SESAM: changes

On 1 June 2013, the Walloon Region has introduced a new measure for the promotion of employment for employers of the commercial sector with a place of business based in the Walloon Region: the SESAM measure (= Soutien à l' Emploi dans les Secteurs d'Activités Marchands).

The decree of the Walloon Region of 20 February 2014 brings certain changes to that measure.

In order to benefit from the SESAM measure, the employer must meet certain conditions including being an autonomous enterprise.

An enterprise is autonomous in the sense of the decree of 2 May 2013 if it does not have a holding of 25% or more in any other enterprise or if another enterprise or public institution or several linked enterprises or public bodies do not have a stake of 25% or more of the capital or voting rights in the enterprise.

However, the new decree states that a partner enterprise or linked enterprise can benefit from the SESAM measure provided that the combination of its data and those of the partner or linked enterprise(s) does not exceed the thresholds set at European level (i.e. the definitions of micro-enterprise and small enterprise).

• The education and training sector (NACE code 85.10 to 85.5) and any company whose activity is the provision of training courses or the organization of seminars, were not excluded from the SESAM measure if the employer was a micro-enterprise or small enterprise. This exception is raised. From now on, these employers are excluded from the measure, regardless of their legal form.
• Two new sectors of activity have been excluded from the SESAM measure:
  • the sector of lotteries and gambling (NACE 92.000)
  • the sector of service vouchers only for staff hired to carry out household tasks at home or outside under the service vouchers system.

The SESAM aid is limited to € 55,000 per fiscal year per company.

The new decree also introduces an additional limitation: the employer can now benefit only from SESAM aid for the recruitment of up to 5 full-time equivalents.

To benefit from SESAM aid, the employer must hire a new worker. The decree of 2 May 2013 provided that the non-working job seeker had to be hired with a minimum half-time contract of employment for a definite or indefinite period.

The new decree deletes the words 'non-working'. This means that the working job seeker that was hired in the context of the SESAM measure should also be hired with a minimum half-time contract of employment for a definite or indefinite period.

It is in fact a compliance text.

These changes came into force on 23 March 2014.

Source : Decree of 20 February 2014 amending various decrees regarding employment, Moniteur belge, 13 March 2014.

Auteur : Anne Ghysels

15-04-2014