What does 2023 have in store for you as an employer?

In 2023, in addition to the extension or modification of already existing measures, many new measures are planned.

Because these novelties can have a major impact on your company's human resources policy, we would like to give you an overview of the most important measures that will come into force in 2023 or that will have further effect in 2023.

Employment

• End of “recovery hours”: an employee could perform up to 120 recovery hours in 2022, on top of the 100 “classic” voluntary overtime hours that can already be performed under normal circumstances. This was a temporary measure that expired on 31 December 2022. From 2023, it will no longer be possible to have recovery hours performed. In our Infoflash of 12 December 2022, you can find out what other options you still have for overtime hours in 2023.
• Extension of the scope of flexi jobs: from 1 January 2023, flexi jobs are also possible in the sports sector (JC 223), movie theatres (JC 303.03), the entertainment business (JC 304) and health facilities and services (JC 330). The latter two sectors do have exclusions for certain jobs, e.g., care jobs in JC 330.
• Increase of the student quota to 600 hours: starting 1 January 2023, students will be allowed to work 600 hours per year with the application of reduced social security contributions. Until recently, the quota was 475 hours per year.
• Student work in healthcare sectors : the existing measure providing for the neutralization of student work hours performed in a healthcare facility is extended through 31 March 2023. So the hours of student work performed by a student in a healthcare facility in the first quarter of 2023 will not be charged against the annual quota of 600 hours.

Temporary unemployment

• Special system of temporary unemployment “energy”: the system of temporary economic unemployment “energy”, which can be applied by enterprises meeting the definition of energy-intensive enterprise, is extended until 31 March 2023.
• End of relaxations: the relaxation of certain conditions and formalities for temporary economic unemployment and temporary unemployment due to force majeure will end on 31 December 2022. As of 1 January  2023, the classic rules that can be found in our Infoflash of 21 December 2022 and our Infoflash of 6 December 2022 are again in effect.

2023-2024 wage agreement

The Federal Government reached a compromise on the 2023-2024 wage agreement in late November 2022. Taking into account the exceptional economic context, the Government has set the wage norm at 0% for 2023-2024.

However, enterprises with good or exceptional results in the previous year can grant a one-time premium of EUR 500 or EUR 750 per employee in 2023, known as the “purchasing power premium”.  The drafts state that the premium could be awarded once until 31 December 2023. The premium will be subject to a special employer contribution of 16.5%. No contribution will be due by the employee. The purchasing power premium would be tax-free at the tax level. (https://news.belgium.be/fr/prime-pouvoir-dachat-pour-les-travailleurs-salaries-dentreprises-ayant-obtenu-de-bons-resultats-en).

Mobility

• Company cars - NSSO: The formula for calculating the solidarity contribution due to the NSSO by employers on company cars will be adapted on 1 January 2023. In addition, as part of the greening of mobility, the government has decided that the CO2 contribution for certain cars (company cars purchased, rented or leased from 1 July 2023) will increase sharply through the application of a coefficient. More information on the new formula can be found in our Infoflash of 13 December 2022.
• Company car: the new reference CO2 emissions for 2023 can be found in our Infoflash of 16 December 2022
• Higher kilometric allowance equal to 0.4259 euros per kilometre (Infoflash of 3 January 2023) Work-life balance

• Extension of birth leave: for births from 1 January 2023, the employee will be entitled to be absent from work for 20 days (instead of 15 days). More information can be found in our Infoflash of 23 December 2022.
• Right to deconnect: companies with at least 20 employees must conclude a company collective bargaining agreement or amend the employment regulations to elaborate the concrete conditions and guidelines for the right to deconnect within the company. Based on the labour deal, those formalities had to be completed by 1 January 2023. In practice, however, the administration will apply a three-month grace period for completing these formalities, and thus companies will have until 31 March 2023 to enter into a company CBA or amend the employment regulations. We are glad to help you in the meantime with a model document with regard to the right to deconnect via this link: model documents.
• More stringent time credit (subject to publication of legislation): as part of the budget agreement, the federal government announced more stringent provisions for the existing time credit systems. Amongst others the introduction of more stringent conditions of access and exercise for time credit “care for (a) child(ren) under 8 years old” (e.g. age of the child reduced to 5 years and duration reduced to 48 months); These adjustments have yet to be published but would take effect in 2023.

Social elections in 2024, prepare in 2023!

The next social elections will take place from 13 May through 26 May 2024. However, you should already start preparations in 2023 (e.g.: specific calculation in order to determine whether your company has at least 50 and/or 100 employees) and, moreover, the procedure in principle already starts in the course of December 2023 (Infoflash social elections 2024).

Various

• Copyright reform : as of 1 January 2023, the scope for the tax-favoured copyright regime will be limited.
• Internal whistleblower reporting channel: by 2023, companies of 50 or more employees must establish an internal reporting channel through which they can receive and process (anonymous) employee reports about violations of certain regulations. For companies with 250 employees or more, the internal reporting channel must be set up by 15 February 2023. Companies with 50 to 249 employees have time to do so until 17 December 2023.
• If you are a company with an average of at least 50 employees, then in 2023 you must again submit the analysis report (2021-2022) on the remuneration structure of the employees to the works council or, if your company does not have a works council, to the trade union delegation. This report must be provided within 3 months following the end of the financial year.  New amounts

• New fiscal amounts as of 1 January 2023: you can find the new amounts in our Infoflash of 28 December 2022.
• Wage bonus CBA No. 90: the caps for 2023 are known (still subject to confirmation by the NSSO and tax administration). The indexed social cap is EUR 3,130 in 2023. The indexed tax cap is EUR 3,434 in 2023. More information can be found in our Infoflash of 22 December 2022.
• Limits on wage attachments and wage assignments in 2023: The new amounts for calculating the attachable or assignable portions in 2023 can be found in our Infoflash of 21 December 2022.
• Increase of the office allowance: EUR 148.73 per month as from 1 January 2023 (Infoflash of 3 January 2023)
• Domestic business travel - subsistence expenses: private sector employers may refer to the subsistence allowances granted to federal government staff members for the reimbursement of subsistence expenses made by employees on the occasion of business travels in Belgium. The amounts of the subsistence allowance changed on 1 December 2022. The new amounts can be found in our Infoflash of 8 December 2022.
• Wage thresholds with regard to employment contracts: the new wage thresholds applicable from 1 January 2023 can be found in our Infoflash of 2 December 2022.

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