For most blue-collar workers you do not pay the end-of-year bonus in JC 145 yourself: the Guarantee and Social Fund for horticulture pays it in December, 8.33% of gross pay in tree nurseries and 7.55% in vegetable, mushroom and fruit growing. For your office staff you pay one month's salary yourself. Parks and gardens and floriculture have a different bonus, and two subsectors are not covered.
Which end-of-year bonus applies in JC 145 per subsector?
The Joint Committee for horticulture covers several crops, and the collective agreements set separate rules per group. Your main activity determines which rule applies. The classification and wages per crop are explained in our guide to joint committee 145.
| Group | Bonus | Who pays | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tree nursery workers | end-of-year bonus | Guarantee and Social Fund | 8.33% of the reference year's gross pay |
| Vegetable, mushroom and fruit growing workers | end-of-year bonus | Guarantee and Social Fund | 7.55% of the reference year's gross pay |
| Occasional workers with a harvest card | end-of-year and purchasing-power bonus | Guarantee and Social Fund | together € 240.71 |
| Parks and gardens workers | loyalty bonus | Social Fund for the landscaping and maintenance of parks and gardens | 6%, 7% or 8.50% of gross pay |
| Floriculture workers | extra holiday pay | Guarantee and Social Fund | 6.25% of the reference year's gross pay |
| Office staff in all subsectors | end-of-year bonus | the employer | 100% of the monthly salary, pro rata |
| Forestry nurseries (145.02) and fruit sorting companies | no percentage in the sector agreement | not regulated | not regulated |
For forestry nurseries (145.02) and fruit sorting companies, the end-of-year bonus agreement gives no percentage. We found no sector end-of-year bonus for these groups in an agreement in force, so we fill in nothing here. For those workers, look at the employment contract and the arrangements in your company.
End-of-year bonus JC 145 for blue-collar workers: the fund pays
The main arrangement is in the agreement shown at the top of this page. It applies to blue-collar workers in horticulture, except floriculture, the landscaping and maintenance of parks and gardens, office staff and occasional workers with a harvest card.
The amount. The bonus is calculated on the gross pay the worker earned in the reference year: 8.33% in tree nurseries, 7.55% in vegetable growing, 7.55% in mushroom growing and 7.55% in fruit growing. The worker is entitled insofar as he worked in the sector during the reference year. The agreement sets no minimum seniority. The minimum hourly wages of the workers are in the JC 145 pay scale.
The reference year runs from 1 July of the previous year up to and including 30 June of the year of payment. For the 2026 bonus, that is from 1 July 2025 up to and including 30 June 2026.
Payment. The fund pays the bonus in December, after the reference year. The fund's board sets the practical arrangements. We found no specific payment date for 2026. End-of-year bonuses paid by a social security fund are subject to withholding tax at a fixed rate of 23.22%.
What you do as employer. You do not pay out the bonus yourself. You finance it through your employer contribution to the fund, which the NSSO collects together with your ordinary contributions. From 2026, that contribution for your blue-collar workers is 12.53% of the payroll, of which 11.25% is for the end-of-year bonus.
Absences treated as worked. The agreement calculates on gross pay earned and does not itself list days treated as worked. The fund's board sets the practical arrangements. So we do not fill in here what the fund does with absences.
Worked example: a tree nursery worker
This is an example, not a calculation for your situation. A tree nursery worker earned € 30,000 gross from July 2025 up to and including June 2026. The fund pays him in December 2026 30,000 x 8.33% = € 2,499.00 gross, before withholding tax. In vegetable growing the same pay gives 30,000 x 7.55% = € 2,265.00.
On leaving
A worker who leaves during the reference year keeps his right. The agreement lists retirement and early retirement with company supplement, death (for the heirs), dismissal by the employer with notice or compensation in lieu of notice, termination by mutual agreement, the end of a fixed-term contract or contract for specific work, and since 2024 also resignation. Only a worker dismissed for serious misconduct gets no bonus. Because the bonus is a percentage of gross pay actually earned, a worker who worked part of the year automatically gets a smaller amount. The agreement gives no other payment moment than December for a worker who leaves.
Occasional workers with a harvest card
Occasional workers do not fall under the percentages above. Anyone with at least 50 days of work on the harvest card in the calendar year, with one or more employers, is entitled to an end-of-year bonus and a purchasing-power bonus of € 240.71 together. These bonuses are also paid by the Guarantee and Social Fund. The amount follows the index. The rules are in agreement 198501/CO/145 of 26 February 2026 and do not apply in parks and gardens. That agreement gives no payment moment.
