On 1 October 2020, the Bill “RIV Test UWV by Occupational Consultants” was presented to the Lower House of Parliament. This bill intends to make the opinion of the company doctor about an employee's work capacity dominant when the UWV tests a reintegration process. This bill is intended to remove uncertainty among employers about the reintegration process and possible wage sanctions.
Current Process
If an employee drops out due to illness, the employer is obliged to make a serious effort aimed at the employee's reintegration. The employer must seek the assistance of a company doctor in the guidance of a sick employee. The company doctor has an advisory role in absence counselling and advises the employer about occupational disability, resumption of work, and reintegration.
If the efforts aimed at reintegration do not result in a resumption of work by the employee, after two years of illness the employee will apply for WIA1 benefits to the UWV. Among the enclosures with this application must be the reintegration report (in Dutch: “RIV”).
On the basis of the reintegration report, the UWV determines whether the employer has made sufficient efforts aimed at the employee's reintegration. This process is also known as the “RIV test”. If the UWV concludes that the employer has not done enough for the reintegration of an employee who is unfit for work, the UWV may impose a wage sanction. This means that the employer will have to keep paying the employee's wages for a period of at most 52 more weeks.
The RIV test is performed by an occupational consultant and an insurance doctor. The occupational consultant may involve the insurance doctor in the RIV test. This will happen, for example, if the company doctor has set a medical limitation on work hours, or has found that there were no usable options (for several periods of time). In his assessment of the reintegration report, the insurance doctor can give his own medical opinion about the limitations and employability of the employee. This may have as a consequence that the opinions of the company doctor and the insurance doctor deviate, for example because the insurance doctor thinks that the employee can work more hours than the company doctor has determined. Such an opinion of the insurance doctor will lead to the conclusion that insufficient efforts have been made aimed at reintegration. In that case, a wage sanction will be imposed for missing out on reintegration opportunities. Employers often regard such a sanction as unreasonable. After all, employers are dependent on the company doctor's medical assessment of the situation.
It appears from figures of the UWV about the years 2015-2017 (“Report on Testing of the RIV December 2018”) that 12% of the wage sanctions is imposed because of a difference of opinion between the company doctor and the UWV's insurance doctor.
New Process
This bill is intended to change the role of the insurance doctor. The intended purpose is to make the opinion of the company doctor about the work capacity of the employee dominant. Concretely, this means that only the occupational consultant (rather than the insurance doctor) will perform the RIV test. A more limited test will be applied for this purpose. The occupational consultant will evaluate whether the employer and the employee could reasonably have arrived at the reintegration efforts on the basis of the company doctor's advice. So, it is evaluated whether the reintegration efforts that were made are in line with the advice of the company doctor about the work capacity of the employee. As a result of this bill, in the testing of the reintegration process the insurance doctor will no longer personally give a medical opinion about the work capacity of the employee.
Conclusion
If this bill is passed, a difference of opinion between the company doctor and the insurance doctor about the work capacity of the employee will no longer lead to the imposing of a wage sanction. The employer will be allowed to trust the opinion of the company doctor about the work capacity of the employee. This will reduce uncertainty among employers as to whether their reintegration efforts were sufficient, and whether a wage sanction will be imposed on them. The expected entry into force of the bill is 1 September 2021. Until then, the insurance doctor can continue to give his own medical opinion.
Do you have any questions? Please do not hesitate to contact Marieke Opdam or Lisa Klumperink.
