Name of Educational Leave Scheme

Paid Educational leave

• Introduction
• Legal framework
• Objectives
• Types of training
• Training providers
• Target sector(s)
• Target group(s)
• Eligibility criteria
• Stipulations for participants
• Duration of training
• Status of participants
• Application procedure
• Regulation, control and monitoring procedures
• Funding mechanisms
• Overall funding level
• Payment to persons on leave
• Statistics

Paid educational leave is the personal training leave scheme, which on 1 September 1985 replaced the time-credit system. Belgium has ratified ILO Convention 140 on Educational Leave on 12 January 1993. Educational leave can be defined as being the entitlement of a worker employed full-time (*) in the private sector and taking certain training courses whether of a vocational or more general nature, to leave work whilst continuing to receive his normal pay at the usual time, for a duration depending on the course(s) followed.

The employer to whom the application for paid educational leave is submitted is therefore required to follow it up, as long as the worker and the course in question meet the conditions laid down by Law. He may, however, plan absences- both individual and collective- depending on the organisational work requirements within the company, as well as the specific situation of each worker. The employer may not refuse to grant paid educational leave on the grounds that the course in question is not in any way related to his company's activity, given that a course may also take account of workers' vocational prospects.

Legislation does not stipulate any grounds according to which the employer could refuse to grant leave, or limit its duration. He may, however, be reimbursed by the Ministry for Employment and Labour for the remuneration and employers' social security contributions for the days and/or hours of leave taken.

The cost of refunding vocational training leave is met by a budgetary fund under the Ministry for Employment and Labour, to which those employers likely to employ persons who will take leave contribute fifty percent. The employers' share is collected through a specific contribution paid to the collection bodies in the social security system. Reimbursement for leave related to general training comes from a budgetary fund under the Ministry of Employment and Labour to which the State alone contributes.

There are no age or nationality requirements attached to the granting of paid educational leave. Nevertheless, the workers involved must follow courses in the various Belgian education networks, and the employers' activity must also take place in Belgian territory.

(*) During the period from 1 September 1999 to 31 December 2000, some part-time workers also qualified for paid educational leave on an experimental basis. Uptake of this scheme did not warrant its prolongation.

Legal framework

Full-time work

1. Amending Law of 22 January 1985, containing the social provisions, chapter IV, section 6 - granting of paid educational leave in the framework of continuing worker training (Articles 108 to 144) (MB (Moniteur Belge/Belgisch Staatsblad = Belgian official journal) of 24 January 1985).

Extended legal and regulatory stipulations

2. Framework Law of 22 December 1989- Chapter II (Articles 146 to 150) (MB of 30 December 1989).

3. Law of 29 December 1990 laying down social provisions - Chapter 1, Section 3 (Article 176) (MB of 9 January 1991).

4. Law of 10 June 1993, transposing certain provisions of the inter-professional agreement of 9 December 1992 - section 3 (Article 6, 7, and 8) (MB of 30 June 1993).

5. Law of 12 December 1994 stipulating social and various other provisions - Chapter V (Article 76) (MB of 23 December 1994).

6. Framework Law of 10 February 1998 (Article 26) (MB of 21 February 1998).

7. Law of 26 March 1999 on the 1998 Belgian Employment Action Plan and laying down various provisions (Articles 29 and 126) (MB of 1 April 1999).

8. Royal Decree of 23 July 1985 implementing section 6 - granting of paid educational leave in the framework of continuing training of workers - of Chapter IV of the amending Law of 22 January 1985, which contains social provisions (MB of 10 August 1985), as amended by:
   - Royal Decree of 27 November 1985 (Approvals committee) (MB of 18 December 1985);
   - Royal Decree of 9 September 1988 (MB of 14 October 1988), 13 August 1990 (MB 0f 7 September 1990), and 8 January 1992 (MB of 31 January 1992) (1st year when courses run);
   - Royal Decree of 29 December 1988 (employers' contributions) (MB of 14 January 1989);
   - Royal Decree of 14 January 1992 (MB of 11 February 1992) and Royal Decree of 5 July 1998 (MB of 4 August 1998) (renewing membership of the Approvals Committee);

9. Royal Decree of 16 June 1986 (Central Examining Board exams) (MB of 3 July 1986), as amended by:
   - Royal Decree of 25 March 1987 (MB of 9 April 1987);
   - Royal Decree of 21 April 1988 (MB of 17 May 1988);
   - Royal Decree of 28 June 1989 (MB of 6 July 1989);
   - Royal Decree of 3 May 1990 (MB of 7 June 1990).

