Retention of income after living donation
After the surgery, you will not be able to work for a while as a kidney or liver donor. Read how to ensure your salary continues to be paid.
Retention of salary as an employee
Do you work as an employee or through a temp agency? Then you are entitled to continued payment of your wages. Your employer can apply for sickness benefits from the UWV for this. You will receive this benefit for a maximum of 2 years.
Do you have to go to the hospital for a few days for an examination? Then the employer can also apply for sickness benefits for those days. To receive this benefit, the employer must report you sick to the UWV. This must be done within 6 weeks of the first day of sickness.
Information letters
It is important that you inform your employer about the donation in time. Use these letters:
How much will you be paid if you cannot work?
During the period that you cannot work, the employer will continue to pay your normal salary.
The employer must also continue to pay extras, such as bonuses, more or less fixed overtime pay, and commissions. The employer does not have to do this if the terms of employment or the employment contract state that it is not required.
Do you have an irregular employment contract (on-call contract)?
Then the employer must continue to pay the average number of hours you worked in the 13 weeks prior to the sick report.
Are you a temporary worker?
For temporary workers, salary continuation applies according to theregulation on overheid.nl.
What if you still receive less income?
It is possible that the sickness benefit is lower than the salary you earn. This is because the UWV uses a maximum daily wage, which is sometimes lower than the actual daily wage.
Does the employer not pay the difference?
In that case, you can sometimes apply for compensation for the lost income through the living donation expense reimbursement scheme.
- This compensation amounts to a maximum of € 520 per day.
- Please contact the NTS by phone for this: 071 57 95 777.
Are there other reasons why you have less income than normal?
In that case, too, the donor can sometimes apply for compensation through the living donation expense reimbursement scheme. The income will then be supplemented to the salary you would normally earn.
What if you receive AOW in addition to your salary?
The employer can also apply for a sickness benefit from the UWV for an employee who receives an AOW pension.
This benefit lasts:
- For kidney donation: a maximum of 13 weeks.
- For liver donation: a maximum of 26 weeks.
Retention of salary for entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur, you may lose income if you are unable to work for a while after the donor surgery. This applies to both self-employed persons (freelancers) and director-major shareholders (DGAs). Sometimes you can receive a benefit for that period:
- UWV benefit: if you are voluntarily insured with the UWV for the Sickness Benefits Act.
- Benefit from an insurer: if you have taken out disability insurance.
Are you not insured with the UWV and do you also not have disability insurance? Or is the benefit lower than the lost income? Then you can request compensation via the Living Donation Expense Reimbursement scheme. Please note: You must submit this application within 1 year of discharge from the hospital.
Do you work unpaid in your partner's business?
Are you not an entrepreneur yourself, but do you work unpaid in your life partner's business?
Then your business is missing a worker during the time you are unable to work. Does the company have to temporarily hire a temp worker for this? Then compensation is possible via the scheme Living donation expense reimbursement.
What compensation can you roughly receive as a self-employed entrepreneur?
As a self-employed entrepreneur, you are not covered by the Sickness Benefits Act (Ziektewet) or the WIA. Have you not taken out voluntary insurance or private disability insurance? Or does that insurance not cover your full loss of income? Then you can request compensation via the Living Donation expense reimbursement scheme through the NTS.
What is the compensation based on?
The compensation is based on the average weekly income you had in the year prior to the donation. Do you also receive a benefit from disability insurance? Then that benefit will be deducted from the compensation and you will receive the difference.
Conditions for this compensation
As a self-employed entrepreneur, you can request compensation for loss of income immediately after donation. The following applies:
- You receive compensation for every missed working day during the preliminary examinations, the hospital admission, and the 6-week recovery period after discharge from the hospital.
- Does the recovery take longer than the expected 6 weeks? Then you can request additional compensation, calculated from the date of discharge from the hospital:
- For a kidney donation: a maximum of 13 weeks.
- For a liver donation: a maximum of 26 weeks.
- You can request the compensation up to 1 year after discharge from the hospital at the latest.
- The amount of your compensation depends on the number of days you were unable to work due to the donation.
- The NTS uses a minimum daily wage based on the minimum hourly wage established by the UWV.
- There is a maximum daily allowance of € 520.
- After your recovery, you fill out a statement from a doctor and send it to the NTS with the recovery date on it.
More about applying to the NTS: Living Donation Expense Reimbursement
Example calculation
Do you want to know what you are approximately entitled to? Below you will find a trial calculation.
Compensation = (annual profit ÷ 225) × number of non-worked working days
- Annual profit: € 45,000.
- Standard compensation: 30 working days (6 weeks).
- Daily compensation = € 45,000 ÷ 225 = € 200.
- Total standard compensation = € 200 × 30 = € 6,000.
If your recovery takes longer:
- For kidney donation: maximum 13 weeks (= 65 working days) = € 13,000.
- For liver donation: maximum 26 weeks (= 130 working days) = € 26,000.
Please note: this trial calculation is an indication.No rights can be derived from this calculation..When applying, you must provide supporting documents for the profit from business as stated to the Tax and Customs Administration.
How does the NTS calculate the profit from business for self-employed persons (zzp'ers)?
To calculate the compensation for self-employed persons, the NTS looks at the 'profit from business' in the year prior to the donation. This amount is stated on the tax return for that year. You must include this tax return with the application form.
Did you have less profit in the year before the donation than usual? Then the NTS can also base the calculation on the average profit in the 5 years prior to the donation. In that case, you must include the tax returns for those 5 years with your application.
Does it turn out afterwards that you had more profit in the donation year than in the year prior to the donation? Then you can request a recalculation. This is possible up to 2 years after the donation. You must send the tax return for the donation year for this purpose.
How does the NTS calculate the compensation for DGA's (director-major shareholders)?
To calculate the compensation for director-major shareholders (DGA's), the NTS looks at the gross monthly salary of the DGA. Therefore, you must include a payslip from the month prior to the donation. You can also include proof, such as a statement from an accountant, showing that your company made less profit due to the donation.
Do you have to pay tax on the compensation?
Yes, the Tax and Customs Administration considers the compensation as income. You must therefore declare the compensation in your tax return.
What if you made little profit in the years before the donation?
Is the profit from the business lower than the minimum gross wage? Then you will receive a daily allowance equal to the minimum gross wage. In doing so, the NTS assumes the average number of days you work per week.
How to apply?
This can be done via theLiving Donation Expense Reimbursement
Need help with compensation?
The social worker or coordinator at the hospital is happy to provide an explanation and help you apply for compensation. Do you have a question about the NTS compensation?
Available on working days from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM