Vaccination leave: reintroduced from 1 October to 31 December 2022

The law of 15 November 2022 allows employees who want to be vaccinated against the coronavirus COVID-19 once again to enjoy leave of absence. This right applies from 1 October 2022 until 31 December 2022.

Leave from absence is also granted to the employee when he/she accompanies a minor child living with him/her, an adult child with a disability or a person over whom he/she has legal custody to a vaccination site to be vaccinated against the coronavirus COVID-19.

What is the duration of the leave? 

Any employee bound to an employer by an employment contract has the right to be absent from work while retaining his/her usual wage during the time required for his/her vaccination against the coronavirus COVID-19 or for the vaccination of the person he/she accompanies (a minor child living with living with him/her, an adult child with a disability or a person under legal custody).

By ‘time necessary’ is meant not only the time required for the vaccination itself, but also the time spent travelling to and from the location where the vaccination will take place.

What are the formalities?

To be entitled to the wage, the employee must inform the employer in advance and as soon as possible, i.e. as soon as he/she knows the time or the timeslot for the vaccination. The employee must use the leave of absence for the purpose for which it is granted.

At the employer’s request, the employee must provide proof of this. Presentation of the confirmation of the appointment to be present at a location where the vaccination is administered at a specified time constitutes sufficient proof. To the extent that the confirmation does not specify when the employee (or the person he/she accompanies) should be present at a location where the vaccination is administered, the invitation to the vaccination must also be presented.

Important note!

If the employee is allowed to choose the time of vaccination, no pressure can be exerted on him/her to have the vaccination outside working hours. Furthermore, the employer cannot force his employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus COVID-19, as this vaccine is only administered on a voluntary basis.

The employer may also only use the information he obtained about the vaccination for the purpose of organising work and ensuring a correct payroll administration. He may not take a copy of the appointment confirmation, in any form, or manually write out the information it contains, except for the time of the appointment. He may only register the employee's absence as 'leave of absence'. He is not allowed to register the reason for the leave of absence and/or to record that the employee has health problems.

What if the employee is unfit for work after vaccination?

Vaccination leave does not cover the employee's absence if he/she experiences side effects as a result of the injection of the vaccine and is therefore unfit for work. In that case, the employee will have to comply with his/her obligations in case of incapacity for work and the normal rules on incapacity for work and guaranteed wage will apply.

What for the period from 1 July to 30 September 2022?

There is no law granting the right to enjoy vaccination leave during the period from 1 July 2022 to 30 September 2022 Unless the joint committee or the company has agreed otherwise, an employee who has been absent during working hours to be vaccinated cannot demand that his/her employer maintain his/her wage for the hours of absence to be vaccinated.

Source: Law of 15 November 2022 reintroducing a right to leave of absence for employees in order to receive a vaccine against the coronavirus COVID-19, Belgian Official Gazette of 21 November 2022.