The Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is affecting businesses in various ways. For example, companies will be forced to close down or face a major decline in work and turnover. Such a financial shock can be partly absorbed by the system of temporary unemployment. Belgium has several systems of temporary unemployment, which are supervised by the National Employment Office (RVA/ONEM). Initially, there are two relevant systems: temporary unemployment due to force majeure and temporary unemployment due to economic reasons. However, the government has decided to open up the temporary unemployment procedure due to force majeure to all situations related to the coronavirus, without actually referring to a situation of force majeure. This is because the procedure for economic reasons is often much more cumbersome. If the temporary unemployment is not due to the coronavirus, the employer can still invoke the system of temporary unemployment for economic reasons.
Belgium: Gender Act will include paternity and other new protected grounds of discrimination
The amendment on combating discrimination between women and men was recently approved. In addition to the previously protected grounds of gender, pregnancy, childbirth, maternity, gender change, gender identity and gender expression, the amendments will further expand the list to include the grounds of paternity, co-motherhood, breastfeeding, gender characteristics, adoption and medically assisted reproduction
Belgium: Age limit on recruitment, a difficult balance
Even if there are objective reasons for setting an age limit for applicants, the employer must duly justify a direct distinction. In a recent judgment, the Brussels Labour Court carried out a meticulous justification test and ruled that an age limit of 25 for the recruitment of air traffic controllers constitutes discrimination
Belgium – Labour Court of Appeal sheds light on the distinction between teleworking and homeworking
Although the concepts of homeworking (also called domestic work) and telework are often confused with one another, as they both entail the situation that the worker does not work from the office of the employer, there are important differences. In a judgment of 2 July 2019, the Brussels Labour Court of Appeal has denied the claim of an employee seeking the benefits of a domestic worker, as she was actually a teleworker
Belgium: Supreme Court sheds light on reimbursement of undue wages
Court of Cassation decision answers the question of whether the employee has to pay back undue wages, in gross or net form, to the employer. Specifically, the question arises as to whether, in addition to the net salary, the employee must first reimburse the withholding tax on wages and, secondly, the employee’s social security contributions
Belgium: Sanction for motivation of dismissal without registered letter – excessive formalism?
If an employee, in accordance with national Collective Bargaining Agreement no. 109, requests the concrete reasons for his or her dismissal by registered letter, the employer must also provide them by registered letter. If the communication has been made by other means, the employee can claim payment of a fixed fine. This does not constitute an abuse of rights
Belgium: Practical Insights for the European Works Council
The European Works Council Directive is an interesting and important tool for social dialogue, yet is still relatively unknown, which is why Van Olmen & Wynant organised an employment forum on the matter in September
Belgian protection for witnesses of discrimination is insufficient according to the Court of Justice
In a recent judgment, the Court of Justice ruled that witnesses of discrimination are not sufficiently protected by Belgian legislation on discrimination
Belgium: Benefits provided by a third party to an employee are part of the renumeration
In a judgement of 20 May 2019, the Belgian Supreme Court has answered the question whether benefits provided by a third party to an employee, should be seen as part of his/her wage, on which social security contributions need to be paid
Belgium: Labour court’ questions the link between seniority and wage increases
The Labour Court of Leuven, in a judgment of 11 April 2019, has declared a sectoral collective agreement non-applicable as it linked wage increases to the seniority of the employee, because it deemed it to be in contradiction with the prohibition of discrimination based on age