System of collective bonus 'linked to results': new version in 2011!

The texts regulating the system of "non-recurring advantages linked to results" (i.e. Collective Labour Agreement n°90 and Act on Interprofessional agreements of 21 December 2007) have just been amended with a view to improving the system (with such amendments provided respectively by Collective Labour Agreement n°90bis of 21 December 2010 and by various provisions of the Act of 29 November 2010).

These amendments are essentially related to the following points:

1. The form: - There are now standard models of CBA and the so-called “acts of accession” (including the granting plan) which have to be used.

2. The procedure (when the granting plan is introduced by an act of accession):

- the observations' register at the disposal of the workers must still be deposited at the office of the Social Inspectorate ("Contrôle des lois socials") but now this office no longer has to provide an acknowledgment of receipt. As a consequence, this acknowledgment does not have to be enclosed with the file deposited at the registry of the FPS Employment and Labour. This document is henceforth substituted by an affidavit of the employer;

- when the act of accession and the granting act are rejected by the FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue competent state employee, the employer now may remedy the situation by adopting new act and plan to eliminate the eventual irregularities mentioned in the grounds for refusal. As a result, in the event of refusal, the employer no longer has to start over again with a new procedure with a new plan and a new period of reference;

- in practice, some joint committees refused to check the submitted act of accession and granting plan. It was only after a period of two months that the file was transferred to the competent state employee who was then undertaking the task of control. From now on the law expressly allows the joint committee "to decide to not decide", with the consequence that the file is directly transferred to the appropriate state employee.

3. The content:

- the employer could already reduce the amount of the advantage in proportion to the effective services rendered during the period of reference but also had to “assimilate” the maternity leave to these effective services. From now on the annual leave and the legal holidays will also have to be assimilated to the effective services for the calculation of the advantage;

- the precise number of workers concerned by the plan (at the moment of its introduction) now has to be mentioned. For reasons of clarity, some of the provisions have also been reformulated.

The modifications come into force on 1 April 2011. In addition, the National Labour Council has urged the different social inspection services to carry out controls with a view to ensuring strict respect of the legal provisions.