At around 88 weeks of illness, your employee will receive a letter from us about applying for a WIA benefit. If they qualify, they will receive this benefit once they have been ill for 2 years (104 weeks). Your employee will need to submit a complete return-to-work report (‘re-integratieverslag’) as part of their application.

Applying for the WIA benefit is your employee’s responsibility. However, it is important that you ensure the return-to-work report is complete and submitted to UWV on time.

Read more about the return-to-work plan to understand the obligations for you and your employee.

Once we have evaluated your employee’s application for a WIA benefit, an UWV physician (‘verzekeringsarts’) will assess if they are still able to work.

If your employee is likely to be fully fit for work soon, instead of applying for a WIA benefit you can choose to extend their sick pay ('verlenging loondoorbetaling').

During this period you and your employee will remain responsible for working on their return-to-work plan. Keep in mind that you cannot dismiss your employee during this period.

Please note: You cannot extend your employee’s sick pay if they are receiving a sickness benefit (‘Ziektewet-uitkering’).

If you have extended an employee’s sick pay and would now like to cancel it, you can do so. This might be because your employee is unable to return to work, and wishes to apply for a WIA benefit. In this case, your employee does not need to wait until the end of the agreed-upon period.

Perhaps you are concerned that your employee might fall ill again. If this happens, you might be entitled to part of the sickness benefit for your employee while they are ill. Find out more about qualifying for the risk-free scheme for employers (in Dutch).