Sickness Insurance

What is sickness insurance?

Sickness insurance provides employees with part of their salary if they cannot work due to sickness. Sickness in this case in considered a situation where during 24 hours or more an employee is incapacitated to perform their job.

Which employees fall are covered by sickness insurance?

An employee in service who receives a salary of Afl. 5.850,- or less per month is covered by sickness insurance.

The following categories of employees are not covered by sickness insurance:

• The employer who works at his/her own risk and receives salary.
• The employer’s spouse, child(ren) or parent(s) who work in their own company and is/are not paid or paid below the minimum wage level.
• Domestic staff.
• Captain or navigator on ships under the Aruban flag.
• Public employees or employees with the same legal status as public employees.
• Employees who work at home.

How much is the compensation for AO sickness days?

The insured is entitled to compensation equal to 80% of their salary; starting on the fourth day after the initial AO notification. SVb does not pay compensation for the first three days of AO.
Every employee is entitled to compensation for the same illness for a period of no more than two years. The two-year period starts when the employee first notified AO to SVb of the same illness.

To be eligible for compensation, the employee must meet the following requirements:

• • The employee must be registered with SVb.
  • The employee did not have the illness for which he/she notified AO before entering service.
  • The employee must comply with all rules concerning AO notification.

An employee who acquired an illness due to prohibited conduct, an intentional act, or severe negligence of the employee will not receive compensation.

Maternity leave compensation

Female employees are entitled to salary compensation for maternity leave before and after childbirth. During maternity leave, female employees are entitled to compensation equal to 100% of their salary.
SVb compensates maternity leave for a maximum of 12 weeks. The employee may divide the leave between 4 and 6 weeks before delivery and the rest of the 12 weeks after delivery. The actual date on which the birth takes place does not affect the total of 12 weeks of maternity leave.
To be eligible to receive compensation, the female employee is obliged to notify SVb three months before the calculated delivery date as determined by doctor, specialist or midwife.

Passing away of an insured

In the event of an insured’s passing away, SVb requires that this be reported within 30 days after death. This to prevent the company from being overcharged for premiums; also, if the company was receiving sickness insurance benefits for AO, these must be repaid.

To report this, you must send an email with the following information about the deceased to medisch@svbaruba.org:

• Full first name(s) and last name (maiden name)
• Date of birth
• Date of death
• Company(ies) where registered
• Death certificate (Overlijdensakte – Certificado di defuncion)

More information

For more information, you can contact SVb by phone at 527-2700, via email at info@svbaruba.org or through this form.