Belgium: Redundant employees entitlement to public support

Phase: Ordinance of 18 January 2001 on the organisation and functioning of the Brussels Regional Employment Service; Decree of 6 May 1999 on the Walloon Office for Vocational Training and Employment; Decree of 7 May 2004 on the establishment of the public law external autonomous agency 'Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeidsbemiddeling en Beroepsopleiding'; Decree of 17 January 2000 on the establishment of an employment office for the German-speaking Community; Cooperation Agreement of 24 February 2005 concluded between the Brussels-Capital Region, the Walloon Region, the Flemish Region, the Flemish Community, the German-speaking Community and the French-speaking Community for inter-regional mobility of job seekers
Native name: Ordonnance portant organisation et fonctionnement de l'Office régional bruxellois de l'Emploi du 18 janvier 2001/Ordonnantie houdende organisatie en werking van de Brusselse gewestelijke Dienst voor Arbeidsbemiddeling van 18 januari 2001; Décret du 6 mai 1999 relatif à l’Office wallon de la formation professionnelle et de l’emploi (French only); Décret du 7 mai 2004 relatif à la création de l'agence autonomisée externe de droit public 'Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeidsbemiddeling en Beroepsopleiding'/Decreet van 7 mei 2004 tot oprichting van het publiekrechtelijk vormgegeven extern verzelfstandigd agentschap 'Vlaamse Dienst voor Arbeidsbemiddeling en Beroepsopleiding'; Décret du 17 janvier 2000 portant création d’un Office de l’emploi en Communauté germanophone/Decreet van 17 januari 2000 tot oprichting van een dienst voor arbeidsbemiddeling in de Duitstalige Gemeenschap; Accord de coopération du 24 février 2005 conclu entre la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, la Région wallonne, la Région flamande, la Communauté flamande, la Communauté germanophone et la Commission communautaire française concernant la mobilité interrégionale des chercheurs d'emploi/Samenwerkingsakkoord van 24 februari 2005 gesloten tussen het Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, het Waals Gewest, het Vlaams Gewest, de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, de Duitstalige Gemeenschap en de Franse Gemeenschapscommissie betreffende de interregionale mobiliteit van de werkzoekenden
Type: Redundant employees entitlement to public support
Added to database: 16 December 2015

Article

Ordinance of 18 January 2001: 1-40 (Actiris); Decree of 6 May 1999: 1- 61 (Forem); Decree of 7 May 2004: 1-26 (VDAB); Decree of 17 January 2000: 1-21 (Arbeitsamt); Cooperation Agreement of 24 February 2004: 1-8

Description

These laws define the principles and terms that the regional employment services have to follow. The regional employment services have signed a management contract with the federal public employment service in order to improve the collaboration between the different regional employment services (for instance, aiming at improving information exchange, creating more transparency, and setting up transregional training programmes).

In Belgium, there are four regional public employment organisations:

Foremin Wallonia;
VDAB in Flanders;
Actiris in Brussels; and
Arbeitsamt for the German-speaking community.

Among others, occupational integration and vocational training are managed by regional public employment organisations. These regional public employment services aim at helping unemployed people or people without a job to find a (new) job. In some cases, vocational training is proposed to those people in order to help them being in line with the labour market expectations. For these missions, the regional employment services do not make any distinction between unemployed people, young people without a job or redundant workers.

However, the four organisations also provide, in cooperation with the social partners, collective support to redundant workers by implementing a regional reemployment unit in the so-called ‘reconversion cell’ form, which is a type of outplacement unit). These outplacement units are legally binding for 45+ redundant workers.

In 2005, the four regional employment services signed a cooperation agreement which defines a collaboration protocol between them. This agreement plans that, if a collective layoff of a minimum of 250 workers occurs in a region with a minimum of 50 workers domiciled in another region, an outplacement unit is set up. However, the regional employment services may cooperate also in cases of collective layoffs affecting fewer than 250 workers.

Commentary

No information available.

Additional metadata

Cost covered by: National government
Involved actors other than national government: Employer organisation Public employment service Trade union
Involvement (others): None
Thresholds: Affected employees: No, applicable in all circumstances
Company size: No, applicable in all circumstances
Additional information: No, applicable in all circumstances

Sources

Citation

Eurofound (2015), Belgium: Redundant employees entitlement to public support, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/redundant-employees-entitlement-to-public-support/belgium

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