New sectoral agreement concluded within Joint Committee 200

Joint Committee 200 is (one of the) largest Joint Committees in Belgium covering all companies from the industrial, trade, services or agricultural sector who do not belong to any other Joint Committee (hereafter ‘JC’).

Therefore, the new sector agreement that was recently concluded within this JC will have an impact on numerous companies and their employees in Belgium.

With this alert, we will highlight the most important changes and points of attention from a payroll perspective.
 

1. Year-end premium

As of January 2026, various changes to the calculation method of the year-end premium are applicable:

The amount of the year-end premium is calculated based on professional activities performed during the reference period (being January – December). Certain absences are considered as days assimilated to working days and are taken into account when calculating the amount of the year-end premium. As of this year, 5 days of temporary unemployment (due to the lack of work for economic reasons or force majeure) will be considered as assimilated days;

• In the event of contract termination by the employer and counter-notice given by the employee, the entitlement to the year-end premium will not be impacted. Previously, the employee lost his right to the premium in this event;
  
  
• In the event the employee terminates the employment contract or in case of contract termination in mutual agreement, the entitlement to the year-end premium will remain unchanged if the employee has at least 3 years of seniority in the company. Previously, the threshold was set at 5 years.
   

2. Special leave

As of January 2026, 2 additional days of special leave (klein verlet/petit chomage’) will be added to the period of special leave with continued salary payment in the following circumstances:

• Death of the employee’s spouse, cohabitating partner or child (of spouse or cohabitating partner). In total, the period of special leave will now amount to 12 days (10 + 2). Three days of special leave must be taken between the date of death and day of the funeral. The remaining 9 (7 + 2) days must be taken within one year as of the date of death;
  
  
• Death of father or mother of employee or his spouse/cohabiting partner: 5 (3 + 2) days of special leave. Three days of special leave must be taken between the date of death and day of the funeral. The remaining 2 days must be taken within one year as of the date of death;

In both cases, the employer and employee can decide to derogate from these periods in mutual agreement.
 

3. Mobility – transportation

Travel by train

As of January 2026, the employer will cover 100% of the cost of 2^nd class train tickets from the first kilometer. Previously, employers needed to cover 80%.

The possibility of third-party payment schedules with the NMBS/SNCB remains unchanged. In this schedule, the public authorities cover an additional 20%. As a result, the 100% reimbursement will be covered at no additional cost for the employer.

Bike allowance

As of October 2026, for employees using their bike to ride to work on a regular basis, the bike allowance will be increased to 0,32 EUR/km, up to a maximum of 12,80 EUR per day (i.e. maximum of 40 km round trip).

Travel by private transportation

As of January 2026, the annual salary threshold, taken into account to determine the entitlement to reimbursement of private transportation costs will be adjusted on an annual basis on January 1^st.

The annual salary threshold is currently set at 34.654 EUR.

Our team will ensure to apply the updated regulations for all companies in scope of the new sectoral agreement when processing the local Belgian payroll. Of course, should you have any further questions on these new regulations or their implication in practice, please do not hesitate to reach out to your EY contact person.