Investing in Wallonia | Setting up a business| Employing staff

Steps to be taken before employing staff:

Anyone wishing to employ staff must fulfil a certain number of formalities and obligations, where this includes the following:

1. Registering with an employers' social-accounting secretariat
2. DIMONA requirements
3. Insurance against accidents in the workplace
4. Other mandatory registrations
5. Mandatory administrative documents
6. Setting up collective-bargaining committees
7. Internal/external workplace health and safety committees
8. Work authorisations for non-national workers

REGISTERED MEMBERSHIP WITH AN EMPLOYERS' SOCIAL-ACCOUNTING SECRETARIAT

Anyone (individual or legal entity) who wishes to employ staff can register with an employers' social accounting secretariat (secrétariat social). Registering with an employers' social accounting secretariat is not mandatory, however it can help with fulfilling the administrative formalities required for the employment and management of staff.

At what stage is this done? 

Before the first worker is employed or while the business is up and running.

What does this involve?

An employers' social-accounting secretariat is an organisation that carries out the required formalities on behalf of the employer. In particular, these formalities relate to social security legislation within the context of employing and managing staff.
It is recommended that you choose a secretariat that is approved by the Belgian Minister of Social Affairs.
Apart from processing data relating to salaries and salary calculations, the employers' social-accounting secretariat can also take responsibility for the main administrative formalities to be fulfilled by the employer:

• Registered membership with a family allowances fund
• Registered membership with an annual holiday fund
• Registration with the employer's relevant tax collector: This is the tax office to which the employer will submit his or her retained prepaid tax on professional income.
• Drawing up of individual employment contracts
• Drawing up of a staff register
• Provision of other company documents: Salary statements, individual earnings records, holiday certificates etc .
• Requesting of pension numbers for workers for whom this is their first position
• Registration with a joint committee (its main purpose is to globally negotiate the work and pay conditions of workers employed in a given sector)

Where can I obtain a list of approved employers' social accounting secretariats?

Each year, the Moniteur Belge (Belgian version of the Official Journal) publishes a list of approved employers' social-accounting secretariats.
Employers can obtain a copy of this list from the "Inspection" department of the O.N.S.S. (Belgian national social security office):
Office national de Sécurité sociale (ONSS)
Tel. : ++ 32 2 509 31 11 - Fax.: ++ 32 2 509 30 19
Site : http://www.onssrszlss.fgov.be/onssrsz/Fr/home.htm

DIMONA requirements

DIMONA is the immediate notification of the employment or departure of a worker. All employers must provide this notification electronically from the moment they start employing staff.

Who does this concern?

Immediate notification is mandatory for all employers regardless of which sector they work in. Compliance with this requirement means that notification is mandatory for all workers. The process is definitive and irreversible.

What does it involve?

By submitting this notification, the employer informs the O.N.S.S. of the appointment or departure of a worker within the company.

Each worker is assigned a personal Dimona code which the social security bodies use to obtain immediate information on the identity and work situation of the employee (start dates, end dates of all members of staff).
This means that employers only need to submit this information once.

Notification is submitted in any of the following ways:

• Either by the employers themselves using the website and a voice server (telephone number: + 32 02 511 51 51) or, if a large number of DIMONA notifications need to be submitted, employers can use structured notification forms submitted by file transfer,
• Employers can go directly to the regional O.N.S.S. office where they can use a PC which is made available to the public free of charge,
• Notification can be submitted through intermediaries whose role is to assist employers in meeting their social obligations. These include employers' social-accounting secretariats, employers' organisations. Notification is submitted according to the methods determined by these intermediaries,
• Notification can also be submitted through an approved business support centre (guichets d'entreprise, which replacing the previous chambers of commerce system) acting on behalf of the person in question.

At what stage is this done?

Notification must be submitted when
1) a worker joins the company, and no later than the day on which employment commences.
2) a worker leaves the company, and no later than the next working day following the worker's departure from the company

Where is this done?

At the offices of the O.N.S.S.

insurance cover for accidents in the workplace

Once an employer starts employing staff, he or she is obliged to take out insurance against accidents in the workplace.

What does this involve?

As soon as employers starts employing staff, they must take out insurance against accidents in the workplace for all employees. In principle, each member of staff must be insured, including employees who have no social security cover.

Insurance against accidents in the workplace covers accidents that occur during work as well as accidents that occur on the way to work. It covers all activities for which the workers have been employed by the employer.

Where is this done?

Insurance against accidents in the workplace is taken out with an approved insurance company.

other mandatory registrations

1. Registered membership with a family allowances fund

From the moment a salaried member of staff is employed for the first time (blue or white collar worker), employers have 90 days to register with a family allowances fund (allocation familiale) of their choice. Once this period of time has elapsed, the employee will be registered automatically with ONAFTS (Belgian national family allowances office for salaried workers).
Registering with a family allowances fund is free of charge, however it is mandatory, even if there are no employed workers who can actually avail of the family allowance payments.

What are family allowances (allocations familiales)?

For the past 75 years, family allowances have provided an important means for families to invest in the future of our society, that is, in our children.

The annual investment based on family allowances (all family allowance schemes combined) is valued at an estimated 4.5 billion euros, that is, almost 2% of the gross domestic product.
This figure allows family allowances to be paid out to no less than 2.5 million children, almost a quarter of the total population in Belgium. If we are to include parents, half the total population of the country benefit from family allowance payments.

The main family allowance scheme in Belgium is the salaried workers' scheme which serves 70% of all families. This salaried workers' scheme manages the files of 1.8 million children and 1 million families, which amounts to a total of almost 4 million people.

