Social Security & Cross-Border Rights
The CNS stops your benefits after a medical examination: how should you respond?
You have a certificate from your doctor but receive a letter announcing the end of your benefits. Start by reading the complete decision: a finding of fitness for work, suspension for an administrative failure and exhaustion of entitlement require different responses.
Identify the precise reason payments stopped
When the Social Security Medical Board considers an employee fit to work, the CNS informs them in writing. It explains the consequences for certificates issued during the following twelve weeks where it is responsible for payment, as well as the possibility of taking a duly substantiated new medical fact into account. [1]
Record the effective date, receipt date and stated reason. Also keep the envelope or proof of notification. Continued certification by the treating doctor does not mean payments will continue without further steps.
Prepare relevant medical documents
Ask your doctor to review the decision and identify information useful to its assessment. Arrange certificates, reports and examinations by date. The file should explain the situation at the relevant time and then any subsequent developments.
Avoid sending an undifferentiated collection of medical data to everyone involved. Detailed reports must be submitted through appropriate channels. The employer, administrative department and medical contact do not necessarily need the same information.
Use the challenge procedure corresponding to the document
The CNS distinguishes an ordinary decision, a presidential decision and a board of directors’ decision. A presidential decision may be challenged through a written objection to the board of directors within forty days of notification, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. [2]
Check the exact nature of your letter before drafting. A telephone call asking for explanations is not the same step as an objection. Nor should you assume that filing a challenge immediately restores payments or resolves contractual obligations.
Also address the relationship with the employer
Find out the employer’s position after receiving the decision and request written instructions if a return is expected. If your doctor considers that your health prevents a return, have the interaction between the decisions, supporting documents and employment situation assessed promptly.
The file may require parallel steps: a payment dispute, medical assessment and a question concerning the position. Conflating them may lead you to respond to only one party while another deadline continues to run.
Should I wait for a new certificate before challenging the decision?
Start by having the deadline and decision received checked. Medical preparation and preservation of the remedy must be coordinated.
What should I provide for an initial assessment?
The complete decision, proof of receipt, absence dates and a list of available medical documents help guide the assessment.
KM Legal can help identify the appropriate procedure and prepare a documented challenge, coordinated with the necessary medical evidence.
Sources and references
Institutional sources consulted on 6 November 2026.
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