Bill: Will the occupational physician’s advice be decisive in the RIV assessment, reducing the likelihood of wage penalties?

As an employer, you carefully follow the company doctor’s advice during the first two years of illness. However, it is possible that the UWV’s medical examiner may later reach a different conclusion during the WIA assessment. The UWV may then determine that insufficient reintegration efforts have been made, resulting in a wage penalty (termination of the obligation to continue paying wages). This creates significant uncertainty for employers.
With the “Bill to Amend the Assessment of Reintegration Efforts and the WIA Advance Payment Scheme” (hereinafter: the bill), the government aims to eliminate this uncertainty and address the structural backlogs at the UWV. 

What does the bill contain?

The bill includes amendments related to the reintegration report assessment (RIV assessment), the waiver of improperly paid WIA advances, and a few limited changes and clarifications to the Wajong.

Reintegration Report Assessment

The most significant change for employers is that, in principle, the UWV must base its RIV assessment on the company doctor’s opinion regarding the employee’s work capacity. The insurance doctor will no longer evaluate this opinion. However, the UWV will still assess whether the employer and employee have made sufficient efforts toward reintegration in line with that advice. As a result, wage sanctions based on a medical difference of opinion between the company doctor and the insurance doctor would no longer be possible. 

Waiver of WIA Advances

Due to backlogs at the UWV, current and former employees often receive an advance payment while awaiting a decision on their WIA application. If it later turns out that there is no entitlement, or only a partial entitlement, to WIA benefits, that advance must in principle be repaid. The bill includes a temporary measure under which the advance does not have to be repaid, or only partially repaid, so that (former) employees are not later faced with substantial recovery claims as a result of the long waiting times. This measure should have no financial impact on the premiums that individual employers pay to the UWV, as the advances are charged to the Aof. 

Wajong

The bill also includes several amendments and clarifications to the Wajong (the benefit for young people with disabilities). 

What does this mean in practice?

The bill helps to eliminate as much uncertainty as possible regarding a potential wage penalty. In principle, employers who follow the company doctor’s advice and carefully implement the reintegration process are on the right track. It will still be some time before the bill actually takes effect. Until then, it is important for employers to ensure the reintegration process proceeds correctly and to critically evaluate the company doctor’s advice themselves. If you have any doubts, request an expert opinion from the UWV in a timely manner so that adjustments can be made and the risk of a wage penalty is reduced.  

Do you have questions about reintegration or about avoiding a wage penalty? We’re happy to help. Feel free to contact Dennis Oud, Tessa Sipkema, Elke Hofman-Bijvank, or Noa Bilogrevic. 

View the bill and its explanatory notes here.