Flemish recruitment incentive for long-term job-seekers

The Flemish government has recently changed the conditions for the Flemish recruitment incentive for long-term job-seekers. Below is a brief overview of what has changed.

These are the changes that have recently been made with regard to the recruitment incentive:

• from 1 January 2020, employers will be able to make use of the recruitment incentive to recruit long-term job-seekers aged 55 (previously, the maximum age was limited to 54 years);
• the department may base itself on the employment fraction used before the coronacrisis to pay the premium. In this way, employers are not further put at a disadvantage by the calculation of their premium in this crisis period.

Conditions

The Flemish Region pays a recruitment incentive for every employee who:

• was recruited as from 1 January 2020[1] and who, at the time of employment, meets the following conditions:
  • has been registered with the VDAB for at least two years as a non-working job-seeker;
  • at the end of the quarter of employment, is at least 25 and at most 55;
• works at a place of business in the Flemish Region;
• has a contract for an indefinite period, or consecutive contracts for a definite period if that is usual in the company;
• has not been hired as a temporary worker, in a flexi-job or with the cheap status of occasional worker in the hospitality sector or agriculture and horticulture;
• has not replaced an employee who was made redundant to make room for a person who is entitled to this incentive.

In order to determine the two-year period of registration as an unemployed job-seeker, some periods are equated to a registration as an unemployed job-seeker. You will find these equated periods on the website of the Flemish government.

Amount of the recruitment incentive

 The incentive is paid out in two instalments: € 1,250.00 after 3 months of employment and € 3,000.00 after twelve months of employment. In case of part-time employment the basic amounts are modified:

In companies which have lower economic activity due to the coronacrisis, it is possible that the employment fraction is lower than before. As a result, the employer may receive a lower recruitment incentive for reasons beyond his control. The Decree of the Flemish Government of 27 March 2020 provides for the possibility for the department to take into account during this period the employment break as applicable before 13 March 2020.

Employers who wish to make use of this possibility, should contact the department via awi@vlaanderen.be

Follow-up and monitoring

On requesting the incentive, the employer must certify certain information.

Afterwards the conditions, such as duration and volume of employment are electronically followed up through an exchange of data with the National Social Security Office (dimona and dmfa).

Premature termination of the contract of employment

When the contract of employment ends within the first three or twelve months respectively, the instalment of the incentive can still be paid out if the company proves that the contract was terminated:

• by the employee himself/herself;
• by the employer for a compelling reason or at least for a reason beyond his/her control;
• due to force majeure.

How do I request the incentive?

The employer must request the incentive within three months after hiring (expiry period!) a potential entitled party, via the online application of the VDAB.

 By way of derogation from this deadline, companies must submit an application for the recruitment incentive by 1 September 2020 at the latest for the recruitment of 55 year olds during the period from 1 January 2020 to 31 May 2020. 

This can be done online via https://www.vlaanderen.be/aanwervingsincentive-voor-langdurig-werkzoekenden/aanwervingsincentive-langdurig-werkzoekenden-aanvragen

Sources:

• Decree of the Flemish Government of 24 April 2020 amending Articles 2 and 6 of the Decree of the Flemish Government of 17 February 2017 on the granting of recruitment incentives for long-term job-seekers;
• Decree of the Flemish Government of 27 March 2020 amending various provisions related to the employment policy;
• https://www.vlaanderen.be/aanwervingsincentive-voor-langdurig-werkzoekenden.

[1] For recruitments before 1 January 2020, this condition was: every employee recruited on 1 January 2017 at the earliest and on 31 December 2019 at the latest and who is at least 25 and at most 54 at the end of the recruitment quarter;