Introduction

On 11 April 2020 the government adopted new socio-economic measures that aim to support the Belgian economy during the COVID-19 economic downturn. The objective of most measures is to encourage individuals to continue working and allow for more flexibility in the way that work can be carried out.

This article provides an overview of the different measures that have been approved by the Council of Ministers (although most of these measures have yet to be adopted by royal decrees and may therefore be subject to some changes during the adoption process).

Summary of measures

Financial incentives for those who continue to work during the COVID-19 outbreak and replacement income for self-employed workers in a secondary occupation

Measures to get more people to work and ensure that businesses can continue to operate during the COVID-19 outbreak

Other measures

The number of voluntary overtime hours has been increased to 220 hours for employers in essential sectors. These voluntary overtime hours are tax-exempt and no social security contributions are due.

The option for temporary unemployed individuals to work for employers in a 'vital' sector (currently defined as employers that belong to the agricultural sector (joint committee 144), the horticultural sector (joint committee 145) or the forestry sector (joint committee 146) or users of interim employees within these sectors) while retaining 75% of their temporary unemployment benefits.

Temporary moratorium on company bankruptcies.

Half of the COVID-19 'bridging right' (ie, monthly financial benefit ("droit passerelle" in French and "overbruggingsrecht" in Dutch)) for self-employed workers in a secondary occupation.

The option for employees to suspend their current time-credit scheme to work for their own or another employer in a vital sector.

Temporary delegation of certain legislating powers to the minister of health and to the National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance's managing director in order to guarantee healthcare accessibility.

 

Derogation on the general prohibition of employee lending for employees posted with companies in an essential sector.

Legislative framework on requisitioning health workers who have not yet been called-up during the COVID-19 crisis.

 

Neutralisation of the working hours performed by students during the second quarter of 2020.

A state guarantee for certain loans taken out by non-financial undertakings to 'soften' the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis.

 

The option to conclude successive fixed-term employment contracts in essential sectors during a three-month period.

 
 

Easier access to the labour market for asylum seekers.

 
 

Freeze on the decrease of unemployment benefits.

 

 

More details on employment-related measures

Financial incentives for those who continue to work during the COVID-19 outbreak and replacement income for self-employed workers in a secondary occupation

Voluntary overtime hours in the essential sectors

The number of voluntary overtime hours has increased from 120 to 220 hours for employees working for employers in an essential sector (ie, all undertakings and institutions listed in the Ministerial Decree of 23 March 2020, as amended in the meantime). These additional 100 overtime hours must be performed between 1 April 2020 and 30 June 2020. Moreover, these voluntary overtime hours in the essential sectors are tax-exempt and no social security contributions are due. Employers must not pay any overtime pay or grant compensatory rest and these voluntary overtime hours are not taken into account for the calculation of the average working time or for the so-called 'internal limit'.

Half of the COVID-19 bridging right for self-employed workers in a secondary occupation

The COVID-19 bridging right is a replacement income that is granted under certain conditions to self-employed workers who must, completely or partially, cease their activity due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Initially, only the self-employed workers in a principal occupation as well as self-employed workers in a secondary occupation but who paid social security contributions at least equal to the minimal contribution of self-employed workers in a principal occupation could benefit from this COVID-19 bridging right (€1,614.10 (with family burden) or €1,291.69 (without family burden) per month).

The government decided to also grant half of this COVID-19 bridging right to self-employed workers in a secondary occupation who do not pay social security contributions that are at least equal to the minimal contribution of self-employed workers in a principal occupation (€807 (with family burden) or €645 (without family burden)). In total, the sum of the half crisis bridging right and any other type of replacement income (eg, pension allowance or temporary unemployment benefits) cannot exceed €1,614.10. If this amount is exceeded, the monthly amount of the COVID-19 bridging right will be reduced.

Measures to get more people to work and ensure that businesses can continue to operate

Temporary unemployed individuals can work for employers in a vital sector

The option for temporary unemployed individuals to work for employers in a vital sector (currently the agricultural, horticultural or forestry sector) while retaining 75% of their temporary unemployment benefits has been introduced.

