A shortening request is the way an employer has an imposed wage sanction end earlier. If the UWV has decided that the employer must continue paying wages for up to one more year after two years of illness, that period does not always have to run its full course. As soon as the shortcomings in the reintegration have been repaired, you can ask the UWV to shorten the continued pay. The UWV assesses such a request within three weeks.
In this article you will read what a shortening request is exactly, when you can file it, how you go about it through the employer portal and what happens afterwards. You will also read what is at play if the employee has meanwhile left the company while ill, and what role objecting plays here.
What is a shortening request?
A shortening request is a request to the UWV to end a running wage sanction earlier. That wage sanction arises during the assessment of the reintegration report around the WIA application. The UWV can impose a sanction if the documents of the report were not sent or sent too late, or if the UWV judges that the employer did too little for the second-track reintegration. The result is that the employer continues to pay wages for up to 52 more weeks after 104 weeks of illness. During that compulsory continued pay, the employee may not be dismissed.
It is important that a wage sanction is not a penalty for the full 52 weeks. In the decision the UWV sets out per element what went wrong and what the employer must do to still meet the requirements. If that succeeds within that year, you can end the continued pay early with a shortening request. That way the third year of illness does not last longer than necessary. What the exact assessment involves is explained in our article on the RIV assessment and the reintegration report.
When can you file a shortening request?
You file a shortening request as soon as you have repaired the shortcomings from the decision. The UWV names those shortcomings per element, and per element you have to be able to demonstrate what you have done. If the sanction was about a second track started too late or an incomplete file, for example, then you repair exactly that and substantiate it with documents.
The best preparation actually starts before the sanction is there. A file that meets the requirements of the Gatekeeper Improvement Act prevents most sanctions, and makes repair afterwards a good deal simpler. You can read more about that in how to build a UWV-proof reintegration file. Once the sanction is there, focus entirely on the points the UWV names and gather the evidence per point before you file the request.
How do you file a shortening request?
You file the request through the employer portal, under ‘Upload RIV documents’. In the request you indicate per element what you have done to still meet the requirements. That structure per element is not a formality: the UWV assesses precisely on the points from its own decision, so a request that works through those points one by one is the most convincing.
Filing by post is also possible. In that case send your documents to UWV, Postbus 69254, 1060 CH Amsterdam. In both cases make sure the substantiation is complete, because the UWV assesses on what you supply. The table below briefly summarises the route.
| Step | What you do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Repair the shortcomings per element from the UWV decision | In the reintegration process |
| 2 | Gather the evidence per element of what you have done | In the file |
| 3 | File the shortening request | Employer portal, ‘Upload RIV documents’, or by post |
| 4 | Wait for the assessment | The UWV decides within 3 weeks |
If you want to be sure your reporting passes the test, our explanation of drawing up the reintegration report helps you not overlook anything.
What happens after the shortening request?
After receipt the UWV assesses within three weeks whether the reintegration is now sufficient. If that judgement is positive, you no longer have to continue paying wages and the UWV takes the WIA application into further processing. Both the employer and the employee receive a letter about this.
That three-week deadline makes the shortening request an attractive instrument. Every month of continued pay in the third year adds up considerably financially, so the faster you repair the shortcomings and file the request, the more limited the damage stays. What a third year of illness means in euros we have worked out in the cost of a wage sanction for the employer.
Left the company while ill and insufficient reintegration
The situation is slightly different if the employee has already left the company while ill and the reintegration was insufficient. In that case the employer has to repay the sickness benefit that the former employee receives to the UWV. That repayment runs over a period as long as the period in which too little was done.
There is a clear end point to that obligation. If the employee recovers and no longer receives a sickness benefit, the repayment stops. So here too, a timely repair of the reintegration caps the costs.
Objecting to the decision
If you disagree with the imposed wage sanction itself, a shortening request is not the only route. Both the employer and the employee can object to the UWV’s decision. A shortening request accepts the sanction and works on repair; an objection contests the sanction on substantive grounds. Which route fits depends on whether you acknowledge the shortcomings or believe instead that the UWV judged wrongly.
Prevention remains better than repair, of course. Whoever meets the employer’s obligations in the second track from the outset runs the smallest risk of a sanction. Background on the assessment and the most common mistakes you will find in our article on the UWV wage sanction and gatekeeper rules.
Official source
The procedure around the shortening request is described on the UWV website, under the assessment of the reintegration report. Rules, deadlines and working methods can change after publication of this article. For your situation, always check the current information with the UWV.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the assessment of a shortening request take? The UWV assesses within three weeks of receipt whether the reintegration is now sufficient. If that is the case, the continued pay stops and the UWV proceeds with the WIA application.
Where do I file a shortening request? Through the employer portal under ‘Upload RIV documents’, or by post to UWV, Postbus 69254, 1060 CH Amsterdam. In both cases you indicate per element what you have done to meet the requirements.
Can the employee also do something about the wage sanction? Yes. The wage sanction targets the employer, but both employer and employee can object to the UWV’s decision. The shortening request itself is an instrument of the employer.
What happens if the employee has left the company while ill? If the reintegration was then insufficient, the employer repays the former employee’s sickness benefit over a period as long as the period in which too little was done. If the employee recovers and the benefit stops, the repayment stops too.
Can a wage sanction last the full 52 weeks? It does not have to. If you repair the shortcomings within that year and the UWV approves the shortening request, the continued pay stops earlier than after 52 weeks.
Help with a wage sanction or shortening request?
Care4Careers guides employers through second-track reintegration and helps build the file so that it passes the RIV assessment. If there is already a sanction, we look together at which elements the UWV names and how you repair them fastest towards a shortening request. You will find more information on our page about track 2 for employers.
Request a no-obligation advisory conversation and we will look at how, in your situation, you keep the continued pay as short as possible.