Employees with a long-term illness will have the opportunity and will be encouraged to (partially/progressively) return to work by running through a reintegration path. This reintegration path is a specific procedure aimed at examining whether adapting an existing position, or assigning a different position, can be offered to an employee who is incapable of continuing to perform the initially agreed upon function. The decision to start the reintegration path can be taken by the employee, his/her personal doctor, the health insurance doctor or the employer. Only when the reintegration path leads to a negative result and the employee’s incapacity to work is definitive, will it be possible to invoke a medical “force majeure” to put an end to the employment contract, without any notice period or indemnity in lieu of notice. The first reintegration paths could begin as from 1 January 2017.
Belgium