On 21 November 2012 Prime Minister Di Rupo presented the General Policy Statement of the federal government to the federal parliament.
As already mentioned in the preceding newsletter, from a social
law point of view, four elements of the General Policy Statement
catch the eye: 1) increasing the competitiveness of our enterprises
by eliminating the salary gap with our surrounding countries; 2)
further increasing the competitiveness of our enterprises by
lowering the social charges; 3) increasing job opportunities for
younger and elder workers; and 4) stimulating the continued
training of the workers. In that newsletter, we concentrated on the
elimination of the salary gap with our surrounding countries. In
this newsletter we will elaborate on the other elements of
attention.
As to the reduction of social charges, it looks like the SMEs will
benefit in the first place: reductions of contributions have
already been introduced for the first three hiring's; these
reductions will be increased in such a way that some employers will
almost be released from payment of social security contributions
during the first two years for workers with low or moderate
salaries. During the third year, reduced contributions will still
remain to be applicable.
Also within the context of the promotion of employment of elder
workers, higher reductions of social security charges have been
announced: while the reductions will be applicable as from the age
of 54, the amount of the reduction will be increased considerably
depending on the age of the worker, provided the salary does not
exceed the quarterly ceiling. For the record, reference be made
here also to the "law program" of 29 March 2012 and the
CLA n° 104, providing for the establishment and the
implementation, for the first time in 2013, of an employment plan
for elder workers (workers aged 45 and above).
Also for the young workers, the system of the reduction of social
security contributions will be improved.
Likewise, the system of the "employment bonus"
(reduction of the worker's contributions to the social security
for the workers with lower salaries) will be improved.
The reduction of the employer's contributions to the social
security for workers, acting as "mentor" (workers in
particular in charge of the training of persons belonging to the
target groups), is part of the policy to stimulate continued
training. As from 2013 the system will also be simplified from an
administrative point of view. Within this context, reference should
also be made to the obligation of the employers to make
"employment training sites" available, as laid down in
the law of 27 December 2012 relating to the employment plan.
The "law program" of 27 December 2012 includes a
stipulation in the law of 3 July 1978 relating to the employment
contracts, introducing in that law the obligation in principle of
the employer to establish and implement a "training
plan". The terms of this obligation are yet to be specified by
royal decree.
Finally, reference must be made to Title 3 of the "law
program" of 27 December 2012: in line with the stipulations
relating to the fight against fiscal fraud, this Title introduces
legal stipulations concerning the fight against social fraud.
Attention is paid in particular to the fight against fraud in the
field of assignments (putting workers at the disposal of third
party users, as well as the implementation of the European rules on
determining the applicable legislation in the field of social
security in case of disposal of workers between UE Member States)
and to the fight against avoidance and evasion of legal obligations
in the field of social law. Which legal stipulations will be
particularly at stake, is yet to be decided by royal decree.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.