For a full working day in these sectors, temporarily unemployed individuals will receive their normal salary for the work performed and will continue to receive 75% of the temporary unemployment allocation for such a day.

An employee who is put on temporary unemployment by an employer that does not belong to one of these three sectors can still work for another employer during the period of temporary unemployment (eg, the increased option to work with a fixed-term employment contract). However, in this case, individuals will lose their right to temporary unemployment benefits.

Employees can suspend a current time-credit scheme to work for employers in a vital sector

The option for employees to suspend a current time-credit scheme to work for their own or another employer in a vital sector (currently the agricultural, horticultural or forestry sector) has been introduced.

Employees who currently benefit from a time-credit scheme (full or part-time) can decide to temporarily suspend this scheme in order to work again for their own employer provided that the employer belongs to a vital sector. At the end of the temporary suspension of the time-credit scheme, the latter will simply resume under the same conditions as before and the temporary working period will not be taken into account for the (maximum) duration of the time-credit. It is thus no longer necessary during the COVID-19 crisis to first officially end the time-credit scheme and, subsequently, introduce a new application for a time-credit. Employees would in principle not receive any interruption allowance from the state during this suspension of the time-credit scheme.

If their employer does not belong to a vital sector, employees who currently benefit from a time-credit scheme can decide to suspend such a scheme in order to work instead for another employer that does belong to such a vital sector. In this case, employees would keep 75% of the interruption allowance from the state.

Derogation on the general prohibition of employee lending in the essential sectors

Under Belgian employment law, and apart from some exceptions, an employer cannot allow a third-party user to use the services of one or more of its employees in which the authority vested in the employer is (partly) exercised by the user.

The new measure would allow employers of all sectors to lend permanent employees to users in essential sectors (ie, all undertakings and institutions listed in the Ministerial Decree of 23 March 2020 as amended), provided that these permanent employees were hired by their employer before 10 April 2020. The idea is that employees who were put on temporary unemployment for COVID-19 force majeure can be lifted out of temporary unemployment by having them work for a user in an essential sector.

A written agreement must be signed by the legal employer, the user and the employee before the start of the employee lending.

The salary and benefits paid by the user to the lent employee cannot be lower than those paid to the employees performing the same function with the user. During the period in which the employee is put at the user's disposal, the user will be responsible for complying with all legislation on labour regulation and protection that apply in the workplace (eg, discrimination legislation, equal treatment of men and women, working time, public holidays and maternity protection).

This measure would apply in principle from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020.

Neutralisation of the working hours performed by students during the second quarter of 2020

The first 475 working hours performed by a student with one or more employers during one fiscal year are in principle not subject to social security contributions. Once this quota has been reached, the working hours performed by the student are subject to ordinary social security contributions.

The new measure provides that all working hours performed by students during the second quarter of 2020 will not be taken into account for calculating the quota.

Students will thus be able to strengthen the labour force in essential sectors (eg, the retail or food sectors) without there being a negative effect on their quota.

The option to conclude successive fixed-term employment contracts in the essential sectors during a three-month period

In Belgium, when parties have concluded several successive fixed-term employment contracts or contracts for clearly defined work without any interruption due to the employee, they are deemed to have entered into an employment contract of an indefinite duration (unless the succession of contracts is justified by the nature of the work or for legitimate reasons). One of the exceptions to this rule consists of the option for the parties to conclude a maximum of four fixed-term contracts (of at least three months), provided that the total duration of those contracts does not exceed two years.

It will now be possible, in the essential sectors only, to conclude successive fixed-term employment contracts of a minimum of seven days during a three-month period as from the entry into force of the royal decree without this succession leading to the requalification of the contract into an employment contract of an indefinite duration.

Easier access for asylum seekers to the labour market

Asylum seekers who have submitted an asylum application to the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons will have the option to work during their asylum procedure, and during any possible appeal against the decision. The aim of this measure is to compensate for the lack of labour force, particularly regarding seasonal workers.

Freeze on the decrease of unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 crisis

In principle, the National Employment Office grants unemployment benefits for an unlimited period. However, the amount of these unemployment benefits diminishes over time.

The new measure ensures that such a decrease will be frozen during the COVID-19 crisis.