The end-of-year bonus in JC 118 is 4 1/3 weeks of the gross December hourly wage plus the average of the performance-related bonuses, and you as the employer pay it yourself, before 25 December 2026, to those in service on 1 December 2026. The worker is entitled from 1 month of service in your company. Someone who did not work the whole year gets one twelfth per month of service.
Who gets the end-of-year bonus in JC 118?
The agreement has applied since 1 January 2025, for an indefinite period, to the employers and blue-collar workers of the food industry. It excludes no sector: bakeries and pastry shops, breweries, slaughterhouses, dairies, chocolate makers and the other sectors of the committee all fall under it. The white-collar employees of the same companies fall under JC 220, with their own rules. Whether your workers belong to this committee, you can read in our guide to joint committee 118.
The conditions for the worker are short. He has at least 1 month of service in the company. He is entitled to one twelfth of the bonus per month of service actually worked in the calendar year the bonus relates to. A full year gives the full bonus.
Two months count separately:
- The month of joining counts as a full month if the worker starts between the 1st and the 15th of the month.
- The month of leaving counts as a full month if he leaves after the 15th of the month.
A worker who starts on 10 June therefore has seven twelfths: June to December. If he starts on 20 June, June does not count and he has six.
Calculation of the end-of-year bonus in JC 118
The bonus has three parts. Only pay subject to social security deductions counts:
- The fixed part: 4 1/3 weeks of the gross hourly wage of December of the year in which you pay the bonus. So it is the December hourly wage that counts.
- The variable part: the monthly average of the contractual bonuses the worker received from January to November of that year. The agreement means bonuses directly linked to the worker's work, subject to social security deductions and paid at intervals of no more than a month.
- Benefits in kind subject to social security deductions.
Bonuses or allowances granted in return for actual costs do not count.
The agreement does not say how many hours per week you use to convert the 4 1/3 weeks into an amount. That is why we give no worked example in euros here. The agreement also says nothing separate about part-time workers. The minimum hourly wage per category is in the JC 118 pay scale.
Sugar factories: a mixed hourly wage
Because of the campaign season, sugar factories calculate the bonus with a different hourly wage. It has two parts:
- 75% of the hourly wage due on 1 September of the current year;
- 25% of the average hourly wage of November of the current year, shift bonuses included.
When do you pay the end-of-year bonus in JC 118?
The agreement sets two moments, unless your company agrees otherwise:
- before 25 December 2026 to the workers in service on 1 December 2026;
- at the moment of leaving for the other workers.
The bonus goes through the normal payroll, with 13.07% personal social security and withholding tax under the scale for exceptional payments. What the bonus costs you on top of the basic contribution of 25%, you can check with our explanation of calculating the end-of-year bonus.
Which absences count for the end-of-year bonus in JC 118?
The bonus follows the months of service actually worked. A long list of absences counts as worked:
| Absence | Counts for the bonus |
|---|---|
| Sickness or non-work accident | up to 12 months |
| Workplace accident or occupational disease with compensation | yes; for partial incapacity after full incapacity: 12 months |
| Maternity leave, maternity protection and breastfeeding breaks | yes |
| Paternity leave, birth leave, adoption leave and foster care leave | yes |
| Statutory and contractual holidays, public holidays and replacement days | yes |
| Temporary unemployment | yes |
| Short leave, prophylactic leave, unpaid civic duties, public office | yes |
| Trade union duties and training, judge in labour courts | yes |
| Social advancement courses, paid educational leave and Flemish training leave | yes |
| Strike or lock-out, military obligations of EU citizens | yes |
For sickness, a joint comment applies. If the worker returns part-time under a gradual return to work, with the approval of the medical adviser, the assimilation continues as long as the full incapacity and the part-time return together last no longer than 12 months. Those months count in full: six months of half-time return are six assimilated months, not three.
Months of unemployment with company top-up are an exception. They give a right to 20% of the remaining bonus, until 31 December of the current year.
For each day of unjustified absence you may deduct a percentage of the bonus, if the works council, the trade union delegation or the work rules set that percentage.
End-of-year bonus JC 118 on dismissal or leaving
If a worker leaves during the year, you pay the bonus at the moment of leaving. The agreement names two cases in which he loses his right:
| Situation | What the agreement says |
|---|---|
| Dismissal for serious misconduct | loss of the right |
| Resignation during the first year of service | loss of the right |
| Resignation after 1 year of service | not a ground for loss: pro rata bonus |
| Dismissal by the employer for another reason | not a ground for loss: pro rata bonus |
| Leaving after an act of the employer equal to breach of contract | does not count as voluntary leaving |
| End due to force majeure from an occupational disease or workplace accident | does not count as voluntary leaving |
| Unemployment with company top-up | 20% of the remaining bonus until 31 December |
| End of a fixed-term contract, retirement, mutual agreement | the agreement does not expressly cover these cases |
For the last row the agreement gives no answer. It does not list these cases among the grounds for loss, nor separately. If in doubt, ask for advice before you prepare the final settlement.
Example. A worker with three years of service resigns and leaves on 20 September. He is past his first year of service, so he keeps his right. September counts because he leaves after the 15th: he gets nine twelfths of his bonus, payable when he leaves. If a colleague with eight months of service leaves on his own initiative on the same day, that colleague loses his right.
What can your company arrange itself?
The agreement leaves room on three points. It says nothing about converting the bonus into other benefits.
- A more favourable or equivalent calculation. Special agreements in your company that calculate this way remain in force.
- A deduction per unjustified absence. Only through the works council, the trade union delegation or the work rules.
- A different payment moment. The two payment moments apply unless other arrangements are agreed at company level.
Mistakes we see with the end-of-year bonus in JC 118
- Taking only the hourly wage. The monthly average of the performance-related bonuses from January to November belongs in it.
- Using the hourly wage of another month. The agreement uses the December hourly wage, except in sugar factories.
- Deducting temporary unemployment. Those days count as service worked.
- Forgetting the month of joining. Someone who starts between the 1st and the 15th gets that month in full.
- Refusing the bonus to someone who resigns after a year. After the first year of service, resignation is not a ground for loss.
What Business Centrum does for you
Business Centrum calculates the end-of-year bonus of your workers under this agreement, together with Acerta, as part of your payroll administration. We track the assimilated months, include the performance-related bonuses and put the bonus in the final settlement when someone leaves. The rules of the other committees are in our overview of the end-of-year bonus in 2026 per joint committee.