Reporting your employee sick

Report your employee's illness to the occupational health physician (‘bedrijfsarts’), or the occupational health and safety service (‘arbodienst’). How and when you report your employee’s illness will depend on the agreements you have with these services.

Please note: In some situations, your employee might qualify for a sickness benefit (‘Ziektewet-uitkering’). In this case you must report your employee’s illness to UWV.

The evaluation

After 6 weeks of illness, your employee will have a discussion with the occupational health physician or the occupational health and safety service. They will determine what your employee can and cannot do in terms of their health. This part of the process is called the evaluation (‘probleemanalyse’).

Making an action plan

After 8 weeks of illness, you and your employee will set up an action plan (‘plan van aanpak’). Work on this plan together and record all the return-to-work agreements you make.

Reporting your employee sick at 42 weeks

After 3 quarters of a year of illness, you must report your employee to UWV as long-term sick. Do this no later than the first working day after the 42nd week of illness. This notification is called the "42e-weeksmelding".

Preparing the first-year evaluation

After 52 weeks (1 year) of illness, you and your employee will complete the first-year evaluation (‘eerstejaarsevaluatie’) together. Describe in this document what you both think of the return-to-work agreements made so far, and make any necessary changes.

The WIA benefit application

If your employee has been ill for almost 2 years and has either been unable to work, or has worked fewer hours, they will receive a letter from us about applying for a WIA benefit (an occupational disability benefit). This letter will mention the deadline for them to apply, which is the 93rd week of sickness. You will also receive a copy of this letter.

Completing the final evaluation

After 91 weeks of illness, you will complete the final evaluation (‘eindevaluatie’) on your employee’s return-to-work plan. You will need to do so even if your employee leaves the company. This document will be included in the return-to-work report (‘re-integratieverslag’).

One of the sections of the return-to-work report will be filled out by the occupational health physician, or the occupational health and safety service. This section is where they will record their latest assessment (‘actueel oordeel bedrijfsarts of arbodienst’).

The return-to-work report is an important part of the process and is assessed by UWV to see whether you have done enough during the return-to-work process to get your employee back to work.

Please note: After you complete the return-to-work report you must provide a full copy to your employee as they will need it to apply for a WIA benefit.

Submitting the return-to-work report

Your employee is responsible for providing all the documents that make up the return-to-work report. This includes documents related to the return-to-work plan, and medical information from the occupational health physician.

If your employee prefers, you can upload the general documents for them on-line. Do this no later than 1 day after your employee has applied for the WIA-benefit.

Please note: You can upload the general documents, however medical documents are strictly confidential and must be submitted to us directly by the employee, and never by the employer.