Employee Benefits
AG EB ONLINE
Published on 12/09/2019
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JC 200 and purchasing power: how to increase it?
As of 1 September 2019, employees of JC 200 receive an increase in purchasing power equal to a 1.1% increase in their gross salary. The way that your white-collar workers may receive this increase depend on the situation of white-collar and blue-collar workers at your company.
As of 1 September 2019, employees of JC 200 receive an increase in purchasing power equal to a 1.1% increase in their gross salary. The way that your white-collar workers may receive this increase depend on the situation of white-collar and blue-collar workers at your company.
Single status
On July 2019, the Auxiliary Joint Committee for Employees (JC 200) reached an agreement to increase purchasing power, formalised in a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The CBA proposes to use the increase in purchasing power to gradually eliminate existing discriminatory differences between white-collar and blue-collar workers in supplementary pension entitlements.
Other than in exceptional cases, since 1 January 2015 it is now unlawful for new pension plans to feature differences in treatment between white-collar and blue-collar workers. The legislation also prohibits existing pension plans from introducing new discriminatory differences between the two categories of workers. According to the WAP (Supplementary Pensions Act), the deadline for this harmonisation is 1 January 2025.
What about JC 200?
| Do you only employ white-collar workers? | | If so, the general scheme applies in your case, which means that the gross salary will have to be increased by 1.1%. Alternatively, you may also provide your white-collar workers with an equivalent benefit instead, as the option to transform the benefit is permitted under the terms of the CBA. For example, you could optimise the net value of the increase via a group insurance plan or healthcare plan (hospitalisation, outpatient care, dental care, etc.) |
| Do you employ both white-collar and blue-collar workers in the same business activity? | Do your white-collar workers benefit from a more attractive supplementary pension plan than your blue-collar workers? | If so, the general scheme negotiated in the CBA applies in your case, which means that the gross salary will have to be increased by 1.1%. Alternatively, you may also provide your white-collar workers with an equivalent benefit instead, as the option to transform the benefit is permitted under the terms of the CBA. For example, you could optimise the net value of the increase via a healthcare plan (hospitalisation, outpatient care, dental care, etc.) |
| Do you employ both white-collar and blue-collar workers in the same business activity? | Do your blue-collar workers benefit from a more attractive supplementary pension plan than your white-collar workers? | If so, the special scheme negotiated in the CBA applies in your case. Its purpose is to set up a pension plan that eliminates discriminatory differences between white-collar and blue-collar workers. This pension plan can be concluded at the company level or via the company's industrial partners. Pending the implementation of such a pension plan, a temporary annual premium corresponding to the 1.1% salary increase will be granted to your white-collar workers. |
Questions? Concerns?
Feel free to get in touch with your usual contact person at AG Employee Benefits.
To learn more about the single status and supplementary pensions, click here.
