Lifelong learning: an individual right for employees

Educating employees not only offers many benefits, it is also mandatory. The government approved a new labour deal providing for an annual educational plan and an individual educational right in September 2022. Whether the new obligations apply to your organisation depends on the number of employees.  

Organisations with fewer than 10 employees are not required to provide an individual educational right for their employees. In addition, the government makes an exception for companies with fewer than 20 employees. Thus, they do not have to draw up an educational plan and must offer their employees an average of one day of educational leave per year.

Please note that the number of employees in this case is based on the average number of full-time equivalents over a reference period. Even if your organisation has more than 10 or 20 employees, you may be under the limit of these full-time equivalents. 

In organisations with over 20 employees, each full-time employee is entitled to an average of four days of educational leave in 2023. This number will be increased to five days of educational leave per year as of 2024.  
The new provisions can be laid down in two ways:

1. In a sectoral collective labour agreement: In this case, the number of days of educational leave may vary by sector, but the number should never be less than two. 
2. In an individual educational account: This is a paper or electronic document at company level. It contains the full educational right, the number of days of educational leave taken, and the remaining balance for each employee. The educational account cannot limit the number of specified days of educational leave. 

Employers with more than 20 employees must prepare an annual educational plan by 31 March. So the first deadline for this is 31 March 2023. The educational plan is the result of an internal social consultation, and is created by the employer, either digitally or on paper.

The first draft is submitted by the employer – no later than 15 days before the discussion of the educational plan – to the works council or union delegation. In turn, they will issue an opinion by 15 March at the latest.

Is there no works council or union delegation in your organisation? Then the employer will submit a first draft to employees by 15 March.

The balance of unused days of educational leave is carried over to the following year at the end of the year. Therefore, an employee does not have to attend educational courses annually, but must achieve an average of five days of educational leave over a five-year period.

Please note: Since this is an educational right, employees are not obliged to actually take these days of educational leave. However, the employer must be able to prove that employees were given the chance to receive sufficient educational opportunities.

If employees resign or are dismissed for compelling reasons, they are no longer entitled to take their remaining educational credit. But in case the employee is dismissed for another reason, they can take attend a course during the notice period. The employer must give permission for this.