Exemption from employing young workers under a 'first job agreement' (FJA) in JC 140.01, 140.03 and 118 & 220

When certain conditions are met employers are obliged to employ a given number of young workers aged under 26. Except if they are exempted from this obligation.

Obligation to engage

Employers of the private sector employing at least 50 workers on 30 June of the previous calendar year are obliged to employ young workers aged under 26 at a given percentage of their total staff calculated in full-time equivalents: 3 % for the merchant sector and 1,5 % for the non-merchant sector.

Employers who employ less than 50 workers on 30 June of the previous calendar year must not meet this obligation.

Possible exemption

The act on the FJAs allows the FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue to grant full exemption from this obligation to the sectors on request. This exemption is granted when the sector spends at least 0,15% of the quarterly wage bill in favour of 'risk groups' and, in addition to this, makes special efforts with regard to the recruitment of workers.

JC no. 140.01 (buses and coaches), 140.03 (road transport and contract haulage) and 118 and 220 (companies of the food industry) have made use of this possibility.

Employers coming under JC no. 140.01, 140.03 and 118 for their manual workers and JC no. 220 for their non-manual workers are exempted from the obligation to engage young workers aged under 26. The exemption applies from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021.

Please note!

Employers coming under JC no. 140.01 or 140.03 for their manual workers are fully exempted, even if they employ non-manual workers and their staff consists of more non-manual workers than manual workers.

Sources:

• Ministerial Decree of 12 November 2020 derogating from the obligation to employ young employees for companies which, for their manual workers, fall within the competence of the Joint Committee for the Food Industry (JC 118) and for their non-manual workers within the competence of the Joint Committee for the Non-Manual Workers of the Food Industry (JC 220), Belgian Official Gazette of 26.11.2020;
• Ministerial Decree of 12 November 2020 derogating from the obligation to employ young employees for the employers of companies offering regular services, special regular services and occasional services which fall within the competence of the Joint Committee for Transport and Logistics (JC 140), Belgian Official Gazette of 26.11.2020;
• Ministerial Decree of 12 November 2020 derogating from the obligation to employ young employees for the employers which fall within the competence of the Joint Committee for Transport and Logistics (JC 140) and belong to the sub-sector of goods transport and the handling of goods on behalf of third parties, Belgian Official Gazette 26.11.2020.