On 27 February and 6 March 2015, the Council of Ministers approved drafts of various royal decrees and a draft act on the improvement of employment. Through these measures, the Government is implementing, amongst other things, the governmental agreement and the draft agreement regarding salary and employment conditions signed by the Group of Ten (with the exception of the ABVV/FGTB). All the draft measures have been submitted to the Council of State for its opinion.
The wage norm for 2015–2016
The Act of 26 July 1996 regarding employment and competitiveness (the "Wage Norm Act") makes it possible to adapt anticipatively the development of wage costs in the light of expected development in the three reference countries (Germany, the Netherlands and France) to safeguard the competitive position of the Belgian economy and to reduce the wage gap with neighbouring countries.
In principle, the social partners strive to achieve this by concluding an interprofessional agreement every two years, in which the maximum margin (i.e. maximum increase) is determined. For this, the Technical Report of the Central Council for the Economy regarding the maximum available margins for development of wage costs is taken into account. These margins are calculated based on development over the past two years and the expected development of wage costs in the neighbouring countries.
On 30 January 2015 the Group of Ten did not unanimously agree on the draft interprofessional agreement. Under the Wage Norm Act, the wage norm is determined by the Government when such agreement is not reached. On 27 February 2015, the Government approved a draft royal decree which included provisions for implementation of the draft interprofessional agreement in its entirety. The draft agreement provides, among other things, that:
- the maximum margin for the development of wage costs is fixed at 0% for 2015 and at 0.5% of the gross wage mass as the total cost for employers, including all charges, for 2016; and
- the maximum margin for the development of wage costs can be increased in 2016 by 0.3% net without any additional cost for the employer.
The wage norm for the period 2013–2014 was also set at 0% by a royal decree dated 28 April 2013. This royal decree was contested before the Council of State by some employees' representatives and employees. However, the Council of State rejected both the request for suspension and the request for annulment. First, the Council of State held that the condition that the wage norm must at least equal the indexation and include the baremic increases was satisfied. The Council of State also found that there was no violation of Article 11 of the ECHR, in which the right to collective bargaining is guaranteed. First, the legal basis for the limitation of the right to collective bargaining is included in the Wage Norm Act. Secondly, the contested royal decree pursues a legitimate aim that is necessary within a democratic society and in line with the requirement of proportionality. After all, the determination of the wage norm does not exclude collective negotiation of wage increases to the extent that the average wage cost in the company does not increase. The wage norm only limits the right to collective bargaining partially (only regarding salaries) and temporarily (for a period of two years). Finally, the wage norm must be seen in the light of the protection of the right to work and the right to an adequate standard of living.
The draft act on the improvement of employment (see infra) provides for the application of criminal and administrative sanctions in case of non-compliance by the employer with the wage norm.
This draft act also extends the scope of application of the Wage Norm Act to economic public companies.
Other measures to improve employment
The Council of Ministers also approved, on 27 February 2015, a draft act on the improvement of employment, aimed at reducing of the wage gap with the neighbouring countries. The draft act implements the governmental agreement, the draft interprofessional agreement, and final aspects of the first step in the harmonisation of the status of blue collar and white collar workers.
The draft bill includes, amongst other provisions:
- the freezing of the smoothed health index from 1 March 2015, in order to implement the index jump of 2%;
- the reduction of the quarterly contribution for holiday pay for blue collar workers;
- the complete abolition of the "carenzdag" ("jour de carence") in the context of benefits due to work incapacity;
- the allocation of "dismissal compensation" to a worker who was a blue collar worker and became a white collar worker after 31 December 2013;
- the increase of the number of hours of allowed Saturday work in the construction industry from 64 hours per year to 96 hours per year.
At the Council of Ministers on 6 March 2015, two draft royal decrees were approved implementing the draft interprofessional agreement regarding meal vouchers and non-recurring performance-based benefits.
The first draft includes an increase of EUR 1 in the maximum value of meal vouchers. The amount of the maximum employer contribution increases from EUR 5.91 to EUR 6.91. Meal vouchers are exempted from social security contributions and taxes subject to certain conditions.
The second draft includes the raising of the non-indexed threshold amount for non-recurring performance-based benefits from EUR 3,100 to EUR 3,169. Up to this threshold per calendar year per employee and per employer, and subject to certain conditions, the non-recurring performance-based benefits (the "collective bonus"), are not considered as salary. These benefits are subject to the specific employer's contribution of 33% and the solidarity contribution of 13.07% payable by the employee. The benefit is entirely deductible as a professional cost for the employer and is not subject to income taxes in the hands of the employee.
These measures should allow the social partners, if they so wish, to grant these benefits in their sector or company from 1 January 2016. This date of entry into force fits within the development of wage costs for the years 2015–2016.