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New rules for successive daily contracts for temporary work

Newsflash
Social inspections and criminal law

Under certain conditions companies may use consecutive daily contracts for temporary work. These are employment contracts for temporary work with a duration of no more than 24 hours that immediately follow each other or are separated at most by a public holiday or by the usual days of inactivity within the company. The current conditions and obligations are changed as of 1 October 2018.

Under certain conditions and subject to compliance with a number of obligations, companies can use consecutive daily contracts for temporary work. The applicable terms and conditions are contained in CBA no. 108 concerning temporary employment and temporary work of the National Labour Council (NLC). For the purpose of reducing the number of consecutive daily contracts and their improper use, the NLC adopted on 24 July 2018, CBA no. 108/2 in which these conditions were changed.

Thus, consecutive daily contracts for temporary work can only be used if the user (this is the company that uses the temporary worker) proves that there is a “need for flexibility”. The user will have to demonstrate that the contracts meet a real need for flexibility, because the volume of work (i) very much depends on external factors, or (ii) fluctuates sigificantly or (iii) is linked to the nature of the assignment.

Furthermore, the works council (or in the absence thereof the trade union delegation) must be informed and consulted on the use of successive daily contracts. This consultation and information procedure was considerably extended by CBA no. 108/2. In this regard, the following information must be provided at the beginning of each quarter:

  • detailed information about the number of consecutive daily contracts in the previous quarter and the number of temporary workers that are employed via consecutive daily contracts;
  • proof of the aforementioned “need for flexibility”;
  • if expressly requested by the employees’ representatives, information regarding the number of temporary workers per tranche of successive daily contracts.

If there is no works council or trade union delegation within the company, the above-mentioned information must be provided by the temp agency to the Fund for the subsistence security for temporary workers.

In addition, the works council (or in the absence thereof the trade union delegation) must be consulted annually (coinciding with one of the two quarterly information meetings) on the use of successive daily contracts for temporary work and the motivation to make persistent use of successive day contracts.

CBA no. 108/2 will enter into force on 1 October 2018. The first (renewed) quarterly information moment will subsequently have to take place at the start of the first quarter of 2019 and relate to the fourth quarter of 2018.

> Action point

When using consecutive daily contracts for temporary work, you must verify that there is a real need for flexibility and that the information and consultation procedure is met. The first stricter quarterly information session will relate to the fourth quarter of 2018 and will take place at the start of the first quarter of 2019.