During the first two years of illness you must continue to pay wages and make efforts for the reintegration of the employee:
During the first two years of illness you must continue to pay at least 70% of the employee’s salary. Is this less than the statutory minimum wage? Then you must pay the minimum wage during the first year of illness. This does not apply to the second year of illness. Then, you may pay 70% of the wages, even if this is less than the statutory minimum wage.
You must make an active effort for the reintegration of your employee. You must give the employee the opportunity to return to his or her own job. If that is not possible, you have to look for other suitable work within your own company or at another company. When guiding your sick employee, you must be assisted by a company doctor.
If you make insufficient effort for the reintegration of your sick employee, the UWV can impose a wage sanction. In that case you will have to continue to pay salary after two years of sickness for up to one more year. Tip: Ensure that all your reintegration efforts are reported in writing in a file!