10. Royal Decree of 27 August 1993, amending the list of training courses eligible for paid educational leave (MB of 9 September 1993);

11. Royal Decree of 27 August 1993, amending Article 16 of the Royal Decree of 23 July 1985 (freezing the ceiling on refundable pay) (MB of 9 September 1993);

12. Royal Decree of 7 September 1993, amending Article 14 of the Royal Decree of 23 July 1985 (date of submission of regular attendance certificate on 31 October) (MB of 16 September 1993);

13. Royal Decree of 28 March 1995 amending Articles 110, 111, 113, 120, 121 and 137a of the amending Law of 22 January 1985 (budgetary aims, number of hours to be granted, planning leave, prior notification of beneficiaries by the employer, funding the scheme, reducing the expenses provisions to 2 years) (MB of 24 May 1995)

14. Royal Decree of 28 March 1995, amending Articles 8, 14, 16 and 19 of the Royal Decree of 23 July 1985 (32 hours of training, references to be included in prior notification, freezing the ceiling, limited modification of rate of social contribution) (MB of 24 May 1995);

15. Royal Decree of 28 March 1995, amending the list of courses eligible for paid educational leave (reinclusion of the 'Family Sciences' course in the scope of the Law of 1 September 1993) (MB of 24 May 1995).

16. Royal Decrees of 10 April 1995 (MB of 15 June 1995), 17 April 1997 (MB of 26 April 1997), 4 June 1997 (MB of 20 June 1997), and 5 July 1998 (MB of 7 August 1998): granting budgetary supplements;

17. Royal Decree of 31 May 1999 establishing the special implementing provisions for paid educational leave for university courses in the first and second cycles run in the evenings or at weekends in universities and university-assimilated establishments (MB of 24 July 1999).

18. Ministerial Decree of 20 August 1985 (Documents to be provided) (MB of 28 August 1985)

19. Ministerial Decree of 6 November 1985 (Documents justifying reimbursement) (MB of 26 November 1985) amended by:
    - Royal Decree of 8 October 1998 (introduction of the euro) (MB of 22 October 1998).

For the same course the granting of paid educational leave may not be cumulated with the granting of a social advancement allowance, as covered by Article 1(1) and (2) of the Law of 1 July 1963, introducing a social advancement allowance.

Legislation on paid educational leave applies to employers and to persons who supervise work.

Part-time work
Royal Decree of 31 May 1999 extending the scope of application of section 6 - granting paid educational leave in the framework of continuing training for workers - of Chapter IV of the amending Law of 22 January 1985, containing social provisions (MB of 9 July 1999) (Access for part-time workers);

From 1 September 1999 until 31 December 2000, the granting of paid educational leave was extended to workers employed part-time who are on a course covered by Article 109 of the amending Law of 22 January 1985 containing social provisions. This law has not been renewed.

Part-time workers means:
- Workers working less than 4/5 time;
- Workers employed on the basis of Article 9 of the Royal Decree of 24 February 1997, containing more detailed provisions on employment agreements (MB of 11 March 1997).

Article 9 foresees a specific reduction of contributions for struggling companies or those undergoing restructuring which, with the intention of retaining as many workers as possible, collectively reduce working hours on the basis of a labour agreement, approved by the Ministry for Employment and Labour.
- Workers employed on the basis of the Royal Decree of 24 November 1997, containing more specific provisions on reducing contributions for the redistribution of labour (MB of 9 December 1997). This decree applies to all companies which, on 30 June 1996, were employing 50 workers or more, and which are bound by a collective agreement approved by the Ministry for Employment and Labour.
- Workers employed part-time with variable working hours according to Article 11a of the Law of 3 July 1978 on employment contracts.

Small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs
Royal Decree of 20 July 1998, laid down the rules and special implementing provisions for educational leave for salaried workers in SMEs (of a commercial nature). It applied from 1 September 1998 to 1 September 2000, in other words for two academic years (1998-1999 and 1999-2000). At the end of this experimental period the legislation was not extended as demand had not been high.

Objectives

The paid educational leave system aims at the social advancement of workers employed full-time in the private sector. It aims at easing the burdens and fatigue borne by workers who, besides working, are also striving to take certain vocational and/or general training courses, and to prepare and study for exams during what would normally be their time off. By introducing this system of additional personal leave, the legislator was expecting firstly to raise the level of general culture amongst salaried workers, and secondly that the encouragement to take courses and the resulting rise in the average level of studies would have a positive effect on the economy as well as an effect on employment due to compensatory recruitment. The knock-on effect has not been assessed, but such recruitment was exceptional. The paid educational leave scheme can also help correct certain social inequalities for workers who have been unable to study, and to encourage the integration of foreign workers.

