The long-awaited Coalition Agreement at a glance: what HR measures will employers face? | part 1: salary (cost) and benefits
After months of negotiations, the Arizona parties forming the new government reached a Coalition Agreement on 31 January 2025. This Coalition Agreement has announced a number of ambitious measures that will bring about significant changes in employment and social security law.
The ALTIUS Employment Team will give you an overview of the most important announced HR measures in a series of 6 “highlights”. We have grouped these measures around the following 6 “domains”:
- Salary (cost) and benefits
- Working time
- Dismissal and unemployment
- End-of-career and pensions
- Incapacity for work and well-being
- (International) labour market
Every Wednesday and Friday, we will put the focus on a new domain.
In this first “highlight”, we elaborate on the measures that are in the pipeline regarding “Salary (cost) and benefits”.
All these measures will be further developed into legislation in the coming months and years. Some of them will also be subject to prior consultation between the employers’ organisations and the unions. The ALTIUS Employment Team is closely monitoring this process and will continue to update you about the important developments.
Happy reading!
Recommended articles
The 10 EUR meal voucher is officially here
In its Coalition Agreement, the government had already announced that during this legislative term, the maximum amount of meal vouchers would be increased twice by 2 EUR. A first increase – from 8 EUR to a maximum of 10 EUR – was published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 17 November 2025. As of 1 […]
Read on
A medical certificate: not always what it seems
When an employee is unable to work due to illness, the employer may request a medical certificate. This obligation usually stems from the work rules. A medical certificate confirms the incapacity for work and its likely duration. In addition, the medical certificate also clarifies whether an employee is allowed to leave their place of residence. […]
Read on
Pay more to your employees and less to the social security regime : the social security contribution exemption for high wages
In Belgium, employers’ social security contributions have always been due on an employee’s full uncapped salary. The Programme Act of 18 July 2025 caused a ‘minor earthquake’ by introducing, for the first time, a cap on employers’ social security contributions providing that, from 1 July 2025, no basic employer contributions would be due anymore on […]
Read on