Health & Safety

This week, the Council of Ministers approved the draft texts for the salary restraint rules for 2021 and 2022. As expected, there will be a maximum average increase in salary costs of 0.4% in addition to indexations and barometric increases.  The salary margin determines the maximum increase in the average salary cost per employee for two years. The maximum evolution of the wage costs amounts to 0.4% for the years 2021 and 2022. Indexations and scale increases remain guaranteed. Source SDWORX 

Since April 2021, all employers have had to complete a monthly working from home report in order to help ensure that the rules were followed.   As of July 1, 2021, working from home is no longer mandatory but is still recommended by the authorities.  The end of compulsory working from home also means the end of the working from home declarations. From July 2021, and for the following months, employers will therefore no longer have to introduce a declaration. Source SDWORX 

A new law in Belgium has extended the period of paid compassionate leave from 3 to 10 days for the death of the spouse or a cohabiting partner or his/her child. This is paid by the employer.  The time off is allocated as follows: Three days, to be chosen by the employee from the period beginning on the day of death and ending on the day of the funeral; Seven days to be chosen by the employee within one year of the day of death. A derogation from both periods is possible with the agreement of the employer. Source SDWORX 

As of July 1, 2021, federal employees will receive a flat-rate allowance of EUR 0.3707 per kilometer for the use of their personal vehicle for business purposes. This amount is valid for the period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. All other employers may use the same amount when employees make work trips with their personal vehicles. Source SDWORX 

Until December 31, 2021, the Belgian authorities do not take into account the days worked from home due to Coronavirus for the determination of the applicable social security legislation. As a general rule, an employee must pay social security in the country of employment on the basis of European rules. However, when an employee works at least 25% in his or her country of residence, s/he has to pay social security there, and no longer in the country where s/he works. If an employee has to work more at home, this may lead to a change in the applicable social security regime. In order to avoid this, the Belgian authorities decided at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis not to take into account temporary working from home. As the coronavirus crisis persists, they have now decided to extend this tolerance until 31 December 2021. Source SDWORX 

The tax agreement that Belgium concluded last year was valid until June 30, 2021. An employee’s professional income is usually taxed in the country where he or she is employed (with certain exceptions). However, due to the coronavirus crisis, many employees can no longer cross the border to work abroad for their employer. As a result, these employees are no longer taxable in the country of regular employment, but in their country of residence. However Belgian has concluded specific agreements with neighbouring countries so that the employee is taxed in Belgium as if he or she was in Belgium until September 30. This applies to French, Luxembourg, Dutch and German employees who are currently forced to work from home due to the coronavirus. Source SDWORX 

Employers and unions have at last reached a national agreement on a series of crucial issues. The minimum wage will be raised to €1700 from April 2022. The age at which employees can take early retirement will not drop below 60. The end-of-career time credit system will be possible from the age of 55. Corona overtime hours, renamed stimulus overtime, will be extended to all companies until the end of 2022. The harmonisation of supplementary pensions for factory workers and employees is set for 2030. Source HRAlert 

The Belgian Government has agreed to extend a series of coronavirus aid measures to 30 September. The measures include: Since 9 June working from home is no longer compulsory but the return to work should be gradual, limiting interaction and respecting the 1m50 social distancing rules. The COVID allowance of up to 144.31 euros can still be paid to employees who work from home in July, August and September. If you still have employees on temporary unemployment due to ‘force majeure’ you can continue to use this scheme until 30 September.  The professional withholding tax on temporary unemployment benefits will remain at 15% until 30 September. The government intends to change course as of 1 October and focus on more exceptional measures and recovery initiatives. Sources Acerta 

When employees are off sick, most employers tend not to contact their absent staff believing that they need a proper rest to get better. However this could be a missed opportunity as a survey commissioned by Mensura and Certimed found that 8 out of 10 employees are open to staying in touch with work and are even willing to help limit the additional workload that may have fallen on their immediate colleagues. Sources HR alert