The law of 16 November 2015 instituted a new form of employment. Employees who already have a principal occupation with one or more employer(s) of at least 4/5 working days a week may take up a complementary job with another employer, i.e. a “flexi-job”.
Initially, these flexi-job system only applied to employees and employers from the hotel and catering sector (Joint Committee 302 – also known as the “Horeca” sector) as well as to interim workers (JC 322) working in the Horeca sector. The main objective of the law was in fact to support the labour-intensive Horeca sector and tackle undeclared work.
Employees in a flexi-job benefit from a flexi-salary of a minimum of EUR 9.18 net per hour and a flexi-holiday allowance of 7.67% of the flexi-salary, i.e. a minimum of EUR 0.70 per hour (2017 figures). This flexi-salary and flexi-holiday allowance are subject to a 25% employer special social security contribution (there is no employee’s social security contribution) and are completely exempt from taxes. Moreover, the flexi-salary, the flexi-holiday allowance and the 25% employer’s contribution constitute deductible expenses for the employer.
On 6 November 2017, the Government introduced a draft program law extending the application of flexi-jobs, as from 1 January 2018, to (1) retired persons and (2) sectors other than Horeca. Consequently, employees and employers in the following sectors could soon also benefit from flexi-jobs:
Food trade sector (JC 119).
Independent retail trade sector (JC 201).
Food retail trade sector (JC 202).
Medium-sized food companies (JC 202.01).
Large retail companies sector (JC 312).
Large department stores sector (JC 312).
Hairdressing and beauty care sector (JC 314).
Social and Guarantee Fund for bakeries, cake shops and annexed consumption bars established in the food industry sector (JC 118), sub-sector for industrial bakeries.
Temporary work sector (JC 322) if the employee is to work in one of the above-mentioned sectors.
Gil Gennaux
Junior Associate, Brussels
gil.gennaux@cms-db.com
Sophie Berg
Partner, Brussels
sophie.berg@cms-db.com
Gaël Chuffart
Partner, Brussels
gael.chuffart@cms-db.com
