Law on Feasible and Manageable Work - The temporary agency work contract of indefinite duration

A temporary work agency may conclude an employment contract of indefinite duration with a temporary agency worker with a view to carrying out successive temporary work assignments for one or more users.

“Temporary work assignments” means periods during which the temporary agency worker is hired out to a user by the temporary work agency with a view to carrying out temporary work authorised by or pursuant to Chapter I of the Law of 24 July 1987.

The objective of this measure is not to make the possibility of availing of temporary agency work for an indefinite period of time widespread and in doing so to no longer subject it to any time limit.Temporary agency work continues to only be possible for the carrying out of temporary work authorised by the Law of 24 July 1987.

Formalities for each temporary work assignment

For each temporary work assignment carried out within the framework of an employment contract of indefinite duration:

1. A contract must be concluded between the temporary work agency and the user;

2. The temporary work agency must provide the temporary agency worker with a letter of engagement containing the information included in a “standard” temporary agency work contract (see Article 9 and 9bis of the Law of 24 July 1987). This letter of engagement must be provided to the temporary agency worker no later than the start of the temporary work assignment.

The temporary agency work contract of indefinite duration

Temporary agency work contracts of indefinite duration are subject to the rules governing contracts concluded for an indefinite period of time, subject to exemptions, for the temporary agency workers, from the general rules relating to termination of contract determined by a sectoral collective labour agreement (Joint Committee 322 - Temporary Agency Work) made binding by royal decree.

Such contracts must be set down in writing no later than the time at which the temporary agency worker commences employment with the temporary work agency. The standard contract must be established by a sectoral collective labour agreement (Joint Committee 322 - Temporary Agency Work) made binding by royal decree.

An employment contract signed electronically is considered a written employment contract.

The temporary agency work contract must mention:

• The general terms relating to the performance of temporary work assignments and the working hours of the temporary agency worker.
  Contractual terms include the agreement between the parties regarding the geographical area in which the work can be carried out. As for working hours, this is the agreement concerning the periods during which the temporary agency worker is required to be available to be sent to a user (the days the temporary agency worker is available, whether or not he or she is prepared to work nights/Sundays, the hours during which the temporary agency worker must be reachable during periods between assignments, etc.).
• A description of the jobs for which the temporary agency worker can be hired that match his or her professional qualification.

The temporary agency worker is required to fulfil his or her contractual obligations in good faith and to accept every temporary work assignment that complies with the agreed general contractual terms.

Periods between assignments - right to a guaranteed minimum hourly wage

The temporary agency work contract may provide for periods of inactivity between two temporary work assignments referred to as “periods between assignments”.

These periods are treated as periods of activity for the determination of entitlements in the area of annual leave, for the calculation of years of service and for the application of the provisions of laws and agreements that take account of the worker’s years of service in the company.

During the periods between assignments, the temporary agency worker is entitled to a guaranteed minimum hourly wage for each hour of a day or a week of full-time work during which he or she is not hired out to a user. These elements must be set down in a sectoral collective labour agreement made binding by royal decree. In the absence of any such collective labour agreement, the provision cannot be applied.

A sectoral collective labour agreement (Joint Committee 322 - Temporary Agency Work) made binding by royal decree must determine the terms concerning the manner in which the temporary agency worker is notified of each new temporary work assignment that arises at the end of a period between assignments.

No temporary lay-offs for economic reasons during periods between assignments

During periods between assignments, performance of the employment contract cannot be suspended on account of a lack of work for economic reasons.

For the periods during which the temporary agency worker, bound to a temporary work agency by a temporary agency work contract of indefinite duration, is hired out to a user, the provisions relating to temporary agency work (Article 7 to 16 of the Law of 24 July 1987) apply.

No immediate entry into force

The measure comes into force on 1 February 2017 but, in practical terms, the option of concluding an open-ended employment contract can only be realised where the collective labour agreements referred to above have been concluded in the Joint Committee 322 - Temporary Agency Work and have been made binding by royal decree.

Source: Article 32 of the Law of 5 March 2017 on Feasible and Manageable Work, Belgian Official Gazette, 15 March 2017.

Author: Brigitte Dendooven

11/04/2017