The impact of the family allowances on individual family budgets is significant. They help prevent a large number of vulnerable families from falling below the poverty line.

Basic family allowance payments are as follows:
(amounts are valid as at May 1, 2008)

The purpose of the family allowances fund is to establish the right of families of workers employed by an affiliated employer to receive family allowances and to organise payment of these allowances.
The company does not have to pay any charges in order to register with a family allowances fund.

2. Registered membership with an annual holiday fund

Once an employer starts the process of employing a manual worker for the first time, the employer must register with an annual holiday fund (caisse de vacances annuelles). If, however, the company only employs white-collar workers, the employer does not have to register with an annual holiday fund.
The employer must register either with the annual holiday fund for the respective sector, or, if one does not exist, with the ONVA (Belgian national annual holidays offices).
The purpose of the annual holiday fund is to organise payment of holiday salaries to the relevant workers.


3. Prepaid tax on professional income
All new employers must contact the tax collection office in order to fulfil specific formalities relating to the payment of prepaid tax on professional income. This prepaid tax on professional income must be deducted at source from the workers' salaries.

What does this involve?

This relates to the advance payment of taxes by individuals.
Prepaid tax on professional income is calculated on the basis of the taxable salary and is broken down as follows:

1. Standard deductions (for standard/periodic remuneration)
2. Exceptional deductions (for non-standard/periodic remuneration)

• for annual and quarterly bonuses and commissions (end of year bonus, for example),
• for holiday pay,
• for overdue pay and pay in lieu of notice.

Where can I get more information?

To obtain a list of the different family allowances funds, please contact:
A.C.A.F. - Association des Caisses d'Allocations Familiales
Rue du Commerce, 124 - Bte 5 à 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
Tel. : + 32 02 230 27 23
Fax. : + 32 02 230 14 57
For certain sectors, the choice of fund is predetermined (as is the case with the food service industry in particular).

mandatory administrative documents

Any employer who employs at least one part-time or full-time worker is obliged to prepare a set of administrative documents.

What does this involve?

A) Employers must prepare the following:

1) A general register of staff,
2) A special register of staff,
3) A salary statement and statement of individual earnings,
4) Work regulations,
5) A validation book.

Since the introduction of the Dimona system (immediate notification of employment/departure), the general register of staff and the special register of staff are now treated as two separate administrative documents.

B) Additional documents:
Specific registers for specific business activities or sectors are also required. For example, the food service sector and the horticulture sector both require a register of attendance.

Where can I get more information?
A copy of the work regulations must be sent to the Belgian social legislation inspectorate (Inspection des Lois sociales). An employers' social-accounting secretariat may act as an intermediary in fulfilling this formality.

setting up of collective bargaining committees

In addition to a works council, certain employers are also obliged to set up a workplace health and safety committee.

Who does this concern?

Workplace health and safety committee
Any company that normally employs an average of 50 workers must set up a committee.

Works council
Any company that normally employs 100 workers must set up a works council.

internal/external workplace health and safety service

Any employer, whether an individual or legal entity, who employs at least one worker (white-collar or blue-collar worker) is obliged to organise an internal workplace health and safety service (S.I.P.P.) Employers may seek the assistance of an employers' social-accounting secretariat when doing this.

What does this involve?

Each employer appoints at least one safety coordinator. In companies employing less than 20 people, employers can fulfil this function themselves.

The internal workplace heath and safety service carries out the following tasks:

• It assists the employer and the workers in implementing measures relating to worker well-being while performing their work in addition to all other measures and prevention activities.
In particular, these measures relate to safety at the workplace, protection of workers' health at the workplace, risk management etc.


• It can also be involved in the area of health checks, provided a unit with responsibility for medical checks has been set up for this purpose within the service.
  If the internal service is not able to carry out all of its functions by itself, the employer is obliged to call on an additional approved external workplace heath and safety service (S.E.P.P.).

work authorisations for non-national workers

Any employer wishing to employ a non-national worker, (blue-collar worker or white-collar worker) within the framework of an employment contract is obliged to obtain a work authorisation for the non-national worker.
Note that work authorisations mainly concern employers who wish to employ non-nationals who are not currently residing in Belgium.

What does this involve?

Certain non-national workers who are exempted from the requirement to hold a work permit in order to carry out their services or who already hold an A-class or C-class work permit may be employed without the need for an employment authorisation.

Class A, B or C work permit

Otherwise, non-national workers cannot be employed unless a work authorisation is obtained. Once an employment authorisation is granted, a class B work permit is also issued automatically to the worker concerned.

Validity
The work authorisation for non-national workers and the class B work permit are both granted for a period up to a maximum of one year.
Apart from certain exceptions, these documents are renewable.

Geographical restrictions
The work authorisation for non-national workers and the class B work permit are valid in the Wallonia region only.
However, there is dispensation in the case of services carried out by workers who hold a class B work permit in another region, provided that the worker is exercising the same profession for the same employer for whom the geographical restriction applies.

Worker assignment
Work authorisations for non-national workers and class B work permits are valid for the designated employer and worker and for the specified profession.
Employers may only use the services of the worker within the limits set by this work authorisation.

Conditions of eligibility
Allowing for exceptions, the employment authorisation and class B work permit are issued under the following conditions:

• There is no equivalent worker available in the labour market who would be capable of taking up the position in a satisfactory manner and within a reasonable period of time, even after the completion of specific training. These workers are "subject to the rules and conditions of the labour market",
• There is an international convention regulating the employment of workers between Belgium and the worker's country of origin,
• The employer and the worker both sign an employment contract,
• The inclusion, if applicable, of a standard information sheet (regulatory form),
• The submission, if applicable, of a medical certificate (regulatory form).