It can feel like the company doctor is forcing you to work. Legally, the situation is different: a company doctor provides advice, not an order. Yet in practice the pressure can be significant, because your employer usually acts on this advice directly. As a result, you can still feel coerced. What you do now determines whether you protect or weaken your position.
The company doctor has assessed you as fit to work. Not as advice, but as a statement. There was no room for your side of the story. Your symptoms were dismissed or minimised. And your employer acts on it immediately: you are expected at work.
It feels like coercion. You have not recovered, your treating physician disagrees, but the company doctor has ruled that you can work. Formally, that is an advisory opinion, but in practice it is often experienced as a binding decision. And now you are stuck. If you do not cooperate with reintegration, your employer can under certain conditions suspend or stop your salary through a salary stop, for example if you refuse to cooperate with reintegration without good reason. At the same time, working only makes you sicker.
Sometimes it goes even further. The company doctor's advice changes after contact with the employer without a clear medical reason, raising questions about independence. Or a reintegration plan is started that does not match your limitations, while you feel the assessment was already decided before the consultation began.
This is a serious form of a disagreement with the company doctor. You have rights, but you need to actively exercise them.
The company doctor is paid by the employer through the occupational health service. Although the company doctor should be independent, that financial relationship can unconsciously influence assessments. An employee who "can work" costs the employer less than long-term absence. Read more about the company doctor siding with the employer.
Some occupational health services work with strict protocols and guidelines. The company doctor then follows a standard process that leaves little room for your individual situation. The result: an assessment that looks correct on paper but does not reflect your actual limitations.
Occupational health services are sometimes evaluated on absence statistics. The faster employees return to work, the better the numbers. This pressure is passed on to the company doctor, who may be more inclined to advise a return to work, even when it is medically premature.
The company doctor provides a medical advisory opinion on your work capacity. It is not an order. In practice, however, this advice can have significant consequences because the employer usually follows it. You have the right to disagree with that advice and have it reviewed through a second opinion or UWV expert opinion.
Under Dutch occupational health law, you have the right to request a second opinion from another company doctor. Your employer cannot refuse this. The costs are covered by the employer. This is one of the most important tools when you feel coerced.
In addition to a second opinion, you can request a UWV expert opinion. An insurance physician then independently assesses whether you can work. This opinion carries significant weight in practice, though it is not binding. The costs are currently approximately EUR 100.
If you return to work while you have not recovered, you risk worsening your symptoms. Moreover, it can affect your legal position: it may be interpreted as acceptance of your assessed work capacity. Therefore, object first before giving in to the pressure.
Send your employer an email stating that you disagree with the company doctor's assessment. Confirm that you are willing to cooperate with reintegration, but that you want the advice reviewed. This reduces the risk of a salary stop.
Submit the request in writing to the company doctor. An independent company doctor then reassesses your situation. Your employer cannot refuse and covers the costs. Do this as soon as possible, because waiting weakens your position.
A UWV expert opinion is an independent medical assessment. The insurance physician has no connection to your employer. This opinion is particularly valuable if the situation escalates into a legal dispute.
Save emails, note conversations, and keep the company doctor's report. If the company doctor pressures you verbally, confirm it afterwards by email. A strong file is your best protection if it comes to a dispute.
Ask your GP, specialist, or psychologist to document your limitations in writing. This is not an assessment of work capacity, but it provides the second opinion doctor or insurance physician with additional medical information.
If the company doctor is pressuring you and your employer is reinforcing that pressure, the situation is serious. Legal guidance ensures you take the right steps in the right order and prevents you from making decisions under pressure that you cannot reverse later.
"I had just seen the company doctor and my employer is already calling: I am expected on Monday. But I can barely get out of bed."
You do not have to comply immediately. Send an email to your employer that same day stating that you disagree with the assessment and are requesting a second opinion. As long as you formally object, you are in a stronger legal position.
"First the advice was to build up gradually. After a phone call from my employer to the occupational health service, I was suddenly declared fully fit."
This is a serious warning sign. The company doctor should assess independently. If advice changes after contact with the employer without a clear medical reason, this can raise questions about independence. That is grounds for a second opinion and possibly a complaint to the occupational health service.
"My psychologist says working is harmful to my recovery right now. But the company doctor says I should start half days."
Your treating physician does not assess work capacity, but their information is relevant. Ask your psychologist for a written statement. Take it to the second opinion or expert opinion. The difference in assessments strengthens your objection.
"My employer says there will be consequences if I do not come to work. I do not dare to go against the assessment."
That fear is understandable, but doing nothing is riskier. By objecting, you actually protect your position. An employer cannot dismiss you for requesting a second opinion. Silently accepting and then collapsing later is a much weaker legal position.
When the company doctor's advice feels like coercion, it undermines your trust and your recovery. The pressure to work while you are sick affects everything: your health, your income, and your relationship with your employer.
MediRights assesses whether the company doctor's opinion was reached in a thorough and independent manner. We analyse the report, review it against information from your treating physicians, and determine whether there are grounds to have the advice reviewed through a second opinion or expert opinion.
We also guide you through the written objection, help reduce the risk of salary sanctions, and ensure that every step you take strengthens your legal position instead of weakening it.
Have the assessment independently reviewed before you make decisions under pressure. How you respond now determines your position throughout the process.
Start legal intake