The 2017 - 2018 wage norm: is the CLA no. 90 bonus excluded?

The wage norm determines, in the private sector and in certain state-owned enterprises, the maximum margin of increase in wage costs.

It is set every two years based, on the one hand, on changes in wage costs in France, the Netherlands and Germany and, on the other, on changes in wage costs recorded in Belgium since 1996.

The law governing the wage norm is the Law of 26 July 1996 on the Promotion of Employment and the Preventive Protection of Competitiveness. A preliminary draft law now contains a number of changes to this law in order to bring it up to date.

This “modernisation” mainly relates to the mechanism for determining the norm.

For the 2017-2018 period, the maximum margin has been set at 1.10%.

That being so, wage indexation and wage scale increases continue to be ensured.

Certain compensatory items are also excluded from the wage norm - without hesitation.

What about non-recurring performance-related benefits (“CLA no. 90 bonus”)?

Are they still excluded as was the case during previous pay freezes? This exclusion had been confirmed by the FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue.

The Federation of Enterprises in Belgium expressed some doubts regarding this exclusion for the 2017-2018 period.

On 22 March 2017, the office of the Federal Minister for Employment cleared up any doubts and maintained the position: the CLA no. 90 bonus is excluded from the wage norm provided the statutory conditions governing its awarding are complied with.

Sources: Draft law amending the Law of 26 July 1996 on the Promotion of Employment and the Preventive Protection of Competitiveness, Doc.parl. Chambre 2016 - 2017, no. 2248/010; Interprofessional Agreement 2017-2018 of 2 February 2017 (available on the Belgian National Labour Council’s website); Response from the Office of the Federal Minister for Employment dated 22 March 2017.