In the Netherlands, an employer carries wage payment for up to two years of sickness. What a failed return costs depends on how long it held.
How the two years are counted
Where an employee returns and goes off sick again within four weeks, the two periods are added together. The 104-week count carries on from where it stopped, whether or not the new complaint has the same cause as the old one.
Four weeks or more of full recovery starts a new period, with a fresh 104 weeks of wage payment behind it.
Full recovery has a narrow meaning here. The original job, all the contracted hours, no adjustments. Where the employee is doing less than that, the clock has not restarted, and an employer who disagrees with a recovery report can say so in writing and ask UWV for a deskundigenoordeel, an independent expert opinion.
The result employers do not expect
A return that lasts a month and then fails costs the employer more than a return that fails in week two.
The reason is that a gap of under four weeks does not break the count. Whatever was left of the two years when the employee went back is what the employer still owes.
At four weeks the first period stops counting. The obligation is a full 104 weeks again, however much had already been paid out.
Who decides when someone goes back
The reintegration timeline is fixed, and the bedrijfsarts (company doctor) judges when an employee is able to work again. That judgement is made carefully and inside a process built for it.
What the judgement cannot account for
People recover at different speeds. Some are ready at the point the assessment places them. Others are not, and they say so at the appointment with the bedrijfsarts.
They go back anyway. The decision was made for them, and by then a colleague has carried their work for months and the date has been asked about more than once.
Why the return itself is demanding
Going back after a long absence takes something. The hours and the travel, and the first piece of work with a deadline attached to it.
Someone who is not yet recovered is spending what they have on the return. The next absence comes out of that.
What helps before the date is set
Where the question is whether somebody is ready, what helps is a conversation about what they can actually manage, held with someone who is not involved in deciding their file.
Workplace mental health support for organisations can hold that part alongside the arbodienst. The plan that comes out of it is built on something the employee recognises, which is usually what makes a return hold.
Related reading
When to bring in psychological support
What the bedrijfsarts can and cannot do
Kelly Kim is an NIP-registered psychologist and workplace mental health specialist supporting international and Korean organisations in the Netherlands.
Sources: UWV on adding sickness periods together. The rule sits in Article 7:629 paragraph 10 of the Dutch Civil Code. UWV on the deskundigenoordeel.
