As announced in the federal agreement Michel I, the conditions of access to the unemployment with company allowance regime have been strengthened since 1 January 2015.
As you may recall, the unemployment with company allowance regime is a system that allows workers of a certain age and having completed a certain number of years as an employee to receive, in addition to their unemployment benefit, additional compensation from their former employer until they reach retirement age.
Since 1 January 2015, every 62-year-old employee can access the unemployment with company allowance regime if they can prove a 40-year professional career for male workers and 31 years for female workers. For the latter, the age will be increased each year until it reaches 40 years in 2024.
In addition, joint committees are able to maintain the age limit at 60 years until the end of 2017. To do this, they must conclude a collective labour agreement which must be registered before 1 July 2015 and come into force by 1 January 2015 [?6]. The age of 60 must be reached no later than the end of the employment contract and during the period of validity of the collective labour agreement.
Finally, note that there are exceptions to the age requirement or professional criteria (e.g. for workers who have worked a minimum of 20 years in a scheme involving night shifts or workers employed in a heavy-duty job or workers dismissed by a company in difficulty or a company subject to restructuring).
In conclusion, it will be more complicated for older workers to access the unemployment with company allowance regime.
