Catering sector: guarantees at last regarding net overtime

An amendment to the law guarantees the net overtime of the original catering sector plan. The annual maximum is still 300 hours (without registered cash register system) or 360 hours (with registered cash register system).

Summary of the amendment

Net overtime is overtime without supplement and without recovery.

The original catering sector plan is up to 300/360 hours of net overtime a year, provided this limit is included in a sectoral collective bargaining agreement. This collective bargaining agreement has been lacking since 1 January 2016, and thus also the legal base to effectively apply 300/360 hours of net overtime.

In a previous infoflash (of 14 June 2016) we announced that an amendment to the law would solve the application problem. This was done recently through the Programme Act of 3 August 2016.

The limit of 300/360 hours is now guaranteed by the law itself, which means a sectoral collective bargaining agreement is no longer necessary. The amendment comes into force retroactively on 1 January 2016. Employers who have applied up to 300/360 hours of net overtime in 2016 are thus in line with the (amended) regulation.

Double limit stays the same

For net overtime the double limit of the original catering sector plan remains unchanged:

1) 360 hours of overtime per calendar year for employers with a registered cash register system, 300 hours of overtime per calendar year for employers without.

2) 143 hours per random period of four months.

Other conditions remain unchanged

Net overtime is linked to very restrictive conditions from the start.

All these conditions shall remain.

Essential: “net-overtime” must arise from an unexpected need or extraordinary increase of work, and all the formalities in question must be respected.

Source: Programme Act of 3 August 2016, M.B. 16 August 2016.

Author: Els Poelman

29/08/2016