Welcome to 2022! What's new?

The new year has arrived. In addition to being the traditional start date for everyone’s New Year’s resolutions, January 1 is also the date on which a great deal of new labor and social security legislation takes effect. Below is a handy overview of the most important changes.

The coronavirus will continue to wreak havoc in the Belgian workplace in 2022. The legislature therefore deemed it appropriate to extend some of the current measures into 2022. A number of new measures will also take effect.

The flexible system for temporary unemployment due to force majeure has been extended, at least, through March 31, 2022. At least during the first quarter of the new year, employers will therefore be able to make use of the system that allows them to suspend the employment contract, in exchange for which the employee receives unemployment benefits. The framework governing mandatory telework under Collective Bargaining Agreement No. 149 has also been extended by Collective Bargaining Agreement No. 149/2, effective through March 31, 2022.

Vaccination leave has been extended through June 30, 2022, and its scope has also been expanded. Effective immediately, an employee may also use this short-term leave to accompany a minor child living with them—or an adult with a disability for whom they are the parent or guardian—to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. In this situation as well, the short-term leave applies for the duration of the necessary travel and vaccination time. You can read more about vaccination leave in our article “Vaccination Leave: 10 Questions and Answers.”

Much has already been written about mandatory vaccination in the healthcare sector. Despite the announcement that the three-month deadline for healthcare professionals to get vaccinated would begin on January 1, 2022, this measure will not yet take effect. The Council of State’s opinion on the draft bill has been delayed, meaning the law will not take effect until at least January 1, 2022. The deadline will therefore most likely be postponed.

Perhaps the biggest change in terms of compensation is the expansion of the mobility budget. This measure, introduced in 2019, has so far failed to dethrone the traditional company car. To make this alternative to the traditional company car more attractive, the government has decided to significantly expand the sustainable alternative modes of transportation under “Pillar 2” effective January 1, 2022. Employees will now have a wider range of options for spending their mobility budget. For example, bicycle loans are now among the financing options. There is also now the option to reimburse public transportation passes for family members living in the same household. Furthermore, parking costs associated with public transportation can be reimbursed (e.g., paid parking at the station), a walking bonus can be granted for commutes, and the radius within which housing costs are eligible is being expanded from 5 to 10 kilometers. However, the total amount of the mobility budget will also be capped. The minimum amount will be 3,000 euros, and the maximum will be one-fifth of the employee’s total gross salary, capped at an absolute maximum of 16,000 euros per year.

We previously wrote an article about the COVID-19 bonus, which, in principle, was supposed to be granted to employees by December 31, 2021. However, sector-level agreements were slow in coming, meaning that, strictly speaking, many employers were too late to benefit from the socially and fiscally favorable treatment associated with this bonus. For this reason, the government has decided to extend the original deadline. The decision to grant a COVID-19 bonus must still be made by December 31, 2021, but the actual payment of the bonus to employees can now take place until March 31, 2022. Please note that in some sectors, the bonus is now mandatory. In those sectors, the decision to grant the COVID-19 bonus is mandated by various collective bargaining agreements that were still being concluded at the end of 2021.

In addition, the so-called innovation bonus will remain available in 2022 thanks to the new Interprofessional Agreement between the social partners. The innovation bonus allows you to reward an employee for proposing an innovative idea—whether in the areas of productivity, organization, the environment, etc.

Finally, the Flemish job bonus will (finally) take effect starting in 2022. Every Flemish resident earning less than 2,500 euros gross will receive an annual net payment from the Flemish government. Those earning less than 1,800 euros gross can expect an annual net payment of 600 euros. The exact amount will depend on income: the higher the gross salary, the lower the wage bonus.

Companies where shift or night work is performed have been eligible for a partial exemption from remitting withholding tax for quite some time. However, the exemption is granted only if at least one-third of the company’s employees work shifts or at night. Effective January 1, 2022, the tax authorities have clarified how this one-third threshold will be calculated. Whereas companies previously had the option to calculate on a daily or hourly basis, the tax authorities have clarified that the calculation must be made on an hourly basis.

In 2022, a number of rules regarding tax credits for first-time hires will also change. For example, as part of the budget agreement, the federal government decided to cap the tax credit for hiring a first employee at a maximum of 4,000 euros gross per quarter. The Flemish government, for its part, decided to limit the target group reduction for “long-term employees.” The initial reduction of 600 euros per quarter will only apply once the employee has reached the age of 59. The starting age for the higher reduction of 1,500 euros per quarter will only apply once the employee has reached the age of 61.

Effective the first day of the new year, the temporary regulation governing association work was replaced by a new, permanent framework. From now on, an employment contract must be entered into with association workers. In principle, the rules of labor law therefore apply to the contract with association workers, although the law provides for various exceptions regarding guaranteed wages, illness, or accidents, etc. Volunteers in the sports sector will now be able to earn up to 450 hours per year, and those in the sociocultural sector and the amateur arts up to 300 hours per year. This additional income is now exempt from social security contributions and benefits from a favorable tax rate of 10% for personal income tax.

Crauwels Advocaten can assist you in properly implementing these new measures within your company. Please feel free to contact us.