Compulsory teleworking checks: here’s how to be fully compliant (28/04/21)

Teleworking is still compulsory. Only employees who cannot do their work from home may be present in the workplace.

It is best to clarify a line of reasoning per job (e.g. one administrative employee per day for mail or deliveries, one IT employee to maintain the systems, etc.) for employees who still need to be in the workplace. You can use this template to do so.

An electronic registration system has been available on the National Social Security Office website since the evening of Saturday 27 March 2021. All companies who employ staff are obliged to submit how many employees they are employing, and how many of these employees are unable to work from home.

If teleworking is not an option for certain jobs, you will need to issue travel certificates for your employees stating the reasons why they need to come to the workplace.

Anyone present in the workplace must have received instructions on how to carry out the work safely. These instructions should also be posted somewhere visible.

Concretely, this means that there must be instructions for:

• The maximum number of people that may be present in the workplace and per room
• Ventilation rules
• Social distancing
• When and where face masks should be worn
• Cleaning of desks, computers, etc.

You can find all the relevant COVID-19 measures for your organisation in this checklist, in our return-to-work guides, or in the government’s generic guide.

Ask your external service for tailored advice.

Furthermore, you must be able to demonstrate that the necessary social consultation has taken place about the COVID-19 measures taken. This is important in the event of an inspection because the consultation increases support for the application of the measures.

Companies with a works council and/or committee can demonstrate this consultation using the reports from these meetings of these bodies. For companies that do not have a formal consultative body, it is important that the employer makes a concise note with the following information:

• Date and time of consultation
• Attendees (can also be done via videocall, important in case of changing presences in the workplace)
• Content of the consultation

It is best to post this note on a notice board, together with the contact details for the company’s occupational physician and psychologist. This is not a new obligation, but it can certainly be ineffectual or defunct in practice in smaller companies. The current inspections will examine this.

Download the template ‘Contact details Mensura’ from our list with ‘Useful documents’.

Not every company currently has a teleworking policy in place. CLA 149 now requires all employers to develop a clear framework of agreements. This agreement was concluded for a fixed period of time — from 26 January 2021 to 31 March 2022.