Rojgar Job News

Update August 16th: Late yesterday, I received further confirmation that the provisions regarding FMLA were withdrawn entirely from the proposed Democrat-led budget bill. Moreover, the General Assembly early this morning voted on a Republican version of the budget implementer, which now goes on to Governor Malloy (who has indicated he will veto the bill). That version did not contain language on the FMLA changes either. So for now, employers can stand down. However, employers should continue to track the changes both this year and next. FMLA changes may make a return at some point.    Update at 2:06 p.m.: Since publishing this article, I’ve now heard from three people who work at or with the legislature that while they can’t find fault with my analysis of the proposed legislation as described below, the section on FMLA was intended to address a separate issue.   As a result, it appears that the section on CTFMLA changes discussed below may be withdrawn this...

In a previous blog, we mentioned in mildly critical tones that the Belgian government still hadn’t issued a regulation on a proposed special “Corona leave” for young parents struggling to balance (home)work and the care of their children. It could just be coincidence, obviously, but the very next day the government reached agreement on the topic. Unfortunately we have then had to wait until today for publication of the details in the relevant Royal Decree. The new rules may be summarised as follows: Corona leave is a variant of the traditional parental leave, but taking one does not impact the other (as in, the balance of outstanding parental leave will not be reduced by the Corona leave). With the approval of the employer, employees may also switch from the traditional parental to Corona leave part way through. The regime applies retroactively as from 1 May. Access is subject to the following conditions: Having at least one child below the age of 12 (or a disabled chi...

The Belgian government is acutely aware that businesses will feel the impact of the Covid-19 crisis well beyond the summer months. To that end, a new set of measures was decided during the Inner Cabinet meeting of 12 June. Information on these measures is still scarce, but we thought we’d share the highlights with you now (and of course will update you when we can). As a first measure, the special Corona parental leave has been extended until 30 September, which should help parents cover for summer camps being cancelled and grandma still being in quarantine. The state allowance for parental leave will also be increased for one-parent families. The temporary unemployment (TU) for force majeure Corona has also been extended, thus far until 31 August. But the government looks further ahead. As of 1 September: Companies in the live events and travel sectors, which are obviously still very heavily impacted despite initial steps to relax lockdown, will continue to have access to the c...