In response to the autumn “booster” vaccine, the Belgian government has decided to reintroduce the right to leave of absence for vaccination against COVID-19 from 1 October 2022 to 31 December 2022.
This right to leave of absence already existed earlier this year until 30 June 2022. Despite the fact that several people have already received their booster vaccination in recent weeks, the leave of absence will only be reintroduced as from 1 October 2022.
Vaccination leave is considered as a leave of absence. Employees are given the right to be absent from work for the time required for the vaccination, as well as for the travel time to and from the vaccination centre, while retaining their normal salary. “The time required for the vaccination” therefore means that employees are not automatically entitled to half or a full day of paid absence.
In order to be entitled to the salary, the employee must inform the employer in advance and inform the employer as soon as possible of the time of his vaccination, as soon as the he knows this time. The employer may ask the employee to present the proof of the confirmation of the appointment. Only if the confirmation would not mention the time of the appointment, the employer may ask to present the invitation of the appointment itself.
The employer may only use the proof of the confirmation of the appointment or of the invitation of the appointment for the proper organisation of the work and for the correct payroll administration. The employer may only note the time of the appointment and register the employee’s absence as leave of absence, without specifying that it is a leave of absence for vaccination purposes. In concrete terms, this means that the employer is not allowed to make a copy of the proof of the appointment or of the invitation to the appointment! The information contained therein cannot be copied by writing it down by hand either.
Finally, we would like to point out that this right to vaccination leave has yet to be formalised in a law. This will happen soon, but in the meantime, we recommend that you already grant vaccination leave to your employees now.