Economic unemployment for white-collar workers is only possible if your company is in difficulty and a collective agreement or an approved company plan allows the measure. You prove this with form C106A, at least 14 days before your first notice to the National Employment Office (ONEM). After that you have a credit per calendar year of 16 weeks of full suspension or 26 weeks of reduced work. Blue-collar workers follow other rules, which you find in our guide on temporary unemployment in Belgium for economic reasons.
Economic unemployment for white-collar workers: the conditions
The scheme is set out in articles 77/1 to 77/8 of the Employment Contracts Act. You may only use it when three conditions are met at the same time.
- You fall under the law on collective agreements and joint committees. That covers almost the whole private sector.
- Your company is in difficulty. The law has four criteria. One is enough.
- A collective agreement or an approved company plan provides for the measure. Without one, you can fall back on national collective agreement no. 183.
The four criteria for a company in difficulty:
| Criterion | What you show | Proof |
|---|---|---|
| Drop in turnover or production | At least 10% lower in one of the 4 quarters before the application, compared with the same quarter of one of the 2 previous calendar years | VAT returns for the quarters concerned |
| Drop in orders | At least 10% lower, with the same comparison | File with accounting documents, VAT returns as an indication |
| Temporary unemployment among your blue-collar workers | At least 10% of all days declared in the quarter before the form | Sworn statement with the DmfA data |
| Recognition by the Minister of Employment | Unforeseen circumstances causing a sharp drop in the short term | Decision of the minister |
If the drop is not in the last quarter, the downward trend must continue in the following quarters, even if it no longer reaches 10%. If you are not subject to VAT, you prove the drop with other accounting documents.
Being recognised as a company in difficulty is not a blank cheque. With every notice the ONEM can check whether the lack of work is still caused by economic factors. The lack of work must also be beyond your control. If you have third parties do the work of the suspended employees, you pay those employees their normal wages for those days.
Collective agreement, company plan or agreement no. 183: what is your basis?
The document you need depends on your joint committee and on whether there is a union delegation.
| Your situation | Basis for economic unemployment of white-collar staff |
|---|---|
| Your joint committee concluded a sector agreement | The sector agreement |
| No sector agreement, but a union delegation | A company agreement. If it fails within 2 weeks of the formal invitation, an approved company plan |
| No sector agreement, no union delegation | A collective agreement or an approved company plan |
| None of these documents | Supplementary collective agreement no. 183 of the National Labour Council |
A collective agreement or company plan must state explicitly that it is concluded under this scheme. It contains measures to keep as many jobs as possible, the amount of the supplement you pay and the maximum duration of the suspension. You file it with the registry of the Directorate-General Collective Labour Relations of the Federal Public Service Employment.
You send a company plan by registered mail to the director-general of that directorate, with a reasoned application and form C106A. The Company Plans Committee decides within 2 weeks. It checks whether your company is in difficulty, whether the plan complies with the law and whether it avoids dismissals.
Agreement no. 183 is the safety net. The National Labour Council concluded it on 21 October 2025. It applies from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2029 inclusive. If you fall under JC 200 or another committee, first check in the collective agreement database of the Federal Public Service Employment whether your committee has its own agreement. The rules of your sector are in our guide to JC 200.
Form C106A: proving the difficulties
Before you put a white-collar employee on temporary unemployment, you show that you meet the conditions. You do this with a form:
- C106A if your company is subject to VAT, with a copy of the VAT returns for the reference quarter and the comparison quarter;
- C106A-NBTW if you are not subject to VAT.
You send the form by registered mail to the ONEM office of your registered office or technical business unit. If you use a company plan, it goes to the Federal Public Service Employment together with the plan. On the same day you give a copy to the works council or, if there is none, to the union delegation.
The ONEM normally replies within 2 weeks. Your first suspension notice may only be sent once at least 14 days have passed since the form was sent. The ONEM online application does not check whether you submitted a C106A. If it is missing, you hear about it later, and the benefits are not paid or are paid late.
The credit: 16 weeks of full suspension or 26 weeks of reduced work
You choose, per employee, between two schemes:
- full suspension: the employee does not work;
- reduced work: the employee works at least 2 days a week, whether full-time or part-time.
Per calendar year this may be at most 16 calendar weeks of full suspension or 26 calendar weeks of reduced work. If you combine them, two weeks of reduced work count as one week of full suspension. Your collective agreement or company plan can set a lower maximum. The scheme is per person: you can organise it differently for each employee.
The ONEM counts calendar weeks, from Monday to Sunday:
- every week in the notice counts in full, even if you call the employee back and he works a few days;
- a notice that starts on a Wednesday and ends on a Tuesday costs two weeks;
- a week of full suspension counts as full suspension, even if there turn out to have been two working days;
- a week that you stop electronically in advance, at the latest on the Sunday evening before, does not count.
So start every suspension on a Monday and end it on a Sunday. If your company closes for a full week of annual holiday, send two notices, one before and one after the closure. Otherwise the holiday week is deducted too.
Unlike for blue-collar workers, there is no compulsory work week. No week of resumed work is needed between two notices. Six weeks of full suspension followed directly by five weeks of reduced work is therefore possible.
Worked example: how much credit is left?
For one employee you notified one week of reduced work in March, followed by thirteen weeks of full suspension. In September you want to suspend again.
- Balance of full suspension. 16 minus 13 minus 1/2 = 2.5. The ONEM rounds down: 2 more weeks of full suspension.
- Balance of reduced work. 26 minus 2 x 13 minus 1 = 0. Reduced work is no longer possible this year.
If you exceed the credit, you pay normal wages for every suspension day after that.
Applying for economic unemployment for white-collar workers: the steps
- Check the basis and the credit. Your C106A has been on its way for at least 14 days and each employee still has enough weeks.
