The government has decided to extend the flexi-job scheme, which already existed for the catering sector, to retail trade.
This was announced on Friday.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court decided to throw out the syndicate’s appeal against flexi-jobs, the “small” jobs the government is promoting for the catering sector.
The syndicates asked the Court to get rid of the 2015 law that set up a flexi-job scheme for the catering sector. These jobs fall under a specific labour law, which means social security and tax are dealt with through a separate system.
The government has decided to extend this system to retail trade (bakers, butchers, hairdressers) and pensioners.
This scheme is used for people who want extra money and work at least 4/5 time for one or more employers. Up until now, only the catering sector used this scheme. There is no specific employee charge with the flexi-job system, but the employer has to pay the ONSS a 25% employer’s charge. There is also no tax applied to the salary for private workers.
The State Secretary for the fight against social fraud, Philippe De Backer (Open Vld), says around 28,000 people working in catering use the flexi-job system.
He added that this system brings in around 15 million euros for the ONSS. This never would have been claimed before as it would have been paid on the black.
