New extension corona unemployment
The government has decided to extend the existing corona unemployment scheme, which would normally expire on 31.12.2021, to 31.03.2022. The extension has also been communicated by the Unemployment Office (RVA/ONEM) in the meantime.
More information regarding the conditions for employers who wish to make use of this type of temporary unemployment can be found in our newsletter of 09.11.2020: COVID-19: temporary unemployment.
We would like to remind you that, as an employer, you need to take the following steps if you wish to apply corona unemployment:
Inform your employees in writing prior to the start of corona unemployment about:
- the period of corona unemployment;
- the number of days during which the employee will be temporarily unemployed and, in the event of partial corona unemployment, the number of days the employee is expected to work.
Let your Payroll Business Partner know which days your employees will work and which days they are unemployed.
Pro-Pay takes care of the required electronic registration of these unemployment days, which allows the Unemployment Office (RVA/ONEM) to determine the unemployment allowance for the employee.
Also the possibility of relying on temporary unemployment when a child of the employee is in quarantine or when the employee himself has to go in quarantine, is extended until 31.03.2022.
Assimilation corona unemployment for holidays - Employees in Belgium accrue holiday rights based upon their performance in the preceding calendar year, also referred to as the holiday reference year. A number of absences are assimilated for the entitlement to holidays and are thus considered as days worked. The days of temporary unemployment in the context of COVID-19 that took place between 01.02.2020 and 31.12.2020 were already assimilated to days worked for the holiday entitlement in 2021. In the meantime, the government decided that the days of temporary corona unemployment between 01.01.2021 and 31.12.2021 will also be assimilated to days worked for the holiday entitlement in 2022. A financial compensation will be provided for employers. This decision still has to be incorporated into an official document.