- Inform the employees at least 7 calendar days before the first unemployment day. The day of notification and the first unemployment day do not count. You post a notice or inform each employee in writing; intranet, email or text message are allowed if they offer the same guarantees. The notice states for each employee the name, place of residence, the unemployment days and the start and end of the scheme, plus your commitment not to give the work to third parties. To start on a Monday, you notify at the latest on the last working day of the second week before.
- Send the electronic notice to the ONEM on the same day, for the operating site and not the registered office. For white-collar staff this notice is always by name: name and national register number of each employee, the joint committee, the scheme, the start and end date and the economic cause.
- Inform the works council on the same day of the economic causes, or the union delegation if there is no works council.
- Each month, report the first actual unemployment day per employee: on that day itself, on the next working day, or at the earliest 5 working days in advance if you are sure. A notice sent too early counts as no notice.
- File a DRS scenario 2 at the employee's first temporary unemployment with you, after a break in benefits of at least 36 months, or after a change in his working arrangement. Give him a copy.
- After each month, file a DRS scenario 5 with the suspension hours under code 5.11, and give a copy of that too.
If you move from reduced work to full suspension, you inform the employees again 7 days in advance, stop the running notice and send a new one. More suspension days within reduced work, with still at least 2 working days a week, you only report to the employees.
The employee fills in the electronic control card eC3.2 himself and applies for his benefit at his payment institution. After 3 months of temporary unemployment he registers as a jobseeker. That is his obligation, but tell him in advance.
What does economic unemployment of a white-collar employee cost you?
You pay no wages for the unemployment days. The ONEM pays the employee 60% of his average pay, capped at € 3,571.18 a month, so at most € 82.33 per benefit. Tax at source of 26.75% is withheld from every benefit.
You pay two amounts yourself:
| What | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Supplement (article 77/4) | At least € 5 per day not worked, or the amount in your agreement or plan | Every day the employee does not work because of the suspension |
| Extra supplement (article 29) | € 5.41 per day | Per benefit, from day one up to a monthly wage of € 4,284, above that from day 27 in the same year |
The supplement must be at least equal to the supplement you pay your own blue-collar workers during temporary unemployment. If you have no blue-collar workers, it is the supplement from the agreement of the committee you would fall under with blue-collar staff. Only for a company plan can the committee allow a lower amount, never below € 2 per day. If a collective agreement made binding by royal decree places the payment with a subsistence fund, the fund pays.
Some days you never declare as unemployment:
- a public holiday or replacement day in the first 14 days after the start of the suspension: you pay it as wages;
- days on which the employee normally does not work, such as Saturday in a five-day week;
- full days of compensatory rest after overtime or Sunday work: the employee takes those first;
- half a working day: if he works in the morning, the afternoon is not unemployment.
Worked example: two weeks of full suspension
A white-collar employee works 38 hours a week and earns € 4,000 gross a month. You suspend him fully for two calendar weeks: 10 working days or 76 hours.
- Benefits. 76 x 6 / 38 = 12 benefits. His pay is above the ceiling, so each benefit is € 82.33: 12 x € 82.33 = € 987.96 gross, or € 723.68 after 26.75% tax at source.
- Supplement. Without an agreement setting a higher amount: 10 days x € 5 = € 50.
- Extra supplement. He earns less than € 4,284, so from day one: 12 x € 5.41 = € 64.92.
In this example you pay € 114.92 instead of two weeks' wages with employer contributions. The employee keeps about € 840 for those two weeks, with tax still due on the supplements. Explain this to him in advance.
Economic unemployment for white-collar and blue-collar workers: the differences
| White-collar (articles 77/1 to 77/8) | Blue-collar (article 51) | |
|---|---|---|
| Prior conditions | Company in difficulty, agreement or plan, form C106A | Economic lack of work, no prior form |
| Maximum | 16 weeks full or 26 weeks reduced per calendar year | 4 weeks full, 3 months large suspension, 12 months small suspension |
| Compulsory work week | No | Yes, after the maximum of full and large suspension |
| Reduced work | At least 2 working days a week | Threshold of 3 working days a week between large and small suspension |
| Prior notice | 7 calendar days | 7 calendar days, own deadlines in construction |
| Statutory minimum supplement | € 5 per day | € 2 per day |
| Extra supplement article 29 | € 5.41 per day | € 5.41 per day |
If you employ both, one scheme helps the other: if you put many blue-collar workers on temporary unemployment, that can itself be the 10% criterion that lets you suspend your white-collar staff too.
Dismissal during economic unemployment
During a period of full suspension or reduced work, the employee may end the contract without notice (article 37/7). If he resigns with a notice period, that period keeps running during the suspension.
If you, the employer, give notice before or during the suspension, your notice period stops running during the suspension. The end of the contract therefore moves back. How to calculate the period is in our guide on the notice period in Belgium. The other reasons why a contract is put on hold, from sickness to unpaid leave, are in suspension of the employment contract.
Mistakes we often see
- Sending the notice before the C106A has been on its way for 14 days. Then there are no benefits.
- Starting on a Wednesday. An incomplete week costs a full week of credit.
- A notice without names. Only stating the department is technically possible, but for white-collar staff it gives no right to benefits.
- Leaving the holiday closure in the same notice. The holiday week is then deducted from the credit.
- Forgetting compensatory rest. Full days of compensatory rest must be taken first.
- Setting the supplement lower than that of the blue-collar workers. The law requires at least the same amount.
What Business Centrum does for you
We check with you whether your company meets a criterion, which basis you have (sector agreement, company plan or agreement no. 183) and how much credit each employee has left. We prepare form C106A, send the notices to the ONEM on time and process the monthly first day, the DRS returns, the supplement and the extra supplement in your payroll, together with Acerta. Have your situation checked before you post the first notice.