Exemption from employing young people under a "Convention de Premier Emploi" (CPE) in JC 120, 214, 140.03, 118 and 220

Subject to certain conditions, employers are obliged to employ a certain number of workers younger than 26, unless an exemption applies.

Obligation to hire

Employers in the private sector occupying at least 50 employees on 30 June of the previous calendar year are obliged to employ workers younger than 26 up to a certain percentage of their workforce, calculated on a time-equivalent basis: 3% for the profit sector and 1.5% for the non-profit sector.

Employers who do not employ 50 employees on 30 June of the previous calendar year do not have to fulfil this obligation.

Possibility of exemption

The law on CPE allows the FPS Employment, Labour, and Social Dialogue to grant a total exemption from this obligation to sectors that request it. This exemption is granted when the sector devotes at least 0.15% of the quarterly wage bill to "at-risk groups" and also makes special efforts at recruitment level.

The following joint committees have made use of this possibility:

• JC 120 and 214 (joint committees for the textile industry) ; 
• SJC 140.03 (sub-joint committee for transport and logistics for third parties);
• JC 118 and 220 (joint committees for the food industry).

Employers who fall under joint committees 120, 140.03, 120 or 118 for their blue-collar workers and 214 or 220 for their white-collar workers are exempt from the obligation to employ workers younger than 26. The exemption is applicable from 1st January 2024 until 31st December 2025.

Note!

Employers who belong to JC 140.03 for their blue-collar workers are fully exempt, even if they employ white-collar workers and if their workforce includes more white-collar workers than blue-collar workers.

Sources:

• Ministerial Decree of 6 September 2024 derogating from the obligation to employ young workers for companies which, for their manual workers, fall under the competence of the joint committee for the textile industry (JC 120) and for their non-manual workers under the competence of the joint committee for the non-manual workers of the textile industry (JC 214), Belgian Official Gazette of 11/09/2024;
• Ministerial Decree of 9 September 2024 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 (JC 140.03), Belgian Official Gazette of 11/09/2024;
• Ministerial Decree of 9 September 2024 derogating from the obligation to employ young workers for companies which, for their manual workers, fall under the competence of the joint committee for the food industry (JC 118) and for their non-manual workers under the competence of the joint committee for the non-manual workers of the food industry (JC 220), Belgian Official Gazette of 11/09/2024.