New employment-related measures come into force

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A number of new employment-related measures came into force in Belgium on 1 July 2002. These are: a scheme to help young people start up in business; a scheme aimed at paying allowances to young people who undergo training; an extension of paternity leave; the introduction of paid breaks for breastfeeding, and legislation aimed at combating 'moral' harassment (bullying) and sexual harassment at the workplace.

As of 1 July 2002, a variety of new employment-related measures came into force, covering business start-up assistance and training for young people, 'work-life balance' issues and harassment at work.

'Independent Rosetta plan'

The Minister for Employment and Labour, Laurette Onkelinx, announced the launch of an 'Independent Rosetta plan' in March 2002 (the original 'Rosetta plan' is a youth employment scheme launched in 1999 - BE9911307F). This measure is targeted at young people who want to set up in self-employment or start their own business. More specifically, the scheme is aimed at 'young people under 30 who have not yet been self-employed, who are out of work (job-seekers who have been unemployed for three months, and assimilated categories), and who, as a precondition, accept support supervised by bodies accredited by the Participation Fund (Fonds de Participation/Participatiefonds)'. The period of support lasts for six months, and during that time, a young person in receipt of no replacement income may draw a monthly payment of EUR 375. The main objective of the measure is to combat the three major obstacles to young people trying to move into self-employment: a lack of education and training; the absence of preparation, support and supervision; and a lack of finance.

The Participation Fund has been in existence for several years: its mission is to give loans at a preferential rate to people who want to move into self-employment or set up in business on their own.

'Rosetta training'

A new 'Rosetta training' scheme aims to improve the chances of young people joining the labour market, and involves encouraging young unskilled workers to undergo additional training or training leading to a qualification. The law defines 'young unskilled workers' as young people who do not have a certificate of higher secondary education and are above compulsory school age.

These young people will now qualify for an allowance of EUR 1,115 on completion of training recognised by the regional employment service (of the Flemish, Walloon or Brussels-Capital regions). The training will be set out in a contract signed by the young person and the regional employment service, and will take the form of either 'levelling-up' training, training leading to a qualification, individualised in-house training, or another form of accredited training. It will last an average of at least 18 hours a week.

Paternity and adoption leave

To consolidate the balance between 'family life' and 'work life', paternity leave has been increased from three to 10 working days (in practice two weeks). This measure affects workers in the private sector and 'contract workers' (ie non-civil servants) in the public sector. A new law on adoption leave also grants 10 days' leave to couples (ie the father and the mother) who adopt a child; they had hitherto been entitled only to one day.

The employer will pay the full salary for the first three days of the new leave, and the remaining seven days will come out of the budget of the National Health and Disability Insurance Institute (Institut National d'Assurance Maladie Invalidité/Rijksinstituut voor Zieke - en Invaliditeitsverzekering, INAMI/RIZIV); the Institute will cover 82% of pay. The budget dedicated to this measure is EUR 34.7 million a year. The measure implements national collective agreement No. 77bis concluded in the National Labour Council (Conseil National du Travail/Nationaal Arbeidsraad, CCT/NAR) by the social partners in the private sector in December 2001.

Breastfeeding breaks

Also to promote work-life balance, paid breaks for breastfeeding have been introduced for employees during the first seven months after the child's birth, implementing national collective agreement No. 80 concluded on 27 November 2001 (BE0112361F). The agreement embraces International Labour Organisation Convention No. 183 on maternity protection and the Council of Europe's European Social Charter.

In practice, mothers are now entitled to take one or two half-hour breaks a day to breastfeed their child. Pay, or the compensatory payment, will be calculated on the basis of their hourly rate, and will be covered by the INAMI/RIZIV through mutual benefit schemes.

'Moral' and sexual harassment

A law on protection against 'moral' and sexual harassment in the workplace (BE0205301N) also came into force on 1 July. 'Moral' harassment refers to bullying. The Ministry of Employment and Labour points states that the main objective of this legislation is to 'encourage employers to establish a prevention model in workplaces in order to prevent violent behaviour as much as possible, and have a more accurate perception of the violence that occurs in the workplace and of all the consequences for workers' well-being'. The law affects workers in both the private and the public sector.

In concrete terms, this law provides for three measures:

• the establishment by the employer of a global prevention plan and an annual action plan to combat all forms of violence in the workplace;

• the appointment of a prevention counsellor to act as an intermediary; and

• in the event of the counsellor failing to resolve the problem, or if the circumstances are serious, the intervention of the Medical Inspectorate (Inspection médicale/Medische inspectie). The inspectorate will be able to draw up a pro justitia report, which it will then forward to the Labour Prosecutor (Auditeur du travail/Arbeidsauditeur).

With a view to strengthening the information rights of victims of violence at the workplace, the law allows the social partners to conclude national collective agreements in the CNT/NAR adopting preventive and additional information measures that more accurately reflect the realities of work in enterprises.

Each enterprise must appoint a prevention counsellor with skills in psycho-social aspects of work and violence in the workplace. In enterprises with 50 or more employees and a committee for prevention and protection at the workplace (Comité pour la prévention et protection au travail/Comité voor preventie en bescherming op het werk, CPPT/CPBW), the counsellor may be appointed from among the workforce. Elsewhere (ie in enterprises with fewer than 50 workers, and in the absence of an agreement on a CPPT/CPBW), the counsellor may brought in from an external prevention service. Prevention counsellors will be legally protected against any form of dismissal for reasons related to their work. The same applies to victims who lodge complaints.

Commentary

The coming into force of these measures has made them fully effective, although the initial versions of the various laws were presented to the media several months ago. When they were first presented, they prompted a range of reactions, both positive and negative, from the social partners: for example, as far as the law relating to moral and sexual harassment is concerned, the employers pointed to the danger of workers abusing the complaints procedure; the law now provides for penalties to counter this type of situation. Furthermore, and this has certainly not been sufficiently underlined, the law also targets workers guilty of the moral and sexual harassment of other workers.

It is also important that the Minister of Employment and Labour should make it widely known that these measures have now come into force. Far too often, the government has relied on the 'announcement effect', and Belgian citizens have been under a misapprehension that certain legal provisions have actually come into force, when they had not: in fact, they were in danger of committing illegal acts because the law had not yet been applied. The 'announcement effect' often gives the impression that everything takes place in a few days, whereas legislative and social concertation processes in fact take much longer. (Baudouin Massart, TESA-VUB)