illness.

Questions about the reintegration or improvement process for an employee? Please contact Elke Hofman, Dennis Oud or with Tessa Sipkema. 

You can read the ruling here.