Types of training

Only those courses which are expressly covered by the Law and which comprise a minimum of 32 hours per year are eligible for paid educational leave. Such courses may be either vocational or general.
The annual duration of these courses varies tremendously: from just a few hours to more than 600. Some of them even run for several years.

A. Vocational training

1. Social advancement courses run, subsidised or recognised by the Communities. Social development courses are usually run in the evenings, and/or at weekends. They are run at the lower and upper secondary level of technical and vocational education, as well as at the level of non-university higher education (technical, economic, agricultural, paramedical, social, artistic or teaching). There is a huge variety of sections, ranging from soldering to IT, languages and accounting.

2. Short courses in the upper secondary and higher cycles (so-called 'targeted courses') of the visual arts organised, subsidised or recognised by the Communities, and belonging to one of the following groups of training: architectural design and construction, industrial aesthetics (industrial design, technical design, equipment design), applied graphics (illustration and cartoons, advertising, visual communication, typography and lettering, calligraphy). No other courses in this field are eligible. Short visual arts courses- otherwise known as 'artistic socio-cultural advancement courses' are taught in the evening in the academies.

3. Short, full-time higher education courses run in the evening or at weekends. Training for social assistants, physiotherapists, the social services, specialised social intervention and management methods. These courses are simply run at a different time to make them accessible to people who work. They run for three years.

4. Long, full-time university level courses run in the evening or at weekends in higher education establishments. They run for four or five years.

5. University courses in the first and second cycles run in the evening or at weekends in universities and university-assimilated establishments intended to lead to a legal or scientific qualification. Sometimes these courses are identical to those run during the day, other times not. In the latter case, they sometimes require professional experience. They may lead to protected bachelor or candidate qualifications.
   Evening and weekend university courses which are run at third cycle level (PhD, special degree, masters) or which do not lead to a protected qualification (mastership, post-graduate), are thus not eligible for paid educational leave, unless they have been specifically approved for such purpose.

6. Training as foreseen by the regulations on vocational qualification for persons working in agriculture. These courses respectively comprise booster courses, courses and practical placements providing specific training when the persons in question are setting up, and in-depth supplementary training. These courses are required to comprise the 32 hours per year needed if they are to qualify for paid educational leave.

7. Studying for and sitting Central Examining Board exams (outside the school system).

8. Sectoral training organised on the decision of the competent joint commission, as well as other vocational training whose curriculum is approved by the Approvals Committee for paid educational leave.

B. General training

1. Courses organised by workers' organisations covered. Such courses tend to be quite short and are usually intended for workers involved in trade union activity. They tend to be run during working hours.

2. Courses organised by youth and adult organisations and training establishments for workers set up within workers' organisations or recognised by them. They may run over several academic years, during the day, in the evenings or at weekends.

3. All other courses approved in general training terms by the Approvals Committee set up by law

There does not necessarily need to be any link between the course taken and the worker's vocational line. For example, a solderer may take a language or accounting course. Moreover, the aim of general courses is not to provide technical or vocational training.

Training providers

1. Training organisations encouraging further training for employees which are founded, funded or recognised by the associations;

2. Institutions offering higher-education courses (so-called "graduation level") in the fine arts involving a reduced schedule which are founded, funded or recognised by the associations;

3. Higher education instututions offering short or long university courses with a full syllabus held in the evening or at weekends;

4. Centres offering courses covered by the provisions relating to the professional qualifications of people employed in agriculture;

5. Organisations representing employees and their training establishments;

6. Youth and adult education organisations.

Target sector(s)

All employers in the private sector are covered by the Law. The Law excludes persons employed by the state, Communities, the local authorities, districts, provinces, provincial or municipal corporations, conurbations and community amalgamations, public institutions falling under their responsibility and public interest bodies.

Target group(s)

Applications may be made for paid educational leave by workers who are:

- correctly registered and attending one or more courses covered by the Law; employed full-time under one or more employment contracts or who, not bound by any such contract, work full time under the authority of one or more persons.

