Is the end of the sick bill in sight?
On Oct. 21, 2022, the parliament approved the text of the bill containing various provisions on disability.
In accordance with Article 31 of the Labor Contracts Law, if a collective bargaining agreement or the labor regulations so require, the employee must have a medical certificate submit in case of disability due to illness or accident. This is also always possible at the employer's request.
The Act of October 21, 2022, adds to this article a new section 2/1, reading:
"Notwithstanding § 2, paragraphs 2 and 3, the employee is not obliged to submit a medical certificate three times per calendar year before the first day of incapacity for work. If necessary, he shall immediately inform the employer of the address at which he will reside during this first day of incapacity for work, unless this address corresponds to his usual place of residence known to the employer."
Soon the incapacitated employee will consequently no sick bill need to bring in more at one day absence. Note: The rule applies to A maximum of 3 days of absence per year. This exemption applies both to a one-day disability and to the first day of a longer period of disability.
Of course, the incapacitated employee must still inform the employer immediately of his/her incapacity for work. In addition, the employer still has the possibility to check the work disability. If the incapacitated employee does not provide a certificate for a day of illness, the employer can always request a control doctor ask to verify that unfitness. This verification option remains in place to prevent abuse.
Thus, it is not the case that employees have 3 additional leave days per year.
Derogation for enterprises with fewer than 50 employees
In smaller companies, however, it is not always easy to accommodate unforeseen absences. For this reason, the legislature opted to provide a possibility for companies with fewer than 50 employees to derogate from Section 2/1.
How can one deviate from this?
If your company has fewer than 50 employees on January 1, you can ask your employees to always submit a medical certificate. So even for one day of illness or disability due to an accident.
To regulate this, it should be explicitly included in the labor regulations. It is also possible to introduce the derogation through a company collective bargaining agreement.
The deviation does not have to be reestablished annually. If the deviation was included in the labor regulations and the company has more than 50 employees in a given year, it is automatically disregarded.
Entry into force
The law was approved on Oct. 21, 2022. Since Nov. 18, 2022, the law was published in the Belgian Official Gazette so it will come into effect from Nov. 28, 2022.
Would you like more information about this or to be assisted by a specialized lawyer? Please feel free to contact us at info@bannister.be or at 03/369.28.00.
