WIA stands for Work and Income according to Capacity for Work. To receive WIA benefits, a person must meet two conditions, namely:
- you cannot work or work less due to illness
- Due to illness, you are not earning your former wages.
It is not possible for everyone to receive WIA benefits. It is not possible when someone:
- Already receiving disability benefits
- Is self-employed and not UWV insured
- Living in or moving to a non-treaty country.
When to apply for WIA benefits
When an employee is 88 weeks sick, he or she receives a letter from the UWV. From this moment, the employee has about 6 weeks to submit the WIA application. If you submit the application later, you will also not receive the benefit until later. This means that either the employer has to continue paying wages or sickness benefit for longer or, if there is no employer, there is temporarily no income.
After the WIA application
When this application is made - does it mean that the employer has finished reintegration activities? The answer to this question is no. Even though the WIA application has been made, it means that employer and employee still have the same responsibilities to work on reintegration the accompanying rights and obligations.
If the employee does not submit the WIA application on time, it is important that you remind the employee in writing that the late submission of WIA application may affect any bridging until the UWV pays any WIA benefit.
WIA assessment
Once the (former) employee has submitted the WIA application, the UWV will first check whether all documents have reached them. If there is no longer an employer, these so-called RIV documents will have to be sent by post to the UWV. If there is an employer, the employer can upload all documents in the employer portal.
The UWV will first assess what the (former) employee and (former) employer have done within the framework of the reintegration. They will use all the documents provided by the (former) employee and (former) employer.
Once the UWV has assessed that enough has been done they will proceed to process the WIA application. An appointment with the insurance doctor will then follow. Does the UWV insurance doctor find that there are possibilities to work? Then an appointment with the UWV's labor expert will be scheduled.
The labor expert looks at what the (former) employee could theoretically earn with 3 jobs. The labor expert then takes the middle wage of these 3 jobs and calculates the difference from the wage earned before the (ex-) employee became ill. This difference determines the final disability percentage.
Then a letter comes from the UWV towards the employer and employee stating, among other things:
- Whether WIA benefits will be awarded;
- What type of WIA benefit, the amount and as of when the WIA benefit starts;
- And whether there might be a no risk policy for the future.
Both a (former) employee and (former) employer can object to the UWV's decision. The letter also states the date by which this must be submitted. Resolu can help you with objections and possibly also appeals.
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