Newsletter – The Claeys & Engels 2023 HR Beacon

War in Europe and galloping inflation are having an impact on our lives – an impact that will also redefine the workplace. We asked you to share your opinions, insights, needs and vision in terms of HR policy.

Newsletter – Amendment AOP strengthening transparency in the context of the second pension pillar

On 2 February 2023, the Act of 26 December 2022 amending several provisions to strengthen transparency in the context of the second pension pillar, called the “Transparency Act” for short, was published. The Transparency Act reforms the communication to plan members about their occupational pension and this at the time of affiliation, during the period …

Newsletter: Sustainability reporting by companies

By introducing the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”), the European Commission aims to expand its sustainability disclosure requirements, both in terms of scope, and content. The CSRD requires companies to publish this information in a standardised way and to have it independently audited.

Newsletter: New measures for (long-term) sick workers

Absence due to long-term illness has a high price tag for the employer, social security, for society, but also for the sick worker himself. Consequently, this topic leaves no one unmoved and has led to an influx of new measures in autumn 2022.

Newsflash – Amendment of the Gender Act and introduction of a new protected criterion “family responsibilities”

The Law of 15 November 2022 amending the Law of 10 May 2007 (the “Gender Act”) to combat discrimination between women and men now replaces the protected criterion of “gender” with 11 protected criteria: gender, pregnancy, medically assisted reproduction, childbirth, breastfeeding, maternity, family responsibilities, gender identity, gender expression, gender characteristics and gender reassignment. The Gender …

Responsibility of employers and employees in case of incapacity for work

Within the framework of the current policy aimed at the professional reintegration of employees who are unable to work, various measures have been adopted in order to financially sanction, on the one hand, employees who do not actively collaborate in their return to work and, on the other hand, employers who have too many workers …

Should employers reimburse monitor employees’ glasses?

On 22 December 2022, the European Court of Justice ruled on whether an employer must cover the cost of corrective glasses for a display screen employee with vision problems. This preliminary ruling, brought before the Court by a Romanian judge, was answered affirmatively. What does this imply for the Belgian employer?

Newsflash – Modification of the right to interruption allowances within the framework of time credit, thematic leave or career breaks

A Royal Decree of 26 January 2023 has modified certain rules relating to interruption allowances that are granted in the context of time credit, thematic leave or career break schemes. The new rules came into force, for the most part, on 1 February 2023 and apply to applications submitted to the employer as of that …

Newsflash – Some legislative changes regarding collective bargaining agreements and the procedure for the non-recurrent result-related bonus

On Friday, 27 January 2023, the Law of 26 December 2022 amending various provisions on collective labour relations was published in the Belgian State Gazette. It concerns some amendments to the collective bargaining law and to the legislation on the non-recurrent result-related bonus. We list them here for you.

Newsflash – Communication around an employee’s departure

In a decision of 17 February 2023, the Litigation Chamber of the Data Protection Authority (DPA) confirmed its earlier position that an employer is allowed to inform employees of an employee’s departure. However, the employer must limit itself to what is strictly necessary. In this case, the employer had also notified who the initiating party …