Quitting work earlier is temporary arrangement
For now, the scheme applies from 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021. For the longer term, any new agreements will have to be made in the new collective agreement for the cleaning sector.
But if healthy reaching retirement age is an important issue for the social partners, surely it is almost inevitable that this scheme will continue beyond 30 June 2021? At least, that is how the Clean Totaal editors feel about it.
Criteria
Under the scheme, employees, who have one year or less to go until retirement, are given the opportunity to stop working in full or in part during the term of the scheme. However, employees who want to claim this scheme must meet a number of conditions. These include having worked in the cleaning sector for at least 10 consecutive years and working a minimum of 20 hours per week. From a contract duration of 32 hours per week onwards, they have the choice to stop working partially or completely. When opting for partial cessation, the employee must continue to work a minimum of 19 hours per week.
RVU: benefit level still unknown
The scheme is expected to be used by 700 employees. An amount of 4 million is available for this purpose. The employment stops for the employees participating in the scheme and they will therefore no longer receive a salary but a benefit according to the Early Retirement Scheme (RVU). About the amount of this benefit and some more details about the effect (pension accrual?) , an egg has yet to be laid between the social partners. Indeed, the ink on this agreement in principle has barely dried.
No employer charges
The scheme is funded from existing and available sector funds. This means that there are no costs for employers in implementing the scheme, Schoonmakend Nederland informs us. However, the question arises in our view as to what extent this will remain the case for employers if this scheme is structurally included in the new collective agreement to apply from 1 July 2021.
English (UK)