Voting rights of temporary agency workers in social elections - Belgian authorities have confirmed our interpretation!
02 Sep 2019
As we mentioned in our latest newsletter, temporary agency workers can be eligible to vote in the social elections of the company they are working at if they meet a double seniority condition. However, there are different interpretations about the calculation of the reference periods for the two conditions. The question is whether or not the last day of each reference period has to be included.
We asked the Federal Public Service in charge of Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue (“FPS”) for written advice on this topic and received an answer that confirms our earlier interpretation. Although the law provides that the reference period ‘ends on’ Day X or Day X + 77, the FPS has confirmed to us that the days on which the reference periods end are not included in the reference period.
This means that the first reference period includes Day X - 1 but not Day X, and that the second reference period includes Day X + 76 but not Day X + 77, so as to avoid double counting of Day X. As an example, if elections are set to be held on 12 May 2020, the reference periods will be the following:
Note that this is the interpretation that will be applied by the FPS in charge of Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue and that, in theory, the courts and tribunals may make a different assessment.
If you require further information about the social elections, the PwC Legal social elections team can assist you from strategy through execution.
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