Michel Reforms: Impacts for Companies, Workers and Savers? (Labor Law Reforms)

We will analyze here the planned changes in labor law with regard to employees, self-employed persons and (future) pensioners.

Most of the new provisions will apply from January 1, 2018.

For students

  • The students have the possibility, since July 1, 2017, to combine their student job with sandwich courses.
  • The possibility to work on Sundays, already opened to students over 18, is extended to students aged 16 to 18 years.

For employees

  • Starter jobs
    • Willingness to encourage the hiring of workers aged 18 to 21 years by reducing the cost to the employer (deductibility plus days of pay).
    • Still no details as to the concrete modalities and the timing.
  • A trial period of "2.0"
    • Withdrawn as part of the harmonization of the workers and employees regulations, the absence of a trial period had perverse effects on the labor world, in particular an increase in temporary and fixed-term contracts prior to hiring under permanent contract.
    • A form of trial period is therefore reintroduced through a shortened advance notice at the beginning of the employment contract: henceforth notice will be one week when the dismissal will occur within the first 3 months of work. It will increase gradually from the 4th month of work: 3 weeks’ notice for 4 months of work, 4 weeks for 5 months and 5 weeks for 6 months.
  • Flexi-jobs
    • Extension of the "Extras" formula already in force for 2 years in the hotel and catering sector to the retail, food and hairdressing sectors. It consists of a specific employment contract for workers already employed full-time or part-time (at least 4/5 th) by an employer and who occasionally work for a second employer during periods of intense activity.
    • The advantage? A considerable reduction for the second employer: no tax and (only) 25% of social contributions for a minimum hourly wage. of 9.69 €.
    • Future adaptation of the law on e-commerce as regards night work and Sunday work. The modalities are not yet communicated but it is a question of adapting the law for a trial period of 2 years.
  • Coach anti "burn out"
    • In order to combat burnout and other psychosocial risks, companies with more than 100 workers will now be obliged to hire a coach under the new "right to disconnect".
  • End-of-career planning
    • For (1) workers who are at least 60 years old and go from full-time to 4/5th and (2) workers who work in shifts or at night and move on to “lighter” work: premium (exempt from payroll taxes) paid by the employer to compensate the loss of income caused by the modification of time and/or working conditions.
  • Second-pillar pension
    • Workers will be able to participate, on a voluntary basis, in the financing of the employer's group insurance or pension fund. This participation will be in the form of an additional deduction from the remuneration by the employer.

For self-employed

  • Starter jobs
    • At present, the social contributions of the newly self-employed are based on a flat gross annual income (estimated at € 13,296.25).
    • The new formula provides for contributions based on income thresholds that are now progressive over the first 3 years: € 4,432.08 in the first year, € 8,864.17 in the second year, reaching € 13,296.25 in the third year.
  • Waiver period
    • The self-employed person who interrupts his/her work due to sickness or accident is currently insured for incapacity for work after a month of inactivity.
    • This period without compensation is now reduced to two weeks.
  • Second-pillar pension
    • Today, only self-employed legal entities or who are part of a company have the possibility of contributing to group insurance.
    • This option will be from now on open to self-employed individuals.

For civil servants

  • Priority in hiring “contract agents”
    • In order to promote flexibility, new entrants in the public service will be mainly engaged in employment contracts. The objective is to reduce the proportion of statutory / contractual agents (civil servants vs contract agents) to 50/50 (the current trend is 80/20).

For (future) pensioners

  • Flexi-jobs
    • Extension of the possibility of having a flexi-job for pensioners (see above).
    • As of January 1, 2015, the accumulated pension and earned income are unlimited for pensioners.
  • Complete Career
    • Increase of the minimum pension by + 0.7%.
  • "Partial" pension
    • Workers who qualify for early retirement (63 years and 42 years of service) may, while receiving part of their pension, continue to work so as to build up supplementary pension rights.
  • "Wellness 2017-2018" envelope
    • Increase of the minimum pension by + 1.7% for full careers.
    • Increase of 1% for incomplete careers.
  • Calculation of entitlement to statutory pension
    • Today, 45 years of career must be counted in order to receive a full pension, that is, 14,040 days of which the least profitable days are simply removed from the calculation basis.
    • From now on, careers exceeding 45 years will be valued: every day worked beyond the 14.040 days required will be taken into account, which will increase the amount of the pension (from January 1, 2019).
  • Caregiver's pension
    • 48-month pension credit granted to part-time workers who help a family member with a disease that diminishes his or her autonomy by at least 12 points on the scale of the Directorate General of Persons with Disabilities.

Do you want more information?

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Olivier Scheuer Olivier Scheuer

I obtained a law degree from the Université Catholique de Louvain and, subsequently, a DES in employment law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Brussels - Belgium

More from Olivier Scheuer

English