Do I have to adhere to a statement made by an occupational health and safety advisor that is different from that of the company doctor?

Questioner

I am having a discussion with my employer about my illness. I spend an average of 3-4 hours a day in the car and this causes me a lot of back pain in the evenings. At one point I called in sick for this. As a result, I had a conversation with a company doctor. I received a letter from him in which he said that I was allowed to drive for a maximum of 1 hour. However, he did not mention whether this was per day. Now my employer called the occupational health and safety service and it was then changed to 2 hours. Within 1 week I had to go back to work without any consultation with me. After a few days I called in sick again. Then they called the occupational health and safety service again and it was suddenly changed to 3 hours a day. I clearly indicated to the company doctor that 3-4 hours was too much. During a personal evaluation meeting with the occupational health and safety service, HR and my manager, I asked for a copy of all communication between my employer and the occupational health and safety service. According to the occupational health and safety service, this copy does not exist. According to the occupational health and safety service, I am not allowed to contact the company doctor. They also say that the company doctor does not simply change his decision while they themselves prove the opposite. Furthermore, they say that if I do not agree with it, I have to go to the UWV for an expert opinion. After this, I sent an email to the company doctor asking him to explain to me why he is changing his decision from 1 to 3 hours. I have not yet received a response to this. Furthermore, my employer has not discussed a reintegration plan with me. They say that the occupational health and safety service says 3 hours and that I should do so. Now my questions to you are: Do I now have to drive those 3 hours a day even though this is not documented anywhere? Shouldn't the company doctor inform me of his new decision in writing? Can my employer force me to do what they want without any consultation with me? It is also true that my employer clearly has a planning problem. They say that driving a lot is part of my job, that the system does not work, etc. I have many examples of unnecessary driving due to poor planning. But does this not justify the fact that I should do whatever they want with my health complaints?

Lawyer

The company doctor will have to put his advice on paper (or email), so that you and the employer can read what his advice is and what reasoning goes with it. If you do not agree with the advice of the company doctor, you can request an expert opinion from the UWV. It is also possible that you (at the expense of the employer) request a second opinion from another company doctor. If you make use of such possibilities, this does not suspend the advice of the first company doctor or anything like that. In principle, the parties must adhere to this.