Paid educational leave: what's new?

There is quite a lot happening in the field of paid educational leave, both on a regional and federal level.

Federal level: wage threshold

For absences in the context of educational leave, the worker is entitled to the payment of his normal wage on the usual maturity dates. However, this wage is limited to a certain amount (except if the employer agrees to not apply this threshold).

The government has passed a draft royal decree establishing the wage threshold for the school year 2015/2016. This threshold will remain unchanged compared to the previous years: 2,760 EUR/ month

The legal text, so far, has not yet been published in the Belgian Official Gazette.

Regional level: amount of the hourly reimbursement

Walloon Region 

For the training courses followed during the school year 2014/2015, the Walloon Region has fixed a unit amount for the reimbursement of the hours of paid educational leave, regardless of the type of training that the worker has followed. This amount is set at 21.30 EUR per actual training hour attended.

The legal text so far has not yet been published in the Official Belgian Gazette.

Brussels-Capital Region

For the training courses followed during the school year 2014/2015, the Brussels-capital region has fixed a unit amount for the reimbursement of the hours of paid educational leave, regardless of the type of training that the worker has followed. This amount is set at 21.30 EUR per actual training hour attended.

Interregional summary table

The novelties in this table published in our Infoflash of 14 January 2016 are shown in italic.

School year	Amount of the reimbursement
	Flemish Region	Walloon Region	Brussels-Capital Region
2013/2014	21.54 EUR/h for skills development training 22.08 EUR/h for sectoral training 18.49 EUR/h for general training 21.04 EUR/h for all other training
Regionalisation on 1 July 2014
2014/2015	21,30 EUR/h, regardless of the type of training	21,30 EUR/h, regardless of the type of training	21,30 EUR/h, regardless of the type of training
2015/2016	No amount available

Your reimbursement applications  

School year 2014/2015

Applications for the reimbursement of training courses followed by workers who are employed in your establishment unit located in the Walloon and Brussels Capital Region during the school year 2014-2015 will have to be submitted by 30 June 2016 at the latest. (The deadline to be observed if you have an establishment unit in the Flemish Region was 31 March 2016 - see our Infoflash of 23 October 2015) 

We advise you not to wait until the above decree of the Walloon government establishing the amount of the reimbursement per hour for this school year is published to submit these applications.

We clarify that the Walloon Region in its decree of 28 April 2016 has officially confirmed the fact that henceforth it is only competent for workers who are employed in an establishment unit located in the French-speaking territory and who benefit from paid educational leave. Therefore, the workers who are employed in an establishment unit located in the German-speaking community do no longer fall within its competencies.

As from 1 January 2016, the reimbursement applications for:

• the establishment units in the German-speaking Walloon Region must be sent to the German-speaking community (the Forem being competent for the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 December 2015);
• the establishment units in the French-speaking Walloon Region will still have to be submitted to the Forem.

Establishment unit employing the worker for whom the reimbursement was requested	Competent body
	As from 01 April 2015	As from 01 January 2016
Flemish Region	Department Of Work and Social Economy
Brussels-Capital Region	Brussels Economy and Employment
French-speaking Walloon Region	Forem	Forem
German-speaking Walloon Region	Forem	German-speaking Community

As from the school year 2016/2017

New deadline

In time, the Walloon Region will reduce the deadline for submitting your reimbursement applications for your French-speaking establishment units by 3 months: from the school year 2016-2017, the reimbursement applications will have to be submitted by 31 March of the following year. If the training course is phased over several years, the application must be submitted by 31 March of the year following the last day of each training year.

Example: the reimbursement applications for the school year 2016/2017 will have to be submitted by 31 March 2018 at the latest, regardless of whether the worker follows a training course of one year such as a diploma in specialised studies (DES) or a training course over several years, such as a master.

Particularities

The Walloon Region has also introduced a particular measure:

• for the training courses not organised per school year and taking place during the same school year (including the summer holidays). The reimbursement applications will have to be submitted by 31 March of the year following the last day of the school year in which the training course ends (and not on the last day of each training year as is the case for the training courses to be organized per school year).

Example: Training sessions are organised from 1 January to 31 July 2016. The application for reimbursement will have to be submitted by 31 March 2017.

• for the hours of educational leave granted for training sessions which are not organised per school year and runover successive school years. These will have to be broken down according to the school year in which the hours of paid educational leave were taken. The reimbursement applications will have to be submitted by 30 June or 31 March of the year following each school year.

Example: the worker has taken 100 hours of paid educational leave: 30 hours in 2015 and 70 hours in 2016.

Two applications for reimbursement will have to be submitted:

- a first application by 30 June 2016 for 30 hours taken in 2015;

- a second application by 31 March 2017 for 70 hours taken in 2016.

Example: the worker has taken 100 hours of paid educational leave: 30 hours in 2016 and 70 hours in 2017.

Two applications for reimbursement will have to be submitted:

- a first application by 31 March 2017 for 30 hours taken in 2016;

- a second application by 31 March 2018 for 70 hours taken in 2017.

Please do not hesitate to call on us for the submission of your reimbursement applications to the competent Region. Contact our Paid Educational Leave department by email (AdministrationTeam@partena.be).

Sources:

• Draft royal decree amending the royal decree of 23 July 1985 implementing section 6 – The granting of paid educational leave in the context of continuing training of the workers – of Chapter IV of the Recovery Act of 22 January 1985 containing social provisions;
• Draft decree of the Walloon government amending the royal decree of 23 July 1985 implementing section 6 – The granting of paid educational leave in the context of continuing training of the workers – of Chapter IV of the Recovery Act of 22 January 1985 containing social provisions;
• Decree of the government of the Brussels-Capital Region of 12 May 2016 amending article 16bis of the royal decree of 23 July 1985 implementing section 6 – The granting of paid educational leave in the context of continuing training of the workers – of Chapter IV of the Recovery Act of 22 January 1985 containing social provisions, Belgian Official Gazette of 19 May 2016;
• Decree of the Walloon Government of 28 April 2016 implementing the 6th state reform and the various provisions on the employment policy, articles 16 to 25, Belgian Official Gazette of 11 May 2016.