Lose Your Vacation Time If You Get Sick? Europe Is Turning Belgian Vacation Laws Upside Down.

Starting with the 2024 vacation year, Belgium’s rules for taking annual leave will change significantly. At the behest of the European Union, it will be possible to carry over vacation days to the following year if an employee is unable to take them before the end of the vacation year. An employee will also no longer lose their vacation days if they become ill during their vacation.

Vacation days that an employee has accrued in 2022 must be taken by December 31, 2023, at the latest. If it is impossible for an employee to take all vacation days during the year, these days generally cannot be carried over to the following year. In some cases, unused vacation days will be paid out, but the employee loses the vacation time itself. If the employee chooses not to take all of their vacation, they are not even entitled to payment. Although many companies allow a limited “carryover” of vacation days, employers are, in principle, required to ensure that employees can take all their vacation days each year. Furthermore, if an employee becomes ill during a vacation period, this does not affect the vacation that has already been taken. Any days of illness that coincide with vacation days are therefore lost.

*(Limited) carryover of vacation days will be possible* Under the Royal Decree of February 8, 2023, starting in 2024, employees will have the right to carry over vacation days that they are unable to take before the end of the year due to certain absences and to take them in the following vacation year. The rule remains that all vacation days should be taken before the end of the year whenever possible, but employees are entitled to carry them over if they are unable to take their vacation days due to:

• disability,
• maternity and paternity leave and preventive leave,
• birth and adoption leave,
• foster care leave and foster parent leave.

The carried-over vacation days may be taken up to 24 months after the end of the year in which the vacation days were normally due to be taken. This must be done in consultation between the employer and the employee. 2024 will be the first year in which employees will be able to carry over their vacation days. The 24-month period for that vacation year therefore expires on December 31, 2026. Please note that unused statutory vacation days can also be taken with a new employer. In the future, the vacation certificate will therefore indicate the number of carried-over vacation days.

If the employee is a white-collar worker, the employer must pay out the unused vacation days for that year no later than December 31. The use of vacation time can be postponed, but the payment cannot. For manual workers, too, nothing changes with regard to the payment of vacation pay. *Sick During Vacation* Starting in 2024, an employee who becomes ill during a vacation will not lose those vacation days. As soon as the employee has properly notified the employer that he or she became ill during vacation and provides proof in the form of a medical certificate, the employee may request that the days of absence be counted as “sick days.” In that case, the employee is entitled to guaranteed wages, and the sick days taken during the vacation can still be used as vacation days later in the year. How this will be arranged in practice is still unclear, as there are concerns that the new rules could lead to abuse—for example, if an employee falls ill while on vacation abroad (where it is more difficult to have the illness verified by a medical examiner). To clarify the many unanswered questions, additional legislation is currently being drafted. A royal decree will, among other things, establish a new model for a medical certificate for employees who become ill during their vacation. Are you fully up to date on vacation legislation, or would you like some advice? Crauwels Advocaten would be happy to assist you.