Most important HR legislative changes 2023
In this article you can find an overview of the most important HR legislative changes and bills for 2023.
Legislative changes
Since this year, it has been possible to provide employees with a tax-free home working allowance of €2 per day (or part day) worked from home. In the 2023 Tax Plan, the tax-free home working allowance is set at € 2.15 per day (or part day) from January 1, 2023.
The tax-free travel allowance will also be adjusted. According to the 2023 Tax Plan, this reimbursement of €0.19 per kilometer for business kilometers and commuting will increase to €0.21 per kilometer from 1 January 2023. This increase compensates employees for the rising gasoline price.
According to the 2023 Tax Plan, there will also be a temporary expansion of the free space of the WKR in 2023. The free space in the WKR is temporarily set from 1.7% to 3%. This extension gives employers more options to grant an additional tax-free allowance to employees, for example to compensate for higher energy costs.
This means that from January 1, 2023, the following scales and percentages will apply:
– the free space for the first € 400,000 of the taxable wage bill is 3%;
– on the excess of € 400,000 the free space is 1,18%.
The temporary expansion of the free space of the WKR will expire again with effect from 1 January 2024. From then on, the usual percentages will apply again:
– over the first €400,000 of the taxable wage bill, the free space is then 1.92%;
– on the excess of € 400,000 the free space is 1,18%.
If the free space is exceeded, wage tax must still be paid on the excess, in the form of a final levy of 80%.
As every year, the maximum transition compensation will also increase again on January 1, 2023. As of January 1, 2023, the maximum transition compensation will increase to €89,000.
As of January 1, 2023, the statutory minimum wage for employees aged 21 and over is €1,934.40 gross per month for full-time employment. The statutory minimum wage therefore increases by 10.15%. The minimum wage is also increasing for employees under the age of 21. You can find a complete overview of the applicable contributions as of January 1, 2023 here find.
In 2023, the state pension age will be 66 years and 10 months.
The employer contribution for the ZVW will decrease from 6.75% to 6.68% in 2023. As a result, employers pay less premium per employee.
At the same time, however, the maximum amount over which an employer pays the ZVW contribution increases. This year this was set at €59,706 and from 2023 it is expected to amount to €66,952.
Many employers now offer group health insurance or group discounts. From January 1, 2023, this is no longer permitted for basic insurance. From 1 January 2023, group discounts may only apply to supplementary health insurance.
Legislative proposals
In addition to the above legislative changes, there are also five relevant bills in the pipeline:
Work where you want
We previously wrote about the 'Work where you want' bill this article. This bill should make it easier for employees to work both at the work location and from home. The bill has been adopted by the House of Representatives and is now before the Senate (where some questions about the bill were recently answered).
Equal Pay for Women and Men Act
The bill 'Equal Pay for Women and Men Act' is still in its infancy. This bill aims (by amending the Equal Treatment for Men and Women Act) to put an end to unequal pay between men and women. If the bill is adopted, companies with more than 50 employees will be obliged to provide information about the pay differences between men and women in comparable positions. In addition, there will be a certification obligation for companies with more than 250 employees, requiring employers to provide figures on the salaries of employees every three years. A certificate can then only be obtained if the company demonstrably combats unequal pay and it appears that the company pays men and women equally. In the event of non-compliance, there is an opportunity for improvement, after which fines will follow if the company does not comply. The bill is currently still being discussed by the House of Representatives. As soon as there are relevant developments, we will inform you about them.
Mandatory confidential counselor for undesirable behavior in the workplace
This bill - which is also still at the beginning of the legislative process - aims to amend the Working Conditions Act with the aim of giving every employee who has been confronted with undesirable behavior in the employment situation a legal right of access to a confidential counselor. This will be possible because, if the bill is adopted, employers will be obliged to appoint an (internal or external) confidential counselor. Furthermore, this bill attempts to strengthen the position of a confidential counselor in an organization by providing the confidential counselor with dismissal protection and by legally establishing basic tasks of the confidential counselor. As soon as this bill becomes more concrete, we will inform you in more detail.
Making advice company doctor RIV test leading
The bill to amend the WIA and ZW Act is still in the debate phase, with the aim of making the medical assessment of the company doctor about the capacity of a sick employee leading in the RIV test (the test of the reintegration report). ) by the UWV. If the bill is adopted, the basic principle will be that the UWV insurance doctor will no longer assess the advice of the company doctor on the employee's ability to cope, but that the advice of the company doctor on the ability to cope with the sick employee will be decisive. This attempts to provide employers with more certainty about the obligation to continue paying sick employees. Wage sanctions based on a medical difference of opinion about the capacity of the ill employee between the company doctor on the one hand and the insurance doctor on the other will then be a thing of the past. According to the minister, the bill will be enforceable for the UWV at the earliest on July 1, 2023. We will keep you informed.
Employment agency certification
On December 9, the Council of Ministers approved the bill on mandatory certification for temporary employment agencies. The bill aims to ensure that employment agencies allow all their employees to work under good working and living conditions. To achieve this, there will be an obligation that lenders may only make workers available if they are certified to do so and hirers may only do business with certified lenders. This improves the vulnerable position of migrant workers and guarantees a level playing field for all lenders. To be eligible for a certificate (which will be issued by an institution yet to be established), lenders must meet established standards regarding, among other things, the correct employment conditions, the correct remuneration, high-quality housing for the workforce, a Certificate of Good Conduct, a bank guarantee. as a deposit and payment of payroll taxes and sales tax. Enforcement of the certification obligation will be carried out by the Labor Inspectorate. If a lender loses its certificate at any time, this means that it is no longer allowed to operate on the market. The bill will now be sent to the Council of State for advice, after which the bill will be submitted to the House of Representatives in the spring of 2023 and an attempt will be made to make the certification obligation applicable to all employment agencies from 2024. To be continued.
'If you would like advice on what these changes mean for you, you can contact Lise van den Heuvel and Michiel van Haelst, our employment law specialists at FHI Advice, affiliated with Vestius Advocaten, partner of FHI.
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