Your employer offers you work that is supposed to be "suitable," but it does not feel that way. The tasks are too demanding, do not match your limitations, or worsen your symptoms. Can you refuse? And what happens if you do?
You are reintegrating and your employer offers you work. But the tasks do not match what you can do. Perhaps it is physically too demanding, mentally too taxing, or does not align with the limitations the company doctor has established.
Your employer calls it "suitable work" and expects you to participate. If you hesitate or refuse, consequences are threatened. It feels like a choice between your health and your income.
The core of the problem: there is a disagreement about what "suitable" means. Your employer considers it suitable, you do not. And who is right depends on what the company doctor advises and what is objectively reasonable.
This is a common reintegration dispute. You have rights, but you need to exercise them. Read more about stalled reintegration.
Sometimes there is little work within the organisation that precisely matches your limitations. The employer then offers what is available, even if it is not ideal. That is understandable but must not come at the expense of your health.
The employer has a reintegration obligation and wants to prevent the UWV from later ruling that too little was done. This sometimes leads to offering work that looks suitable on paper but does not work in practice.
What is "suitable" is not always black and white. Your employer interprets the limitations differently than you. The company doctor should be decisive, but is not always asked for a specific assessment of particular tasks.
Suitable work must align with your capabilities, limitations, education, experience, and employment terms. Work that worsens your symptoms or does not match the functional capabilities the company doctor has established is by definition not suitable.
The company doctor establishes your functional capabilities. The work must be arranged accordingly. Ask the company doctor specifically whether the offered tasks match your limitations. That assessment carries significant weight.
If you refuse work that the company doctor has assessed as suitable, your employer can apply a salary stop. But if the company doctor has not assessed the work as suitable, or if you can substantiate why it does not fit, you have a stronger position.
In a disagreement about suitable work, you can request a UWV expert opinion on the question "is the offered work suitable?" This costs EUR 100 and provides an independent assessment.
Present the specific tasks to the company doctor and ask whether they match your limitations. Request a written assessment. This is the most important tool in a dispute about suitable work.
Create an overview of the offered tasks and explain per task why it does not match your limitations. Concrete and factual, not emotional. Share this overview with the company doctor and your employer.
Send your employer an email explaining why the work is not suitable and that you await the company doctor's assessment. Confirm your willingness to perform suitable work when it becomes available.
If the situation is at an impasse, you can ask the UWV whether the offered work is suitable. The "suitable work" expert opinion is designed precisely for this.
If the offered work does not fit, make a concrete proposal for work that does match your limitations. This shows you are willing to cooperate, but not at any cost.
If a salary stop is threatened or the employer will not listen, legal guidance can make the difference. A substantiated objection has more impact than a verbal complaint.
"I have back problems but have to carry boxes. My employer says it is 'light work,' but after a day I am broken."
Work that worsens your symptoms is by definition not suitable. Report this to the company doctor and request a written assessment of whether these specific tasks match your limitations. Document your symptoms after work.
"I am a project manager but have to do filing. It feels like they want to bully me out."
Suitable work may differ from your position but must be reasonable. Work far below your level without medical necessity can be experienced as humiliation. Discuss with the company doctor whether this is the best option, and ask your employer in writing why specifically this work is offered.
"My employer says if I do not accept the offered work, they will stop my salary. But it really does not fit."
A salary stop for refusing non-suitable work is unlawful. Have the company doctor first assess whether the work is suitable. As long as that assessment is pending, or if the company doctor deems it unsuitable, your employer has a weak position. Respond in writing and consider an expert opinion.
"The company doctor has assessed the work as suitable, but in practice I find it too demanding. What can I do?"
Report your experiences to the company doctor and request a review. There can be a difference between theory and practice. If you can demonstrate that the work is too demanding in practice, the company doctor can adjust the assessment. Document specifically what is not working and why.
Being forced to do work that does not match your limitations is harmful — to your health, your recovery, and your employment relationship. But simply refusing carries risks.
MediRights assesses whether the offered work is genuinely suitable. We test it against the functional capabilities established by the company doctor and against what is objectively reasonable.
If the work is not suitable, we help you communicate this with proper substantiation. We guide you in involving the company doctor, requesting an expert opinion, and protecting your income.
Have the offered work assessed for genuine suitability. Your health must not be secondary to your employer's wishes.
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