Through the Act of 25 April 2014 and the implementing Royal Decree of 8 July 2014, which both entered into force retroactively on 1 February 2014, the legislator broadened the scope of application of the "group of employers", since this concept had not yet achieved success. The reform aims to encourage the creation of groups of employers for the benefit of companies, and for the benefit of SMEs in particular.
A "group of employers" is an association of several employers in an autonomous legal structure that employs workers for its own account, as the single employer, for the purpose of hiring them out for the benefit of the members of the group (users). The users mutually share the workers' services. The concept of the group of employers was created in 2000 as an exception to the prohibition on hiring out of personnel as provided by the Act of 24 July 1987 on temporary work, temporary agency work and hiring out of workers for the benefit of users. As a result, the use of a group of employers is subject to several conditions.
Before the entry into force of the new provisions, it was necessary to obtain prior authorisation from the Ministry of Employment and Labour. Moreover, it was an obligation to form an economic interest group ("EIG") with the single corporate purpose of hiring out workers for the benefit of the group members. A group of employers could only employ low-skilled workers detached from the labour market, i.e. long term non-working job-seekers, beneficiaries of an integration income or beneficiaries of financial social assistance, except in the case of workers responsible for the direction and supervision of the posted workers. The posted workers also had to be engaged under a written full-time employment contract of indefinite duration, concluded before performance of the employment contract could begin.
As of 1 February 2014, some new provisions entered into force, aimed at countering the insecurity of employment and also at allowing companies to hire the workers they need – either for certain specialised tasks or for specific needs. The most important innovations of the new provisions are:
- Enlargement of the categories of personnel that can be hired by the group of employers to encompass any type of worker;
- Enlargement of the types of employment contracts and of the working time possibilities: besides employment contracts of indefinite duration, employment contracts of fixed duration or for clearly defined work can be used; even employment contracts for part-time work can be used, provided that the weekly working time is not less than 19 hours;
- It is now possible to create a group of employers in the form of a not-for-profit association ("ASBL"/"VZW") (in addition to the possibility of forming an EIG) with the single corporate purpose of posting workers to the members of the group, unless otherwise provided by the King.
The new provisions also specify that the members of the group of employers are jointly and severally liable for the tax and social security debts with regard to third parties and with regard to workers posted by the group of employers for the benefit of the members of the group of employers.
It should be mentioned that, at least at the moment, the possibility for the group of employers to apply to the Public Service for Employment and Social Consultation ("SPF Emploi, Travail et Concertation Sociale"/"FOD Werk, Arbeid en Sociaal Overleg") for authorisation is limited until 1 July 2015. As requested by the National Labour Council ("Conseil National du Travail"/"Nationale Arbeidsraad"), the implementing Royal Decree has been adopted in order to provide a regulatory framework for the start-up of some pilot projects. In the meantime, the National Labour Council will pursue its activities in connection with a global and definitive regulatory and conventional framework dealing with all the points that have not yet been addressed in the law. Authorisations granted before 1 July 2015 and still valid on that date will continue to have effect. This will allow the groups of employers already in existence as at 30 June 2015 to continue to operate after that date.