The council of ministers has approved a number of important reforms relating to labour law as a result of the budget control of 9 April 2016.
Currently, we only know the general lines of these reforms. The details should be further elaborated on in the bills that will probably be submitted during the coming months.
These reforms will tend to have a structural, practical impact on your personnel administration and more specifically on the following three subjects:
- "Manoeuvrable, workable work" (WWW-plan) with, amongst other things, the increase in working time flexibility;
- Promotion of re-integration of (long-term) disabled employees; and
- Stimulation of "lifelong learning" through the granting of a right to certain training days.
In this e-zine we will inform you about the headlines of the first reform. The other two reforms will be addressed later in two separate e-zines.
The WWW-plan is meant to modernize labour law, to create extra possibilities for flexibility for companies, and to stimulate workable work for employees. This plan will be worked out in a bill (anticipated in summer/autumn 2016) and will be the basis for the biennial inter-professional and industry-level negotiations with the social partners for the period 2017-2018.
The following 10 measures in the WWW-plan stand out the most:
1. Average weekly working time calculated over 1 year
The reference period for the calculation of the average weekly working time will be legally established at 1 year from 1 January 2017 onwards. The following limitations apply:
- The daily working time of 9 hours and the weekly working time of 45 hours will in principle not be exceeded;
- During the reference period of 1 year, the total duration of the performed work can at no point exceed the allowed average weekly working time over the same reference period by more than 143 hours (the so-called ‘internal border"), multiplied by the number of weeks that have already expired in this reference period.
This measure is not at all as innovative as the press announced it to be and is definitely not an abolition of the 38-hour week.
The possibility already exists to spread the working time on average over a longer period through the so-called ‘small’ flexibility (art. 20bis Labour Law). This is, however, limited to 5 hours above the normal weekly limit (often 43 hours), and with an internal border of 91 hours (in accordance with strict procedures this can be extended to 143 hours). Furthermore, this flexibility is not often used in practice because the necessary procedures are rather strict.
The expectation is that, with the generalization of the annualisation of the working time, the applicable procedures will be simplified. If not, this measure will probably have very little impact.
2. Credit of 100 overtime hours per year
All employees will get a credit of 100 overtime hours per year as from 1 January 2017 (maximum of 360 hours through an industry level CBA): they do not have to recover these hours, but they can let them be paid out or let them be put on a so-called career savings account.
This concerns a new form of overtime hours that is introduced alongside the already existing systems.
For these hours the normal salary is paid. The normal surcharge for overtime hours (50% or 100% on Sundays and holidays) would remain applicable.
The overtime hours can be performed in light of an individual agreement, without the working time being able to exceed 11 hours a day or 50 hours a week.
3. Flexible ("gliding") working hours
Many companies already apply a system of flexible ("gliding") working hours (usually mentioned in the work rules). The Labour Law does not allow such flexible working hours sensu stricto, but the social inspection tolerates these under certain circumstances.
This practice is now being introduced in legislation, so that flexible ("gliding") working hours can be applied completely lawfully within companies.
4. Occasional homeworking
Workable work implies that working independently of place and time is stimulated. Homeworking, whereby the employee, using information technology, performs activities outside the premises of the company, is currently being regulated by CBA n° 85 of 9 November 2005. This CBA only applies to regular (not occasional) homeworking.
However, in practice homeworking is often used in a more limited and occasional way (sporadically for one day or on certain parts of days). A legal framework and the necessary administrative formalities will be introduced, in terms of which the rights of the employee relating to, amongst other things, the reimbursement of costs and industrial accident regulations will be regulated.
5. Implementation of an agreement for temporary work for indefinite term
Currently, agreements for temporary work are per definition for a definite term.
The joint labour committee for temporary work can, by using a CBA, implement the possibility to use an employment agreement for temporary work for an indefinite term.
The salary guarantee between tasks will have to be regulated (whereby economic unemployment cannot be used). In this way, the situation of temporary workers is meant to be improved, without having to cut back on the flexibility that comes from using temporary work.
6. Simplification of part-time work
The following legal rules regarding part time work will be simplified and liberalized:
- The regulation of the so-called "more hours" (meeruren/heures en plus) will be adjusted with regards to a more flexible use of such hours;
- Amendments to the work schedule at the request of the employee will no longer be regarded as overtime hours that can possibly lead to the payment of overtime wage.
7. Systems of leave of absence
The systems of leave of absence (time credit, career interruption…) will be modified, e.g.:
- Expansion by 3 months of the right to (an allowance for) time credit for the purpose of care; and
- Expansion by 1 month of the right to (an allowance for) leave for the purpose of palliative care.
8. Donation of vacation days
A proposition that already exists in France and that has been the subject of a lot of debate in the media, is the possibility for employees to "donate" their vacation days to a colleague who takes care of very sick children. The minimum of 4 weeks paid vacation per employee will of course be respected. For the application of this system, a regulation at industry level will have to be drawn up.
9. Measures through industry-level agreements
After the New Working Time regulations ("large flexibility") that were introduced about 30 years ago through the Law of 17 March 1987 and CBA n° 42, the sectors will have the possibility to draw up their own menu of more flexible measures through a CBA.
It is not yet clear to what extent these measures will exceed and be more adaptable than the already existing possibilities in the law.
In general the following measures are considered:
- Credit of over time hours up to 360 hours per year;
- Deviations from the normal working time up to 11 hours a day and 50 hours a week;
- Application of an average weekly working time (for a reference period of 1 year) of maximum 48 hours per week;
- Extension of the reference period of 1 year up to a maximum of 6 years for certain sectors to accommodate certain production cycles.
10. Career saving
The aim is to grant employees a more adaptable frame to save for different leave times and absences and to use those at a preferred moment. With this proposal, the wish of employees to work harder at certain times during their career and to cut back at other times is being accommodated.
Through an industry level CBA, a framework could be agreed upon to save vacation or overtime hours at a company level. After a positive evaluation, this could be expanded to a system of career saving (account) for all sectors with the possibility to carry over these rights.