General

Salary second year of illness

If you fall under a collective labor agreement for education, you will receive 100 percent of your salary in the first year of your illness. Whether you are already working on your reintegration or are still at home. But from the second year a lot changes. The amount of your benefit in the second year depends on the type of work you can still do and how you plan your reintegration.

Sick for more than twelve months? You must know this

What you are entitled to during the second year of illness depends on whether there is desirable work is performed or not. You will also have to deal with concepts such as stipulated work en railway tracks. We explain what these terms mean, what you should pay attention to and what you can do to prevent your benefit from being unjustly reduced.

Work on a therapeutic basis means that:

It may not concern an existing position that is described in the collective labor agreement
The job must be created (it is not an existing job)
The activities take place in a pre-agreed period
The activities may not continue for more than 6 weeks
The activities must be part of a constructive reintegration process
Guidance must be available at all times
The sick employee must be able to leave the workplace at any time

Contracted work means that:

You (partly) do the own work for which you were once hired: the work deemed desirable. If you perform work that you consider desirable during your second year of illness, you are entitled to 100 percent of your wage for the hours you perform this work that you consider desirable.

Please note: for work on a therapeutic basis, a sick employee receives 70 percent of the applicable hourly wage in the second year of illness. If you (partly) return to your own position, you will be paid 100 percent for these hours.

Lower benefit for therapeutic work

The idea is that therapeutic work does not represent wage value, but is intended to acclimatize a sick employee to the work process or work rhythm. Therapeutic work should make the step towards desirable work or a full return to work easier. That is why a sick employee receives 70 percent of the applicable hourly wage in the second year of illness.

Avoid a salary drop

It is therefore beneficial to do work that is considered desirable as soon as possible during the second year of illness. You will then receive 100 percent continued payment of wages for the hours worked. While you only get 70 percent of your salary when you don't work or work on a therapeutic basis.

Desirable work at another location

It is possible that your own employer does not have available work that is considered desirable or work on a therapeutic basis. Or that your employer cannot organize this for you. In that case you can also get started at another location. It may even be with another employer. In that case, too, you are entitled to 100 percent of your wages for the work you consider desirable.

Do you see opportunities to perform work that is considered desirable somewhere, but are you unable to come to an agreement with your employer? Direct contact with the AOb

Desirable work

If you carry out your own work (the stipulated work) in the context of your reintegration, this is considered desirable work. You are entitled to 100% wage payment for these hours.

Other location

If you are unable to perform work that you consider desirable at your own employer, you can also do this at another organisation. If you see an opportunity to work at a different location, please inform your employer or reintegration counselor.

Therapeutic base

Work on a therapeutic basis may never last more than 6 hours, and supervision must always be present. If the work on a therapeutic basis is still too much for you, you can leave the workplace at any time.

What does a railway track mean?: The term railway track is used to indicate the difference between the different places where you can reintegrate. The first trajectory concerns all work (including work on a therapeutic basis) in the context of the illness trajectory at one's own employer. If the work is performed for another employer, this is referred to as second-track work.
What happens after the second year of illness?: After the second year of illness, a lot changes again. Three months before the end of the second year of illness you will receive a message from the UWV: you will be examined for the Work and Income according to Labor Capacity Act (WIA). An insurance doctor and an occupational expert assess your reintegration file and invite you for one or more interviews. After this, the UWV decides whether you are more or less than 35% incapacitated for work.
How can education collective agreements prevent a salary drop?: If you are less than 35% occupationally disabled, you will not receive a WIA benefit. Most education collective labor agreements stipulate that suitable work (desired work) must be found at the employer. Because the AOb and other trade unions have jointly concluded good education collective agreements, there are usually schemes that compensate for a possible fall in salary.
What different WIA benefits are there?: If you receive a WIA benefit, there are various WIA benefits to which you may be entitled:

The wage-related WGA* benefit (35 – 80% incapacitated for work)

The wage-related WGA* benefit (80% - 100% benefit)

The IVA benefit (you are more than 80% incapacitated for work and recovery is not expected)

* WGA stands for Work Resumption Partially Disabled
What does it mean to be partially disabled?: It will be examined to what extent you can still work. If you are 50% incapacitated for work, this also means that you can still work for 50%. This is called your residual earning capacity. It is therefore the intention that you look for work to supplement your benefits.
How long will I receive a wage-related WGA benefit?: The duration of the wage-related WGA benefit depends on your employment history. For the first two months, the benefit is roughly 75% of the wages you earned a year before your illness. At the end of the term, the benefit may be extended with a WGA repair benefit.
If, at the end of the term of the WGA benefit, you have not found a suitable job with which you earn, for example, 50% of the residual earning capacity, the follow-up benefit usually follows.
The amount of this follow-up benefit depends on the degree of incapacity for work. The disability percentage determines what percentage of the minimum wage you receive from the UWV. If you were insured against disability through your employer, you may be entitled to a supplement.
I expect to be able to work again in due course, what does that mean for my benefits?: The wage-related WGA 80%-100% benefit comes into the picture if you are incapacitated for work at the time of the WIA assessment, but will probably recover. As long as you are still fully incapacitated for work, you are entitled to the wage-related WGA 80% - 100% benefit. If your fitness for work increases, a re-examination will take place.
What if recovery is not possible?: If you are more than 80% incapacitated for work and you do not recover, you will receive an IVA benefit. The duration of this benefit is in principle unlimited. The expectation is that there will be no recovery. The amount of this benefit is 75% of the WIA monthly wage. To calculate the exact amount, we look at what you earned in the year before your first day of illness.