Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132) - Belgium (Ratification: 2003)

Article 2 of the Convention. Scope of application. The Committee notes with interest the repeal of section 18 of the Royal Order of 28 November 1969 that excluded certain domestic workers from the social security scheme, so that such workers now enjoy the right to annual holidays with pay. The Committee also notes that the Government is currently developing a social security scheme specifically for volunteer firefighters. The Committee notes, moreover, that the Government has not provided information on the legislation on annual holidays applicable to the staff of public establishments providing health care, prevention or hygiene services. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the effect given to the planned social security scheme for volunteer firefighters. Moreover, it once again requests the Government to provide information on the legislation applicable to the staff of public establishments providing health care, prevention or hygiene services and to indicate the extent to which effect has been given to the Convention in respect of such staff.

Article 6(2). Exclusion from paid annual holidays of periods of incapacity for work resulting from sickness. The Committee notes that the provisions are still in force which, include in the annual holiday period the days of incapacity for work due to sickness occurred during the annual holiday period. The Government indicates in its report that discussions on a possible reform to the regulations on annual holidays for the private sector have been held in the National Labour Council since September 2013. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any developments related to bringing the national legislation into line with this Article of the Convention.

Article 12. Impossibility for a worker to take holidays. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that section 67 of the Royal Order of 30 March 1967 provided for the cancellation of the holiday entitlement as of 31 December of the year in which it accrued, meaning that it would be impossible for a worker who had received holiday pay without actually taking the respective holiday to take that holiday subsequently. In its reply, the Government indicates that this provision is intended to meet European requirements to grant workers four weeks of holiday during the same calendar year. Therefore, allowing carry-over from one year to another would result in preventing workers from being able to take their four weeks of holiday. In this regard, the Committee recalls that, in several recent judgments (Case C-350/06 and Case C-78/11), the Court of Justice of the European Communities reaffirmed the inalienable character of workers’ rights to annual holidays with pay and clearly established that any worker who is unable to take a holiday does not lose his or her holiday entitlement, even if the carry-over period has expired. The Committee requests the Government to ensure that its law and practice are in conformity with this Article of the Convention and to provide information in this regard.