Parks and gardens (145.04): a loyalty bonus
In the landscaping and maintenance of parks and gardens there is no sector end-of-year bonus. Workers get a loyalty bonus, set by agreement 191194/CO/145 of 20 November 2024.
| Consecutive years of service in the sector | Loyalty bonus |
|---|---|
| from 0 to 5 years | 6% of gross pay |
| from 5 to 15 years | 7% of gross pay |
| more than 15 years | 8.50% of gross pay |
The percentage applies to gross pay for the days worked in the sector during the reference year, from July up to and including June. The bonus counts days actually worked and days treated as worked under the annual holiday legislation for blue-collar workers, but not days of economic unemployment. Only workers with at least 6 months' seniority in the sector qualify. That condition is assessed on 1 July 2026. A worker who stays in service and reaches the seniority later still gets the bonus.
The Social Fund for parks and gardens pays. Its board decides by June at the latest from when the bonus can be paid to all those entitled. You finance the bonus through your contribution: since April 2026, 9.15% of your blue-collar payroll goes to it. On leaving, the worker keeps his right on retirement or early retirement with company supplement, death, dismissal by you, mutual agreement, force majeure, the end of a fixed-term contract and resignation. On dismissal for serious misconduct the bonus is lost.
Floriculture (145.01): extra holiday pay
In floriculture the bonus is called extra holiday pay. The Guarantee and Social Fund pays 6.25% of the gross pay the worker earned in the reference year, from July up to and including June, in the following December. The rules are in agreement 55846/CO/145 of 9 October 2000, last amended by agreement 187022/CO/145 of 15 December 2023. Since that amendment, resignation also gives a right to it. Dismissal for serious misconduct does not. You finance it through the floriculture contribution, of which 7.30% of your blue-collar payroll goes to this bonus.
End-of-year bonus JC 145 for office staff: you pay yourself
For your office staff, agreement 185561/CO/145 of 15 December 2023 applies, in all subsectors. Here the fund does not pay; you do.
The amount equals the monthly salary, calculated pro rata to the days worked and treated as worked from January to December. Each month worked or treated as worked gives a right to one twelfth. A month counts if the employee started before the 16th or left after the 15th of that month. For 2026 the period runs from 1 January 2026 up to and including 31 December 2026.
Days treated as worked are holidays, public holidays, short leave, paternity leave, paid educational leave or Flemish training leave, union leave, occupational disease, work accident, maternity rest and the first 12 months of incapacity due to sickness or accident.
Sales representatives with fully variable pay get the monthly average of the last twelve months, capped at the highest amount of category 4 of the pay scale. With partly variable pay the same cap applies, unless the fixed part is higher.
Payment takes place at the latest when the annual accounts are filed or at the end of the year, so in December, unless an agreement in your company provides otherwise. The bonus goes through the normal payroll calculation, with 13.07% personal social security and the employer contribution of 25%. Work out net and cost with our explanation on calculating the end-of-year bonus.
On leaving, the employee gets the bonus pro rata on early retirement with company supplement or retirement, death, dismissal by the employer, mutual agreement, definitive force majeure, the end of a fixed-term contract and resignation, at the moment of leaving. On dismissal for serious misconduct, not.
A company arrangement replaces the sector agreement if it grants an equivalent benefit, whatever it is called, or if your company agreement grants at least the same benefits taken together.
Worked example: an employee who started in March
This is an example, not a calculation for your situation. An employee earns € 3,200 gross per month and started on 10 March 2026. March counts, because he started before the sixteenth. He has ten months in 2026: 3,200 x 10 / 12 = € 2,666.67 gross.
What may your company arrange itself for blue-collar workers?
A more favourable arrangement in your company does not affect the sector agreement, but it is only kept for the part that exceeds the fund's sector bonus. In parks and gardens, additional benefits from company agreements are kept.
Mistakes we see with the end-of-year bonus in JC 145
- Paying the blue-collar bonus yourself. For tree nurseries, vegetables, mushrooms and fruit the fund pays; a company arrangement is only kept for the part above the sector bonus.
- Using the wrong percentage. Tree nurseries get 8.33%, the other three crops 7.55%.
- Giving parks and gardens an end-of-year bonus. A loyalty bonus applies there, with a seniority condition of 6 months.
- Forgetting office staff. For them you pay one month's salary yourself, even in a company where the fund pays the blue-collar workers.
- Settling a resignation without bonus. Since 2024, resignation gives a right to the bonus in the blue-collar arrangements.
What Business Centrum does for you
Business Centrum calculates the end-of-year bonus of your office staff under the sector agreement, together with Acerta, as part of your payroll. For your blue-collar workers, we include the employer contribution to the right fund in payroll processing. The rules of the other committees are in our overview of the end-of-year bonus in 2026 per joint committee.