Belgium

Claeys & Engels logo

Claeys & Engels is the largest HR law firm in Belgium, with five offices located in the different regions and more than 65 lawyers. We have the skills, expertise and manpower to meet the needs of the most demanding client. We can handle urgent, sensitive and complex matters and deal with large files requiring substantial work to be undertaken in a short time period. For example, we regularly deal with the human resources aspects of major company restructuring, labour disputes and social election-related litigation.

In the 2004 edition of European Legal 500, our firm is the only firm to be placed in the top rank with the following comment: “Claeys & Engels, member of Ius Laboris, is considered the leading national labour practice, with experience acting for employers and employees in all aspects of labour law”.

Through the Ius Laboris alliance, we keep an international focus. We continuously exchange know-how and experience with the other member firms of Ius Laboris. The alliance’s international network offers us the opportunity to initiate, monitor and coordinate international cases from Belgium.

Visit Website

Social Security Agreement Between Belgium and Quebec Enters into Force

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Claeys & Engels

For employment outside of Europe, it must always be verified if Belgium has entered into a social security agreement with the country concerned. The basic principle in most such agreements is that the employee is subject to the social security regime of the 'work country,' but in case of a secondment can temporarily remain subject to the social security regime of the home country. This continued submission to the home country social security regime has to be established in the work country with a "certificate of coverage" provided by the home country.

In the Belgian Official Gazette of 22 October the social security agreement between Belgium and Quebec was published. The agreement was entered into on 28 March 2006, but was published only now.

Belgium had already entered into a social security agreement with Canada. However, Quebec holds a special place within Canada since it is responsible for the organisation of its own social security regime. As a result, the agreement with Canada could not be applied to Quebec. That is why Belgium and Quebec have entered into a separate social security agreement. However, the agreement between Belgium and Quebec is nearly identical to the one between Belgium and Canada and has entered into force on 1 November 2010.

As a result, henceforth, it also possible to temporarily post employees to Quebec with preservation of the Belgian social security regime. On the other hand, employees who have been posted from Quebec to Belgium will be able to escape Belgian social security if they have a "certificate of coverage" from Quebec.

In principle, according to the social security agreement between Belgium and Quebec, the temporary continued submission to the social security regime of the home country (and temporarily not the work country) is restricted to a period of 24 months.
Tags: Social Security
Trackbacks (0) Links to blogs that reference this article Trackback URL
http://www.globalemploymentlaw.com/mtc/mt-tb.cgi/1023
Comments (0) Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end