New disability regulations: what measures should you consider in 2023?
New disability regulations: what measures should you consider in 2023?
May 2023 – Sick employees cost your company handsomely. Naturally, you do everything possible to keep workplace absenteeism as low as possible. The legislators in our country held some new legislative changes over the past few months. Are you on board with these new rules of the game? We summarise some of the measures for you.
What about the sick note?
One of the new legislative changes relates to the employee's submission of a sick note. Three times in a calendar year, he or she must not submit a sick note for the first day of disability. Does the period of absence last longer? Then a note will be required.
This administrative simplification applies to private companies with at least 50 employees. In SMEs, the one-day sick note will therefore be retained for the time being. After one year, this rule will be evaluated to see whether the one-day note can also be abolished for smaller companies.
Reintegration pathway reform
At the end of 2022, reintegration legislation was reformed and simplified. The goal? To promote and speed up the return of (long-term) incapacitated workers.
In a reintegration procedure, a company doctor assesses whether and when an employee can resume work. In the renewed procedure, you should take into account the following novelties:
A reintegration route can be started by your employee (or his treating doctor) from the first day of incapacity for work. As an employer, you can submit a request after the third month of continuous incapacity for work or upon a certificate of definitive incapacity for work.
If your employees do not accept the invitation of an occupational physician up to three times, the reintegration process will be terminated.
You must thoroughly investigate all possibilities of adapted or other work, taking into account the recommendations of the labour doctor.
Furthermore, you must provide a tailor-made reintegration plan, adapted to the employee's state of health and possibilities.
The new reintegration procedure is completely separated from the procedure for termination of the employment contract due to medical force majeure (see below).
New procedure medical force majeure
A new procedure for termination of employment contract due to medical force majeure is applicable this year. Through this procedure, you or your employee can request the free termination of the cooperation, taking into account the employee's final incapacity for work.
From now on, this procedure can only be initiated after your employee has been uninterruptedly unfit for work for at least nine months and on condition that no reintegration process is ongoing.
Besides some specific conditions, the cooperation agreement can only be terminated on grounds of medical force majeure if it turns out that it is definitively impossible for your employee to perform the agreed work. For this termination, you therefore still need a decision from the employment doctor.
What in case of illness during leave?
An amendment to Belgium's holiday regulations is also expected in 2024. If an employee falls ill during his or her holidays, he or she will be able to take the holidays lost due to illness at a later date. Today, it is impossible to recover 'lost' leave days (due to illness). So under pressure from European regulations, this may change. To be continued...