10 euro/day bonus for those that have been on temporary unemployment for longer than 2 months
The Federal Government has announced that those that have been laid off and have been claiming temporary unemployment for longer than two months will be given a bonus of 10 euro/day. The announcement was made by the Federal Work and Economy Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne (Francophone socialist) on Friday morning. The bonus comes on top of existing measures offering financial support to those that have been laid off work.
Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis more than 400,000 people have been on temporary unemployment for at least two months (52 working days based on a 6-day working week). During the past year a total of 1.2 million people in Belgium have been on temporary unemployment at one time or another.
Local Social Services Boards report an increase in requests for assistance from people on temporary unemployment. In most cases these are from people that have never asked for help before. This has moved the Federal Government to offer extra help.
The bonus will be paid out in a one-off payment to all those that have been on temporary unemployment for at least 52 working days (based on a 6-day working week) during the period from the start of the coronavirus crisis in March until the end of November. It should be paid out sometime between now and Christmas.
In order to workout how much you will receive you should count the number of days that you have been on temporary unemployment (one full week counts as 6 days) and then deduct 52 from the total. This x 10 is the bonus that you will receive.
Those with fewer than 15 days above the threshold level of 52 days will receive a minimum payment of 150 euro.
An example: A bar tender has been laid off for 100 days (around 4 months) due to the corona measures. In this case he/she will be entitled to 480 euro (100 – 52 X 10 = 480).
Previous the amount payable to those on temporary unemployment was increased to 70% of their normal basic salary.