Revised Reintegration Procedure for Employees Unable to Work

In October 2022, the rules governing the return-to-work process for employees on long-term sick leave underwent significant changes. The return-to-work program was established in 2016 to help employees on long-term sick leave return to work. The legislature has now shifted the focus of the reintegration process even more than before toward an effective return to work. In this article, we summarize the most important changes for you:

The employer must notify the occupational health and safety advisor whenever an employee is on sick leave for four weeks or more. To encourage a return to work, the occupational health and safety advisor must, effective immediately, inform the employee on sick leave as soon as possible about the options for returning to work.

Employers can now initiate the new reintegration program after just 3 months of incapacity for work, rather than 4. The employee and/or their treating physician can still request that the program begin immediately. Unlike in the past, the health insurance fund’s consulting physician can no longer initiate the procedure. Another new development is that the reintegration program can be initiated for employees who are permanently unable to work due to a work-related accident or occupational disease.

From now on, the occupational health and safety advisor can make three different decisions as part of a return-to-work assessment: - The employee is temporarily unfit for work but will eventually be able to resume the agreed-upon work. In the meantime, the employee may perform adapted or alternative work. - The employee is permanently unable to perform the agreed-upon work but can perform modified or alternative work. - The occupational physician determines that, for medical reasons, it is not (yet) possible to conduct a return-to-work assessment.

The employer’s obligations to find new or modified work for employees on long-term sick leave have been somewhat strengthened. Among other things, the employer must: - remind the employee throughout the entire process of their right to be assisted by an employee representative; - provide an explanation of the proposed reintegration plan; - if no other or modified work is possible, prepare a reasoned report demonstrating that an investigation into the possibilities has been conducted.

Many of the deadlines related to the reintegration procedure have been adjusted, so that, for example, there is more time to file an appeal against the reintegration assessment (21 calendar days instead of 7 business days). In addition, employers are given more time to draw up a reintegration plan or a reasoned report for employees who are temporarily unfit for work, but they are given much less time to do so following a Decision B (permanent disability) (6 months instead of 12 months).

On November 28, 2022, the new legislation regarding medical force majeure took effect. The legislature has chosen to separate the termination of an employment contract due to medical force majeure from the return-to-work program and to establish a new procedure for this purpose. This new procedure for determining medical force majeure can only be used for employees who have been continuously unable to work for at least 9 months and who are not currently participating in a reintegration program. As a result of this change, the reintegration process can no longer lead to the termination of the employment relationship due to medical force majeure. Want to learn more? Please contact one of our specialists.