Annual leave (3) - Temporary unemployment due to collective closing of the company

In our previous infoflash on annual leave we said that the dates of leave in a company can be determined individually between the employer and every worker, or collectively (for all personnel members) in case of closing of the company.
In the latter case some worker of the company may not (or no longer) be entitled to paid leave or a sufficient number of days of leave covering the whole period of collective closing. What about their remuneration for these closing days?

Principle

The days of collective closing for which the worker is not entitled to legal leave are not covered by a holiday pay. For the worker these days can be equated with temporary unemployment due to collective closing. Consequently, he will receive a compensation from the ONEm/RVA.

Is entitled to an unemployment benefit due to collective closing: the worker (manual or non-manual) that, on the basis of his time worked in the previous year, does not have enough days of leave to cover the entire closing period of the company. The same goes for a worker that has used up all his days of leave with a previous employer.

Examples

1. On the basis of his time worked in 2017 a manual worker is entitled to 6 days of leave in 2018. In the month of July the company is closed during 15 work days.

For this period the worker is entitled to:

• a holiday pay for the first 6 closing days, and
• an unemployment allowance to the account of the ONEm/RVA for the next 9 days.

2. A non-manual worker has worked the whole year of 2017 until 31 March 2018 in company A. Consequently, he is entitled to 20 days of leave in 2018. Before he left his employer, he had already taken up 10 days of leave. So, 10 days of leave are remaining. From 1 April 2018 onwards he is working for company B. In the month of August company B is closed 15 days due to annual leave.

The closing period is covered as follows:

• for the first 10 closing days, by the exit holiday pay (paid by employer A at the end of the employment contract), and
• for the 5 next days, by an unemployment allowance to the account of the ONEm/RVA.

Mind! In case of collective closing of the company the worker must first take up his days of leave. In other words, the worker that has already taken up some of his days of leave before the period of collective closing in the company and consequently does not have sufficient days left to cover the period of closing, is not entitled to holiday pay neither to unemployment allowances for the closing days for which he cannot take up days of leave.

Example

A worker is entitled to 20 days of leave in 2018. In February he takes up 9 days of leave. 11 are left. In the month of July the company closes during 18 work days due to annual leave. The worker is entitled to a holiday pay for the first 11 closing days of the company. For the remaining 7 days he gets no holiday pay, neither unemployment allowances.

Formalities

The employer is not obliged to inform the ONEm/RVA about the closing of the company due to annual leave.

Nevertheless, before the closing period begins the employer must provide the worker with a check form C3.2 A including the worker's personal particulars.

The worker must always hold this form and produce it when requested by the social inspector of the ONEm/RVA. On the form the worker must fill in all work performances executed (for himself or a third party) during the period of collective closing.

At the end of the month the worker must submit the check form to his payment institution.

In addition, the employer must make an electronic declaration (DRS/ASR scenario 2) at the beginning of the unemployment. This declaration allows the ONEm/RVA to calculate the amount of the allowance the worker is entitled to.

After the end of the month he then makes an electronic declaration (DRS/ASR scenario 5) of the hours during which the worker has been temporarily unemployed.

Author: Catherine Legardien

25/06/2018