A new date for the postponed 2020 social elections is on the horizon
30 Mar 2020
As communicated last week, the social partners reached an agreement to postpone the social elections. The social elections will therefore no longer take place in May 2020. A new date must be determined by Royal Decree.
Social elections temporarily on hold - new date
During the National Labour Council’s 24 March session, the social partners delivered their advice on a new date for the 2020 social elections: they suggest to hold the elections in the period from 16 November up until and including 29 November 2020. Consequently, the social elections procedure will be rebooted on 23 September 2020 (new date X+36). In addition, the social partners elaborated on a number of legal questions related to the fact that the social elections are being postponed, which we will set out below. Both the new social elections date and the related legal specifics still must be formalised by Royal Decree before becoming final.
(Partial) end of the social elections
Note that, as mentioned in our previous newsletter on this topic, date X+35 can mark the (partial) end of the social elections proceedings in the company. Even though the general 2020 social elections proceedings are suspended after date X+35, an employer can still decide to terminate the social elections procedure in the company if no candidates list were submitted on X+35. The confirmation thereof will also have to be announced and a copy of said information will have to be uploaded to the online application of the Federal Public Service in charge of Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue. Any claims against this termination will, however, have to be submitted after the general suspension of the social elections.
Original date Y as benchmark
The electoral lists and the available seats per employee category per electoral body do not change as a result of the temporary suspension of the procedure.
The social elections candidate’ eligibility conditions will still be determined on the “old” date Y, even for replacement candidates, who can be nominated until the new date X+76 at the latest.
Functioning of current CPPW and WC
As long as no new Committee for Prevention and Protection at Work (CPPW) or Works Council (WC) has been elected, the current consultation bodies within the company continue to function.
Note that the protection against dismissal for the candidates in the 2016 social elections who currently still enjoy such protection is maintained until the new bodies are installed.
Blackout period for protection from dismissal
The blackout period for the protection from dismissal (which started on date X) ended on date X+35, at least with respect to the employees who appeared on the candidate lists that were submitted at that stage. However, within given circumstances, candidates can still be replaced until (new) date X+76, meaning that for those future replacement candidates, the blackout period in principle continues. The social partners opted not to have this blackout period continue during the entire period of suspension of the social elections procedure, but rather to terminate it as from X+35 and introduce a new blackout period that will start 36 days before the new date X+36.
Temporary agency workers
For temporary agency workers to be eligible to vote in the company they are working in, they have to meet a double seniority condition. The period for the first condition - be employed for at least 3 continuous months or, in the case of interrupted periods of employment, for a total of 65 working days, within the reference period from 1 August 2019 up until and including date X-1 - ended on date X-1.
However, the second condition - whereby the temporary agency worker must be employed for at least 26 working days during the period from date X up to date X+76 - didn’t end yet and will be impacted by the suspension of the procedure. In this respect, the social partners agreed that this condition will be neutralised during the suspension of the social elections procedure and that - on new date X+77 - an agreement has to be reached within the current consultation bodies, stating which employees and temporary agency workers will be eligible to vote.
For more information on the 2020 social elections, visit our dedicated social elections website or contact one of our experts.
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