Since the publication of the so-called “labor deal”, there is an individual right to training for each employee in Belgium.
The number of training days per year depends on the total number of employees within the company:
- ≥ 10 and < 20 employees: minimum 1 day of training per full time employee per year;
- ≥ 20 employees: minimum 5 days of training per full time employee per year (there is an exception foreseen for 2023, during which year employees only have right to minimum 4 days of training).
Companies with 20 or more employees must prepare a training plan for their employees once per year, before March 31. A training plan is a document prepared either in paper or electronic form, which lists the trainings as well as the target group of employees for which they are intended. The plan must be drawn up for a minimum of one year.
The procedure for adopting a training plan differs depending on whether or not the company has a works council or trade union delegation.
There is no administrative or criminal sanction foreseen in the law in case of breach of this obligation.
The employer is free to determine the form of the training plan. There is no mandatory model, but the law provides a set of minimum requirements. It is also possible that minimum requirements are set out at the level of the sector.
Both formal and informal trainings should be added in the training plan. You are free to determine which trainings you want to include, but while preparing the training plan, you should take into account a few elements, like gender dimension, and give special attention to some specific groups of employees.
The training plan must be kept by the company so that employees and their representatives can access it upon simple request.
The training plan must normally be sent to an authority to be designated but, we are still expecting an implementing Royal Decree that should provide further guidance in this respect.
Feel free to contact us in case you would like more information on this topic.
