# Special edition CORONAVIRU Temporary unemployment, the latest developments

Friday March 20, 2020

There is a lot of talk nowadays about the use of temporary unemployment for force majeure or economic reasons to cope with the situation caused by the epidemic.

Here is an update on the latest developments underway on this subject.

In the context of the health crisis, an exceptional simplification of procedures is implemented by the authorities.
Unemployment due to force majeure is the only qualification to be attributed to your impacted workers, with retroactive effect from March 13, 2020. Force majeure is considered legally as any sudden, unforeseeable event, beyond the control of the parties and rendering the work impossible.
You can now directly submit your request for temporary unemployment cover due to force majeure. The ONEM FAQ will also be updated.
This FAQ is updated very regularly in recent days, so it is often offline and is not available on their website.

However, we invite you to exercise caution when using this device.
Indeed, some public authorities condition the maintenance of subsidies to the absence of recourse to temporary unemployment.

Wallonia yesterday took certain measures aimed at "immunizing" the subsidies of organizations provided that these do not resort to temporary unemployment and this, with the obvious aim of preserving the incomes of workers. The Wallonia-Brussels Federation has decided to release a first budget tranche to support associations, the manner and conditions of which are not yet known.
Letters have been sent to the Ministers concerned in order to relay the difficulties encountered and the points of attention for our sector.

Here is what we can already say:

ACS workers (Brussels - Capital Region):
ACTIRIS recommends avoiding putting these workers on temporary unemployment without taxing it.

APE workers (Walloon Region):
No information has yet arrived about these workers.

MARIBEL workers:
The monthly advances of subsidies from workers under the Maribel will be liquidated to employers as long as people are not temporarily unemployed.

Workers whose remuneration is taken into account for Federation - Wallonia - Brussels grants:
We do not have specific information for this type of worker, but we remind you that all of the usual annual documents must be sent (with the exception of the minutes of the General Assembly) to the Subsidy Service so that the service advances, despite the situation, on the files.

Also note that, within the framework of the CSL subsidy, replacement income (and therefore including unemployment benefit) is never taken into account for the calculation of the subsidy.

Finally, on Thursday evening, the Federal Government announced the creation of an economic working group to deal with the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
This working group, called the Economic Risk Management Group (ERMG), brings together representatives of major economic interest groups, the financial sector, public bodies, communities and regions, academia and social partners (organizations of 'employers and unions).
Unisoc was also invited to participate in this working group.
Once this working group begins to function effectively, members will be invited to give their opinion so that the social profit sector is not forgotten in this exercise

Serge MATHONET

Director