Staff delegations are established at the level of the company, i.e. at the level of the legal entity which has hired the employees.

The rules applicable to their implementation are as follows.

Which private sector employer must set up a staff delegation?

Any company, whatever the nature of its activities, its legal form and its sector of activity, is obliged to appoint staff representatives if it employs at least 15 employees under an employment contract during the 12 months preceding the first day of the month in which elections are announced.

Which public sector employer must set up a staff delegation?

The same applies to any public sector employer employing at least 15 employees under an employment contract during the 12 months preceding the first day of the month in which elections are announced, other than those whose employment relations are governed by a special status not under private sector law, in particular by a public law or similar status, including civil servants and public employees.

What is the impact of a business ownership transfer?

Employees who become part of an enterprise as a result of a transfer of business ownership, a company or part of an enterprise or company within the meaning of Book I, Title II, Chapter VII of the Labour Code are deemed to have been part of that enterprise since the date of their entry into service with the original employer.

How are employees considered when determining the number of employees in the company?

Full-time employees

All employees of company working under an employment contract, with the exception of apprentices, are taken into account for counting the number of staff employed in the enterprise.

Employees working part-time

Part-time employees who work 16 hours or more per week are counted in full when calculating the number of employees in the company.

For employees who work fewer than 16 hours per week, the number of employees is calculated by dividing the total number of hours recorded in their employment contracts by the legal working hours or the agreed working hours.

Employees on fixed-term contracts, temporary workers and employees on secondment

Employees with fixed-term contracts, temporary workers and employees seconded to the company are taken into account in calculating the number of employees of the company in proportion to their seniority in the company during the 12 months preceding the deadline for drawing up the electoral lists.

However, employees on fixed-term contracts, temporary employees and employees seconded by another company are excluded from the workforce count when they are replacing an absent employee or an employee whose employment contract is suspended.

Temporary employment agency

In calculating the number of staff employed by temporary work contractors, account shall be taken of the permanent employees of that company and of those employees who have been linked to it by assignment contracts for a total period of at least 10 months during the year preceding the date of calculation.