Legal Advice for WGA/IVA questions

Questioner

November 20th I got my decision from the UWV, namely 100% WGA. Now my employer wants to file an objection for me to get into the IVA. They want to outsource this to an external company and offset the costs, which amount to approximately 2000 euros, with my transition payment. My question is whether this is allowed? Yours sincerely

Lawyer

No, an employer is not allowed to do that. An IVA benefit can provide a considerable cost advantage for the employer, so if he wants an IVA benefit to be awarded, the costs of that must also be borne by the employer.

Lawyer

Completely agree. It would be crazy if you had to pay the costs! The procedure is mainly in the interest of the employer. In addition, you are simply entitled to the full transition payment. If you were to conduct the procedure yourself, you may be entitled to funded legal aid. You would then only pay a personal contribution, which is much lower than the amount stated by the employer. I would therefore never, ever agree to his proposal

Questioner

Thanks for the answers. The situation is a bit more complicated than explained in short. I will try to explain it, but I don't know much about it myself...... The location where I work is being demolished as of December 2016. There has been a reorganization and our manager is not going to the new location. He says he does not benefit from it himself and does this for me! While they were initially going to do it until they heard from the head office that this would cost them money because it is not in their package. (very difficult to explain without mentioning company names) Now I am told that they will only continue if they can deduct the costs from my transition payment. I assume that the organization in general benefits from it? Or does the premium increase only apply to the location where I work? I now get the impression that he does not feel like dealing with all the hassle because he himself has to stop in a year.

Lawyer

Your explanation makes the situation clearer but the answer is no different. In the past, it was possible to terminate the employment contract even if someone was ill if a location was closed. That is no longer possible. Your employer is therefore faced with the problem that if you are incapacitated for work, they cannot dismiss you. You probably qualify for legal aid yourself. If you yourself believe that you should receive an IVA benefit and that you should therefore object to the decision of the UWV, I advise you to do so yourself. That is in any case much cheaper than the € 2,000 that the employer wants to deduct from your transition payment. In short, I advise you to thank your employer very much for the offer but to indicate that you would like the normal transition payment and that you are still considering whether you want to object yourself, but that you will then seek legal assistance yourself.

Lawyer

I agree with Mr Martens again, except for the last point where he advises you to do it yourself. WGA/IVA cases are so complex that I advise you to contact a specialized social security lawyer. You may be entitled to funded legal aid. In that case, you only pay a personal contribution, which is much lower than the amount stated by the employer.