New sectoral agreement 2025-2026 for employees of Joint Labour Committee 200 (JLC 200)

The sectoral agreement of JLC 200 is effective as from 1 January 2025 through 31 December 2026 and introduces comprehensive employment law changes over that period for Belgian office and administrative employees. This alert highlights the key changes, which affect compensation, benefits, leave policies, and workplace governance. JLC 200 is Belgium’s largest joint committee for “white-collar” workers, covering about 500,000 private sector employees.

Overview of key changes

Compensation and benefits

Year-end premium

As from 1 January 2026, the calculation of the year-end premium includes the first five days of temporary unemployment. These five days are added to the list of absences that are treated as equivalent to actual work for the purpose of calculating the premium.

Also, an employee’s entitlement to the year-end premium will not be affected if they give notice of termination or if the contract is terminated by the employer, provided the employee has at least six months of service.

If the employee resigns or if the employment is terminated by mutual agreement, the entitlement to the year-end premium remains unchanged for employees who have been employed by the company for at least three years (reduced from five years).

Private transport salary threshold

The annual salary threshold used to determine eligibility for reimbursement of private transport costs is adjusted annually as from 1 January 2026. From that date, the reimbursement covers 50% of the costs for salaries below the threshold of EUR 36,688.

Rail allowance

As from 1 January 2026, employers will reimburse the full cost of second class train tickets, increased from 80%. Under third party payment agreements with Belgium’s national rail company (NMBS/SNCB), public authorities will cover 20% of the cost.

Cycle allowance

The cycle allowance for employees who regularly cycle to work will increase from EUR 0.27 to EUR 0.32 per kilometre as from October 2026. The allowance applies up to a maximum of 40 kilometres per round trip, resulting in a maximum allowance of EUR 12.30 per day.

Social fund contribution

Employees who begin a one-fifth reduced working schedule from the age of 60 (55 under specific conditions) receive an additional monthly payment of EUR 92.45 from the social fund, supplementing their four-fifths salary. The social fund’s board is responsible for ensuring these payments begin from 1 January 2026. This amount will be indexed annually.

Meal vouchers

The maximum employer contribution is increased in line with the recent legislative changes, but no mandatory increase of the employment contributions is foreseen.

If employers of JLC 200 opt to increase the employer contribution by EUR 2, this increase will be excluded from the wage norm. Increases beyond EUR 2 are subject to wage norm restrictions.

Wage norm

The wage norm growth is set at 0%. Only specific exemptions are foreseen (e.g., bonuses, profit sharing, the EUR 2 increase in meal voucher contributions, purchasing power premiums).

Leave and time off

As from 1 January 2026, two additional days of bereavement leave are added to support employees during difficult family circumstances. Employees now receive 12 days in total on the death of a spouse or child and five days on the death of a parent. Leave policies and absence management systems should be updated.

The time credit system with motive (specific reason) and for end-of-career “landing paths” (one-fifth from age 60 and part-time from age 55) has been extended until 31 December 2027, with a provisional extension to 30 June 2029. Employees may therefore still benefit from a more extensive and more beneficial time credit system (via an additional allowance) than that provided by the national provisions.

Governance and workplace policies

Companies are being encouraged to include social dialogue when implementing teleworking or fundamentally changing the teleworking framework. Topics that could be included in the dialogue include the voluntary nature of the teleworking, task description, teleworking allowance, and data protection. Prior to this recommendation, companies with more than 50 employees were already obliged to involve employee representatives when implementing structural teleworking.

The social partners encourage companies to engage in social dialogue before implementing artificial intelligence in the workplace. In all cases, compliance with GDPR legislation is required. Clear communication and transparency are key. Recommendations are made regarding training, consultation, transparency, wellbeing, and trust. Employees should be educated and protected against risks. To assist compliance, companies could appoint a responsible contact person within the organisation, organise regular training (CEVORA—the training centre for JLC 200—will also provide training), and clarify agreements on confidential information.

Companies that have digital communication channels are encouraged to explore whether the trade union delegation may make use of these.

To facilitate smoother reintegration paths for employees with long-term ill health, the social fund of JLC 200 will offer employers and employees best practices, tools, and additional resources. A wide-reaching campaign on this subject will be launched. The social fund’s management board is yet to determine the specific implementation details. CEVORA is likely to include trainings on this topic in its offering. Currently, it remains unclear what is expected from companies in practice.

How Deloitte can help

The protocol agreement represents a commitment to modernise the workplace while protecting employee rights and wellbeing. Employers should review current policies and either adapt these policies or implement new policies if required. Deloitte Legal’s People Law team and Deloitte’s GES team can help with adjusting current policies and practices within the organisation, as well as revising reward programmes to benefit employees and employers.