Guarantee sick leave for freelancers & entrepreneurs, says CDA

The CDA wants to change the sick leave regulation so that employers have to pay all workers, including flex workers and freelancers, eight weeks of sick leave. CDA leader Sybrand Buma and parliamentarian Pieter Heerma wrote this in a letter in the Volkskrant. Under the current regulation, employers must pay two years of sick leave to permanent employees who fall ill. Freelancers have to get by on their own. If the CDA has its way, this situation will change. All employees, freelancers included, must be entitled to eight weeks of sick leave pay from employers, according to the party. If an employee is ill for longer than that, they can receive a benefit through a collective basic insurance for pay during illness, paid for by premiums. This benefit must run for up to two years. The CDA wants this basic sick leave insurance to be similar to the basic health insurance. The party also wants insurers to preform this procedure without so-called risk selection - thus without checking whether the person in question is employed permanently or on a temporary contract. According to the Christian party, this would mean the risks are shared, the premium is acceptable to participants and that people with a higher risk are no longer excluded. The two politicians believe that this will crate more job security for all employees and more balance in the labor market - permanent employees will not be replaced by freelancers because the costs will be more similar. "Thus unfair competition on labor costs will be avoided to a large extent", they write.