Eligibility criteria

CF. Previous point (Target groups)

Workers are not eligible for leave when:
- they are employed by the State, Communities, Regions, Provinces, associations of communes, groupings and federations of communes, the public establishments which belong to them, and public interest bodies;
- they are members of the teaching staff;
- they apply for a social advancement allowance for the course(s) taken;
- they are bound by an apprenticeship contract either in medium sized companies or in industry, since because they are in training some of the time they are not actually working for the entire duration of the contract;
- for the same course they apply for the allowance paid by SME employers

Workers in the public sector are excluded from the scope of the Law, regardless of the link, which binds them to their employer. The decisive factor is that the institution or body, which employs them, belongs to the public sector.

The exclusion which applies to teaching staff is limited to those who actually teach. It does not therefore apply to administrative, technical and blue collar workers in such establishments (in the private sector).

Stipulations for participants

Various events which may crop up in the course of training may result in the worker losing his right to leave for a certain period of time:

A. Leaving or Interrupting the Course:

A worker who leaves or interrupts his course loses the right to paid educational leave as of the date on which he notifies his employer that he has given up or interrupted. Notification must be sent at the latest within five days of his leaving or interrupting. The right to leave is lost until such time as he registers for another course covered by the Law or returns to the previous one. The number of hours of educational leave for which the worker may apply will be calculated on the basis of his hours of attendance on the course before he left, or before and after he interrupted.

B. Inadequate course attendance:

Any worker who has been unofficially absent from the course for more than one tenth of its duration loses the right to paid educational leave for a six month period.

Teaching establishments and training organisations certify workers' attendance by issuing 'termly attendance certificates'. The percentage of unjustified absence (10%) which leads to paid educational leave being suspended for a six month period is based on the hours of the course actually taught, and not on the theoretical number of hours in the term in question. As far as justification for absence is concerned, this is very strictly defined: medical certificate in the case of ill-health of the worker or a member of his family living under the same roof, public transport strike, strike by or illness of the teacher, closure of the teaching establishment for a clearly defined reason and, exceptionally, bad weather in winter. When a worker does not attend the course for professional reasons, the school may not justify his absence, even if a certificate from his employer is submitted to the school administration. It is up to the teaching establishment contracted by the educational leave department to provide information concerning the specific dates of the offending absence.

C. Repeated Failure

Any worker who, having taken the same course twice over, does not acquire the assessment certificate, but where his repeated failure cannot be ascribed to circumstances beyond his control, surrenders the right to leave for that course. He may nevertheless sign up for other courses for which he may also be granted leave.

D. Fraudulent Use:

Any worker who, in the course of his paid educational leave, carries out some sort of paid activity, either on a free-lance or a salaried basis, surrenders the right to leave for a twelve month period which begins on the day when the facts are noted.

Duration of training

The worker has the right to leave work (whilst continuing to receive his normal salary paid on the usual dates) for periods which corresponds to the number of hours comprising the course he is taking, the annual ceiling being set at:

1. For courses outside normal working hours, the annual ceiling is set at:

• 120 hours if the worker is undergoing vocational training;
• 80 hours if he is in general training;
• 120 hours if in the same school year he takes both vocational and general courses.

• 180 hours if the worker is taking vocational training courses;
• 120 hours if he is taking general courses;
• 180 hours if in the same school year he is taking both vocational and general courses.

3. Taking no account of how working time and training time coincide: - 80 hours if he is taking one or more language course;
120 hours if he is taking one or more language courses at the same time as another vocational course (taken simultaneously, a language course and a general course are not cumulative, thus the worker must choose between the two courses).

4. Workers preparing for and sitting Central Examination Board exams may still apply for three times the weekly duration of working time, between registering in due form for a session of exams, and actually sitting the exams.

5. The Ministry for Employment and Labour may decide that for vocational courses related to a sector where there is a shortage on the labour market, as well as for courses in basic skills for poorly educated workers the maximum number of hours is set at 180.

6. For courses leading to a diploma issued by a Belgian university or assimilated Belgian establishment, the maximum number of hours is set at 180; It should be noted that a 50-minute lesson qualifies for 60 minutes' leave.

Status of participants

For the duration of PEL, the participant retains his/her employment status. The employer may not make the worker redundant from the moment he has submitted his application for paid educational leave until the end of the course, other than for reasons unrelated to the application. The employer must prove the unrelated grounds.

The period of protection begins with the issuing of the certificate of registration in due form, and ends on the last day of training. Protection is extended to the worker for the entire duration of a cycle of studies, which runs for several years, unless its normal flow is interrupted. (It is broken when the course is not resumed at the end of the holidays between two years of study). It is maintained where the right to leave is surrendered through poor attendance, but it is suspended when the right to leave is surrendered as a result of paid activity during the paid educational leave.

