Hey everyone, long post incoming, sorry. I just really need to hear from people who've been through something similar because I'm losing my mind here.
So I'm living and working in the Netherlands and I've got a permanent contract (vast contract). The problem is my direct manager, and I'm pretty convinced the whole thing has a discriminatory angle - he's been making my life difficult in ways that seem tied to my nationality. Fun times.
Here's the concrete stuff he's been doing:
- He invented his own rules about how I can take sick leave - rules that are just... not legal
- He keeps demanding I explain *what exactly* is wrong with me when I'm sick (also not legal)
- And then the kicker: last time I was off sick, he went into HR, pulled my home address without telling anyone, and just **showed up at my house** to check if I was actually home. No arboarts involved, no prior contact, nothing. He just did it.
I have proof of all of this. HR even confirmed in writing that the home visit was a violation, they also confirmed it was because of my nationality. But they're not really doing anything about it, which is its own problem.
Unsurprisingly, all of this has wrecked me mentally. I'm struggling to focus, I'm constantly angry and stressed, but the worst part is the sleep. I wake up like every hour through the night. My huisarts has officially diagnosed me with *spanningsklachten/overspanning* and wrote a letter to the arboarts explicitly stating that my condition is caused by my working situation. I've been prescribed oxazepam for sleep and it's not even working.
Now here's my dilemma:
I want to call in sick, because I genuinely am. But I have a vacation booked in 2.5 weeks. It's been planned for months, it cost me a lot of money, and it's honestly probably the one thing keeping me going right now. I'm terrified that if I report sick leave now, the arboarts will say I can't travel abroad and I'll lose the whole trip.
**My questions:**
Has anyone been in a similar situation? Sick leave + pre-booked vacation? How did it go with the arboarts?
What are the realistic chances that an arboarts would block international travel if I'm signed off with overspanning?
Would it make more sense to just wait until after the vacation to officially report sick leave? Or is that a bad idea legally/health-wise?
Any general advice on handling this kind of workplace situation in NL would be hugely appreciated.
I'm exhausted and not sleeping and just trying to figure out the smartest move here. Thanks in advance.