Sogepa, the financial department for Wallonia, has done a financial analysis, which has told it that it is not obliged to pay its departing managers a leaving bonus. This mainly concerns a no competition clause in the contracts it has with some of its current mangers, L’Echo reported on Tuesday. “The employer has the possibility to decide not to award it (and therefore not pay the compensatory bonus) in the 15 days before the end of the contract”, according to a document l’Echo was able to see.
According to the analysis, the clause means nothing during the trial period, nor if the employee is sacked for a non-serious reason.
This new interpretation will apply to old contracts. This means that the current vice-president, Olivier Gutt (MR), who will retire at the end of 2015, will not be able benefit from the clause. However, the ex-president Jean-Pierre Dubois could, and he got a bonus of around 1.1 million euros, the same as André Crémer (PS).
It’s been more than 5 years since the Walloon Regional Investment Society (WRIS) got rid of this obligation, and it doesn’t even exist at the Sowalfin.
(Source: Belga)