If the grounds given for redundancy are related to the educational leave, or in the absence of grounds, the employer is required to pay the worker compensation equal to three months' pay, without prejudice to the amounts due to the worker when his contract is broken.
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Application procedure

A worker who is interested in taking paid educational leave must inform his employer by submitting the certificate or certificates of registration in due form issued by the provider(s) of the course or courses taken. He also informs him of the planned absences. The certificate of registration in due form must clearly state the timetable of the course taken, given that the employer must be in a position to check whether or not the course taken clashes with normal working hours, or if the course is in one of the categories of training which are required to be provided in the evening or at weekends (with varying times).

In order to ensure the collective planning of leave, all applications for paid educational leave related to a normal school year (i.e. from 1 September to 30 June) must be received at the latest by 31 October of each academic year.

In cases of late registration after 31 October, or where there is a change of employer in the course of the school year, the application for paid educational leave must be submitted at the latest a fortnight after registration or the change of employer.
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Regulation, control and monitoring procedures

The cost of reimbursing leave related to all types of training is met by a budgetary fund under the Ministry for Employment and Labour, contributed to by the State, and by employers likely to employ persons taking leave.

Apart from its specific job of approving, the Approvals Committee is also responsible for suspending and withdrawing course approval, and general monitoring and providing of opinions, both in terms of how the paid educational leave scheme operates, and concerning its funding. The Committee is jointly comprised of representatives from employers' and worker organisations. It is chaired by a representative from the Ministry for Employment and Labour, who holds the right of veto.

Provisions governing monitoring and penalties are similar to those found in other social legislation, with the exception of those which apply to the training providers, who are required to keep and provide documents and information. Refusal to grant or to reimburse leave and the provision of incorrect information about it constitute the standard offence in this field.

The various actions which workers, employers and the social security collection agencies may bring are dropped after three years.

Paid educational leave is planned in the company by the Works Council or, failing that, by common agreement between the employer and the company's trade union delegation, or failing that by common agreement between the employer and the workers. In companies employing less than 20 workers, the employer may refuse to grant paid educational leave to more than 10% of the total workforce; however, at least one worker must be authorised to take leave for this purpose. In companies employing 20 to 50 workers, the employer may refuse to grant paid educational leave at the same time to 10% of workers performing the same job; one worker per activity must however be authorised to take leave for this purpose. In companies employing more than 50 workers, the employer may refuse to grant paid educational leave at the same time to more than 10% of workers performing the same job, although at least one worker per activity must be authorised to take leave for this purpose, on the condition that the Works Council or, failing agreement at that level, the competent joint committee, has previously defined what is meant by 'the same job'.

These planning rules only apply to simultaneous leave (taken at the same time), and not to alternating absence.

In companies employing more than 100 workers, there is the option of managing absences for paid educational leave through a collective working agreement drawn up at company level and signed by all the organisations represented in the trade union delegation. Collective planning takes precedence over individual planning. Leave planning takes account of internal work organisation as well as the interests and individual circumstances of each worker, whilst ensuring that as far as possible courses do not clash with normal working hours.
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Funding mechanisms

The cost of reimbursing all courses is met by a budgetary fund under the Ministry for Employment and Labour, contributed to by the State and those employers who are likely to employ persons taking leave.

The employers' share is collected through a special contribution paid to the social security collection agencies, set by Royal Decree for repayment of expenses not covered by the State subsidy.

Employers may annually recoup the cost of remunerations and social contributions related to paid educational leave from the Ministry for Employment and Labour, on the condition that leave was granted in full respect of the legal and statutory conditions.
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Overall funding level

Since the 1995 budgetary year the State has been granting a set overall subsidy amounting to BEF 1 billion Belgian francs (EUR 24.7 million) with no distinction as to whether training is vocational or general.
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Payment to persons on leave

A worker on leave is entitled to the continued payment of his normal salary at the usual times. The normal pay was limited to a certain amount, which is annually adjusted to the wage index. On 1 September 2000, the payment ceiling in order to qualify for reimbursement stood at BEF 72 000 (EUR 1 784 830).

The effect of this ceiling is not to bar access to paid educational leave for any worker who receives a higher rate of pay, nor to prevent the employer should he feel fit from paying a higher amount for the leave. It is a limit which affects the reimbursement paid by the Ministry of Employment and Labour. The current ceilings are annually published in the Moniteur Belge (official journal of the Belgian State).

When deceit by the worker is noted once he has been paid, the employer may demand reimbursement.

However, he may not demand reimbursement of the social security contributions related to the payment of his worker, since he himself did not collect them.
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Statistics