JC 200: COVID-19 and eco vouchers

Perhaps the coronavirus crisis also forced you to make (part of) your workers temporarily unemployed due to COVID-19 (force majeure). This decision may lead to a reduction in the amount of certain sector benefits.

In a previous Infoflash we already extensively discussed the influence of temporary unemployment due to COVID-19 on the end-of-year bonus and the annual premium in JC 200. In this Infoflash, we will take a closer look at the eco vouchers that will be granted in JC 200 this month.

More general information can be found in our previous Infoflash: Coronavirus: COVID-19 and sector benefits (general).

Eco vouchers in JC 200

Normally, your full-time workers with a full reference period (June previous year to May of the year in question) will receive eco vouchers of EUR 250 during the course of this month. Part-time workers will be granted eco vouchers according to the following bands.

Impact of temporary unemployment COVID-19

But your workers who were made temporarily unemployed due to COVID-19, will they receive the full amount of EUR 250 this year?

After all, the amount of the eco vouchers is prorated:

• based on the working hours of your workers,
• in case of any commencement of employment or departure during the reference period;
• by periods not treated as time worked during the reference period.

In this joint committee, only the days for which your worker has received wages (e.g. regular time worked, public holidays, etc.) and the periods treated as time worked on the basis of CLA no. 98 are taken into account for the calculation of eco vouchers:

• the periods of annual leave;
• maternity leave;
• days covered by the guaranteed wage due to illness.

As the days of temporary unemployment are not explicitly included in CLA no. 98 (to which JC 200 refers), these days are therefore not treated as time worked for the calculation of eco vouchers and the amount of EUR 250 will be reduced on a pro rata basis.

Example: A worker employed since 02.06.2015 (full reference period) is made temporarily unemployed from 01.04.2020 to 31.05.2020. There are no other absences not treated as time worked during the reference period.

For this worker, the amount of the eco vouchers is reduced by the months of April and May, this means that he is only entitled to eco vouchers of EUR 250 x 10/12 = EUR 208.

Minimum provisions

However, the above sectoral provisions are only minimum provisions. This implies that you can deviate from this to the benefit of your worker and still treat the period of temporary unemployment as time actually worked for the calculation of the amount of the eco vouchers, the annual premium and the end-of-year bonus.

Partena Professional can help you with this. Feel free to contact your payroll consultant for more information.

Important note

Finally, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that, following the coronavirus crisis, several JCs have decided to conclude new CLAs, which will allow temporary unemployment due to COVID-19 to be treated as time worked (possibly temporarily) for the calculation of certain benefits.

In order to have the latest and accurate information, we recommend that you always first consult our sectoral information, which contains a detailed overview of the method of calculating the benefits granted by your sector (sector document JC 200 - eco vouchers).

You can also subscribe to the sector mailing list via our website. In that case, you will be immediately informed of any changes that are important to your company.

Source:

• CLA of 9 June 2016 relating to eco vouchers (reg. no. 134.425), in force since 1 July 2016 for an indefinite period;
• CLA no. 98 of 20 February 2009 relating to eco vouchers.