Corona parental leave, time credit and end-of-career time credit have no influence on their classic alternatives

One collective agreement (n° 148) reintroduces the system of temporary unemployment for white-collar workers for economic reasons as a result of the corona crisis.

The second collective agreement (n° 103/5) introduces an adjustment in order to neutralise the time of suspension or reduction of work resulting from the corona time credit, corona end-of-career time credit and corona parental leave with respect to the classic regimes.

1. Collective Bargaining Agreement n° 148

This collective agreement extends the system of temporary unemployment for white-collar workers for economic reasons, introduced in March by collective agreement n° 147. The system continues to run from 1 July 2020 until 31 December 2020.

Collective Agreement n° 148 is almost identical to Collective Agreement n° 147 and makes the introduction of temporary unemployment for white-collar workers for economic reasons as a result of the corona crisis easier.

Under normal circumstances, companies wishing to benefit from the system of temporary unemployment for economic reasons for their white-collar workers must draw up a business plan or negotiate a collective agreement at company or sector level.

This new Collective Agreement n° 148 ensures that employers that have not completed these formalities can nevertheless benefit from the system of temporary unemployment for economic reasons for white-collar workers.

A company that wishes to benefit from this Collective Agreement must pay an additional allowance of EUR 5.63 per day of unemployment to the white-collar worker.

The Collective Agreement enters into force as from 1 September 2020 until 31 December 2020, notwithstanding the fact that a different transitional regime with respect to temporary unemployment was initially put in place starting the same date.

2. Collective Bargaining Agreement n° 103/5

This collective agreement provides that an employee who has taken corona parental leave, corona time credit and corona end-of-career time credit will not lose its rights in respect of the classic schemes of time credit, parental leave and end-of-career time credit.

As a result, any suspension of an employment contract, in the context of the corona crisis are neutralised for the future.

Only the situation before such corona parental leave, corona time credit and end-of-career time credit will be taken into account for the calculation of the employment conditions of 12 or 24 months of employment.

This means that, in the future, if an employee wants to use the traditional arrangements for time credit, parental leave and end-of-career time credit, such arrangements will not be affected by the arrangements obtained during the corona crisis.