Role of the occupational health and safety service or company doctor regarding sick employees

Data received by the occupational health and safety service or company doctor

The occupational health and safety service or company doctor receives data about your sick employee:

• from you as an employer;
• from the sick employee themselves;
• possibly from a treating physician.

Employer to occupational health and safety service/company doctor

You notify the occupational health and safety service or company doctor of your employee’s illness. You only need to provide the necessary data about the sick employee, such as name, address and telephone number. You can also inform the occupational health and safety service or company doctor about the information the employee provided when calling in sick and about your own observations.

Sick employee to occupational health and safety service/company doctor

Your sick employee must provide the occupational health and safety service or company doctor with all information necessary for assessing the employee’s incapacity for work, absence management and rehabilitation.

Treating physician to occupational health and safety service/company doctor

The occupational health and safety service or company doctor may request (medical) data of your sick employee from the treating physician (family doctor or specialist) if this is necessary for absence management. The physician may only transfer the requested data if your employee has given explicit consent for this. Your employee must provide written authorisation for this to the occupational health and safety service or company doctor.

Data provided by the occupational health and safety service or company doctor

The occupational health and safety service or company doctor provides data about your sick employee to:

• you as an employer;
• the Employee Insurance Agency (Dutch: UWV);
• the socio-medical team/consultations, if necessary;
• the Netherlands Centre for Occupational Diseases, if necessary.

Providing data to the employer

The occupational health and safety service or company doctor may only transfer necessary data to you. This concerns the following standard data:

• that your employee is (temporarily) incapacitated for work;
• approximately how long the absence will last;
• what your employee’s work capacity will be if they (partially) return to work;
• what possible work adjustments are required.

In exceptional situations, the occupational health and safety service or company doctor may share medical data of your sick employee with you. Your employee must have given explicit consent for this. Furthermore, it must concern necessary information. For example, if your employee has epilepsy and close colleagues need to know what to do in an emergency situation.

The occupational health and safety service or company doctor is not allowed to transfer the following data to you:

• The wage value of your sick employee. The occupational health and safety service or company doctor may inform you of the extent to which your employee is incapacitated for work (the work capacity, or the functional limitations and residual capabilities), but this does not include the wage value. You determine this yourself based on work capacity.
• The problem analysis, if it contains the nature and cause of the complaints and the circumstances of your sick employee. If it concerns the (brief) Problem Analysis form from the UWV, the occupational health and safety service or company doctor can send this to you.

Providing data to the UWV

The UWV needs certain data in order to properly perform its task. The occupational health and safety service or company doctor is obliged to provide this information if the UWV asks for it. This only concerns (strictly) necessary medical data.

Providing data to the SMT/SMO

Does your organisation have dedicated consultations with the occupational health and safety service or company doctor, or a socio-medical team (Dutch: SMT) or socio-medical consultations (Dutch: SMO)? Then the occupational health and safety service or company doctor may transfer the following data about your sick employee to the participants of the SMT/SMO:

• the degree of incapacity for work;
• the expected duration of the illness;
• the functional limitations;
• any adjustments for rehabilitation.

The occupational health and safety service or company doctor is allowed to transfer medical data only with the explicit consent of your employee.

Providing data to the NCB

If your employee suffers from an occupational disease, the occupational health and safety service or company doctor will report this to the Netherlands Centre for Occupational Diseases (Dutch: NCB).

Access to sick employee’s file

Not everyone at the occupational health and safety service is allowed to have access to the file of your sick employee. Access is limited to employees who are directly involved in the treatment of your employee. These are:

• the company doctor;
• nurses;
• medical assistants;
• professional colleagues who ask the company doctor for advice (if it is not possible to do this anonymously);
• the deputy company doctor(s).

Transfer of sick employee’s file

If you are switching to another occupational health and safety service or company doctor, the former occupational health and safety service or company doctor is allowed to transfer only that part of your employee’s file that is not subject to medical confidentiality.

The former occupational health and safety service or company doctor may only transfer the data that do fall under medical confidentiality if those data are necessary for absence management. This is the case if your employee:

• is off sick when changing occupational health and safety service or company doctor;
• is absent again within 4 weeks of their notification of recovery.

Furthermore, the following conditions apply:

• the works council has given its consent;
• the occupational health and safety service or company doctor informs your employee in advance about the transfer of data;
• your employee will be given the opportunity to object to the transfer;
• the occupational health and safety service or company doctor transfers the data to another certified occupational health and safety service or company doctor.

Retention of sick employee’s file

The occupational health and safety service or company doctor must keep the medical file of your sick employee for 20 years after the end of the employee’s employment, or after the termination of the contract between you and the occupational health and safety service or company doctor.