2024-09-20 04:00:00
Employers lay off long-term patients more often than they reintegrate them. A forced choice due to lack of suitable work, they argue. The easy way out, retort the unions.
In 2023, of the approximately 22,800 employees on long-term disability expected to return to work, only 18% of them have started a formal process (imagined with an external service) intended to find them a suitable job within their companyMore than 80% of them were dismissed, due to “medical force majeure”, according to the latest figures from the federal public service Employment, Labor and Social Dialogue, which we were able to consult, based on the annual figures from seven of the ten external services for prevention and protection at work.
In four out of five cases, employers choose to dismiss their employee on long-term disability due to medical force majeure, because they were unable to find them suitable work.
Today, Belgium has more than half a million long-term patientsalmost a quarter more than five years ago. More than one in three suffers from mental health problems, such as depression or burnout. Getting this group of inactive people back to work is essential to continue to increase our country’s employment rate.
“Medical force majeure”declared by an occupational physician, translated the fact that the person concerned is permanently unfit to carry out his employmentwhich allows her employer to dismiss her, without compensation, since it is the mutual insurance company that takes over the financial support. The figures show that 7 times out of 10, it is the employer who initiates the dismissal for medical reasons, and 3 times out of 10, it is the employee.
Opposition frontale
Until 2022, companies could only offer their long-term sick employees a reintegration process, which sometimes led to adapted work, and dismissal only occurred if the process failed – which was very frequent. The reform of the system in 2023 immediately introduced two distinct paths: the reinstatement process or immediate dismissal due to medical force majeure.
The 2023 figures therefore make it possible, for the first time, to identify employers’ choices. In four out of five cases, they therefore opt for medical force majeure. The number of formal reinstatement procedures fell from 10,000 per quarter before the reform to 2,000 per quarter after.
“This system undermines the right to reasonable accommodation in the workplace and hinders a return to work.”
For unions, these new figures clearly show that employers are not doing enough to reintegrate their sick staff.. “It is worrying that an exceptional situation such as medical force majeure is so often invoked by companies,” laments Maarten Hermans, expert on well-being at work at the Christian trade union ACV. “This system undermines the right to reasonable adaptations in the workplace and hinders the return to work.”
Employers’ organisations counter that they often have no other option. “Not all sectors are able to offer office jobs when a person can no longer do physical work,” says Voka spokesman Eric Laureys. A construction or cleaning company, for example, has few options for maintaining the employment of people with back problems. Furthermore, according to Voka, companies have no interest in laying off people for medical reasons, given the labour shortages.
Informal routes
The policy to be implemented with regard to long-term patients is one of the key issues in government negotiations at the Federal levelIn his “super note”, trainer Bart De Wever (N-VA) proposed to oblige employers, under penalty of sanction, to initiate a reintegration process as soon as the employee stops working. He also wanted big business to help fund health care for a longer period. Employers argue that they have always sought to be responsible for their long-term patients.
Not all long-term patients follow a reintegration pathway developed by an external service. Employers and employees can also agree between themselves on the terms of the return to work.. Voka thus underlines that this path works well. The FPS Employment also highlights these informal paths: “there are currently around 58,000 of them. Studies show that these paths more often lead to successful reintegration.”
The summary
- Of the 22,853 long-term patients whose professional fate was decided in 2023, more than 80% left the company due to medical force majeureIn less than 20% of cases, a reintegration project was launched.
- For unions, these figures clearly show that companies are not doing enough. to encourage their sick staff to return to work.
- Employers refute this view, saying that sometimes there is no other solution.They also point out that there are many informal (internally developed) reintegration projects that are bearing fruit.
1726825389
#longterm #patients #dismissed #reinstated
