In the Netherlands, an employer has to appoint someone to guide the agreed reintegration activities and to handle contact between the employee, the employer and the bedrijfsarts (company doctor). In practice this person is called the casemanager.
What the rule asks for
The rule asks for a person. It does not say which person.
Professional guidance for the role notes that it can be filled by whoever the employer designates. In larger organisations it often sits with HR or with whoever runs absence administration. In smaller ones the line manager usually takes it.
Why the manager is the usual choice
The manager knows the work and already has a relationship with the employee. They can see what a partial return would involve, and they are in a position to arrange it.
For most absences this works, and there is no reason to arrange it differently.
The case where it works against the recovery
Sometimes the relationship with the manager is part of what led to the absence.
The two of them worked and communicated differently. Friction built up over months, and the employee stopped trusting how they would be judged.
Then the sick report goes in, the process starts, and the person making contact each week is the same manager.
What the file records
The calls are correct. Dates get agreed and the plan van aanpak, the reintegration plan, gets written on time.
What the file does not record is that each call from this person slows the recovery down. The manager is doing what the protocol assigned them, and the default put them there.
Changing who holds the role
An employer can appoint someone else for it. Where they do, the employee is told and the arbodienst is notified.
That is the whole of the procedure. It is easier to do at the start of an absence than halfway through, once a pattern of contact has settled.
Why a protocol needs room in it
An absence protocol that routes every case the same way cannot account for this.
The ones that work leave room to decide, case by case, who is best placed to keep the contact. Most of the time that is still the manager.
What helps where the contact is already difficult
The employee needs somewhere to work out what they can manage, with someone who is not assessing them.
Workplace mental health support for organisations sits outside the reporting line. The recovery moves faster, and a return to work depends on the recovery.
Related reading
Your first long-term sick leave, with no HR function
When to bring in psychological support
Kelly Kim is an NIP-registered psychologist and workplace mental health specialist supporting international and Korean organisations in the Netherlands.
Sources: NVAB, Leidraad Casemanagement bij ziekteverzuimbegeleiding, June 2020
Rijksoverheid on the rules and obligations during sickness
