12-01-2024

Since 1 December 2023 the appointment of a person of trust is mandatory in companies with at least 50 employees.

This new obligation was introduced with the Federal Action Plan “Mental well-being at work”. It aims to increase the presence of persons of trust in companies. Persons of trust have an important role in resolving psychosocial risks, such as stress, bullying and sexual harassment at work. Non-compliance with this new obligation is sanctioned by criminal or administrative fines. In companies employing less than than 50 employees, the appointment of a person of trust is only mandatory if all members of the union delegation, or in the absence of a union delegation, all employees, so request. At least one person of trust must be an employee if:

• the company employs at least 50 employees, or
• the company employs 20 or more employees and calls upon a psychosocial prevention adviser from an external occupational prevention and protection service.

The reason for this is to guarantee that employees have access to a person of trust with sufficient knowledge of the company’s structure, operations and culture. The procedure regarding the appointment and the removal of a person of trust from his function remains unchanged. The incompatibilities of this function with other functions remain unchanged e.g. not being part of the managerial staff, not being part of the union delegation, works council or committee for prevention and protection at work,… Persons of trust do not necessarily need to have completed the required training at the time of appointment. The mandatory training must be completed within two years as of their appointment. The contact details of the person of trust must be included in the company’s work regulations. However, the rigorous procedure for amending the work regulations need not be followed. Each employee must receive a copy of the amendment to the work regulations (against signature for receipt) and the amendment must also be communicated to the regional office of the Social Law Inspectorate.