Social elections 2024: what is meant by "management staff" and "executives”?

During the (pre-) electoral process, it will be necessary to determine the duties of the management staff and, where appropriate, the duties of the executives.

A brief presentation of these two concepts in the context of the legislation on social elections.

Reminder! Social elections will take place between 13 May and 26 May 2024 in all companies employing a minimum number of employees. The aim is to elect the employees' representatives within a committee for prevention and protection at work (C.P.P.W.) and a works council (W.C.) in companies  habitually employing, on average, at least 50 employees and at least 100 employees respectively during the period from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023.

Management staff

Management staff includes the "persons responsible for the company's day-to-day management who have the power to represent and commit the employer and the members of staff directly subordinate to such people when they also carry out day-to-day management duties".

This definition applies both to the WC and the CPPW. The employer's representatives within the WC and the CPPW must be appointed from among the persons exercising management duties.

The distribution of day-to-day management duties may not affect more than two levels of the company's personnel structure.

The duties at a third level are therefore excluded from the category of management duties.

Level 1 management duties

These are the duties assigned to the persons responsible for the company's day-to-day management even if they are not employed as salaried employees of the company and/or are not part of the staff of the technical operational unit within which a WC and/or a CPPW has/have to be established.

Level 2 management duties

These are the duties performed by employees who are directly (absence of any intermediaries) subordinate to the level 1 management staff and who contribute to carrying out a part of the day-to-day management, within their sphere of competence, pursuant to a delegation of authority.

These must be persons under an employment contract.

As with the persons of the first level, they must have real power to make decisions that are binding on the employer.

Note! Neither the confidential counsellor (who is part of the personnel) nor the prevention advisor (who is part of the personnel) may be a delegate of the employer in the CPPW/the WC.

Executives

The concept of "executives" is specific to companies employing at least 100 employees. Such companies must provide executives with separate representation within the WC which must be established if they have at least 15 executives on day X (= day of posting of the notice announcing the date of the elections).

Executives are the "non-manual workers who, except those who are part of the management staff, occupy a higher position generally reserved to holders of a diploma of a given level or to those who have equivalent professional experience”.

Executives are the people who meet the following criteria:

• they have the status of a non-manual worker; in other words, a manual worker cannot be a member of the executive staff;
• they cannot be a member of the management staff (see above);
• they must occupy a higher position in the company (due to the authority delegated to the non-manual worker or the task entrusted);
• they must have a diploma of a given level (a higher education diploma is sufficient; it does not necessarily have to be a University degree), or equivalent professional experience;
• they must occupy a position generally reserved for such graduates or equivalents to such.

Note! Employees (and employees’ representatives) must be informed and consulted on this matter during the pre-electoral process. The procedures for doing so will be described later.

Do you want us to calculate the workforce of your technical business unit? Do you need advice or customized support for your social elections? Do not hesitate to contact us via esv2024@partena.be.

Sources: Social elections Act of 4 December 2007; organization of the business industry Act of 20 September 1948; well-being of employees in the performance of their work Act of 4 August 1996.