Newsletter 2023 – 10
1 Office news
|
| Mr. Rob Valkeneers wrote a column on www.jubel.be entitled “AI and law: a short, historical overview”. Artificial intelligence has made enormous leaps in the short term. Rob Valkeneers delves into the history of artificial intelligence: where does AI come from, and where is it going? And what is the impact on the law? |
2 Legislation – Right to use mobile phone number after employment contract
The government has a lot of work to do to get its budget in order, to reform the labor market, etc. In the meantime, some members of the House have found the time to submit a bill on a theme that can be important for individual employees.
On December 15, the bill to guarantee the right to use mobile phone numbers of employees after the termination of the employment contract was approved in the House (Parl.St. Chamber, 55 3091).
This law introduces an additional provision in the employment contract. This provides that an employee who has transferred his mobile number to his employer after entering employment or during the execution of the employment contract has the right to reclaim the right to use it after the end of the employment contract.
The employer is obliged to respond positively if the employee asks this question in writing, stating the date, within one month after the end of the employment contract.
Please note, this change in the law does not oblige the employer to transfer the mobile number that he himself assigned to the employee (over which the right of use was not transferred from the employee to the employer) to the employee after the end of the employment contract.
This scheme will come into effect on January 1, 2024. It will also apply to employees who transferred their mobile number to the employer before this date.
| Dirk Wijns, senior consultant |
| dirk.wijns@mploy.be |
3 Judiciary – Quarantine and vacation days
|
||
| Court of Justice December 14, 2023, Sparkasse Südplatz, C-206/22 | ||
| The Court rules that a quarantine is not the same as a disease. The employee who has to be quarantined during his holiday due to COVID-19 will not be able to take the "lost" holiday days at a later time.
European law stipulates that Member States must take the necessary measures to ensure that all workers enjoy paid annual leave of four weeks (see Directive 2003/88). The purpose of this right to annual leave is to allow the worker to rest and have a period of relaxation and leisure. That purpose differs from the purpose of the right to sick leave, namely to enable the employee to recover from an illness (CJEU 30 June 2016, Sobczyszyn, C‑178/15). An employee who is on sick leave during a predetermined annual leave period is therefore entitled to take this leave in a period other than that which coincides with the period of sick leave (ibid.). In the judgment of December 14, 2023, the Court rules that a period of mandatory quarantine cannot be equated with sick leave. A quarantine period in itself does not affect the employee's right to rest and relax during his holiday. Directive 2003/88 does not intend that any event which may prevent the worker from fully enjoying a period of rest or relaxation should be a ground for granting that worker additional leave in order to achieve the purpose of the annual vacation is protected. In this context, employer and employee must take into account the provisions of the new Article 32/1 of the Employment Contracts Act, which will come into effect on January 1, 2024. These new provisions were introduced in order to realize in Belgian law the right to annual leave in the event of illness, as defined by the Court of Justice, including in the Sobczyszyn judgment. From January 1, 2024, if the employee becomes ill during a period of paid holiday, he will have to provide a medical certificate to his employer and state his place of residence. He will also have to inform the employer whether he wishes to exercise his right to retain his vacation days from the end of the period of incapacity for work. According to the new article 32/1, the King can still establish a specific model of medical certificate for incapacity for work that occurs during a period of annual leave, but the use of that model is optional (!). To date, no such KB has been published.
|
