The proposal which alters the health insurance act and several other acts which reduce absence through illness and absence of unemployed disabled workers, was accepted by the Upper House yesterday.
Unemployed disabled workers are employees who:
- do not, or no langer have, an employer, such as workers on sick leave who are entitled to benefits, temps on sick leave and employees on sick leave whose contract end during the time the employee is ill.
- are employed but have an elevated risk of becoming ill due to, for instance, pregnancy or because they are organ donors.
With this proposal, the government wants to ensure that temporary workers and people on a short term contract on sick leave will be back at work sooner.
In future, employers will be paying a higher premium if more employees on short term contracts are on sickness benefits (or WIA). After one year of being ill, the UWV will assess if a worker, who is no longer able to fulfil his or her tasks, will be able to do alternative tasks. Moreover, the amount and the duration of the sickness benefit will depend on the number of years an employee has worked. In addition, the maximum trial period for an employee will be extended to six months. The recruitment industry and the UWV will be in closer cooperation in order to get workers back at work sooner. As soon as a sick temp can be back at work, the employment agency the temp worked last, will find a fitting position.