Exemption from employing young workers under a ‘cpe’ (first job agreement) in jsc 140.01

When certain conditions are met, employers are obliged to employ a given number of young workers aged under 26, unless they are exempt from this obligation.

HIRING OBLIGATION

Employers of the private sector employing at least 50 workers on 30 June of the previous calendar year are obliged to employ young workers aged under 26 at a given percentage of their total staff calculated in full-time equivalents: 3 % for the merchant sector and 1, 5 % for the non-merchant sector.

Employers who employed less than 50 workers on 30 June of the previous calendar year must not meet this obligation.

POSSIBLE EXEMPTION

The act on the CPEs allows the FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue to grant full exemption from this obligation to the sectors on request. This exemption is granted when the sector spends at least 0,15% of the quarterly wage bill in favour of 'risk groups' and, in addition to this, makes special efforts with regard to the hiring of workers.

JsC 140.01 (companies of regular, special transport services and occasional transport services) has made use of this possibility.

Employers coming under JsC 140.01 for their manual workers are exempted from the obligation to hire young workers aged under 26. The exemption applies from 01 January 2018 to 31 December 2019.

Employers coming under JsC no. 140.01 for their manual workers are fully exempted, even if they employ non-manual workers and their staff consists of more non-manual workers than manual workers.

Source: Ministerial Decree of 12 October 2018 with regard to the exemption to hire young workers for companies of regular, special transport services and occasional transport services, coming under Joint committee 140.00 for transport and logistics, Belgian Official Gazette of 22.10.2018.