CBS, UWV and Tax Authorities have published in a brochure clarifies what “paid hours” are.
Wage declaration
The hours worked must be declared by the employer in the wage declaration. On the employer's side, this variable is important, among other things, for entitlement to premium discounts and the low income benefit (LIV; see our article Labour cost benefits). For the employee, the number of hours worked is important in determining the amount of unemployment or WIA benefit.
In general, it is more favourable when more hours worked are declared in the payroll declaration.
Salaried hours
It involves stating the number of hours paid to the employee in a pay period. Or the number of hours on which the employee's wages were calculated in the pay period.
In most cases, these are the fixed contract hours. Of course, overtime is topped up, but only if it was actually paid in the period.
Hours not worked in a period, which have also not been paid, must be deducted.
With a flexible contract, the average number of hours to be worked is the starting point. If the remuneration paid fluctuates with the actual hours worked, the hours paid are equal to the actual hours worked.
Clarifications
The brochure clarifies the concept of paid hours. For example, some collective agreements nowadays have several modalities from which employees may choose for their working hours. An example is the CAO for education. The employee can choose from: 36 hours with 219 leave hours, 38 hours with 323 leave hours or 40 hours with 428 leave hours. In all cases, 36 hours must be used for the number of hours worked per pay period.
If sick pay is continued, the usual number of hours should be entered as remunerated.
In the case of pure piecework, the number of hours worked is zero.
The number of hours remunerated can also be negative. This is the case when previously justified wages are reimbursed.
Buy or sell leave hours
If leave hours are sold and thus paid out, these are additional hours paid.
Leave hours that are bought back by the employee, by reducing the salary or surrendering holiday pay, reduce the number of hours worked. As a result, the additional hours bought in do not lead to a lower average hourly wage, but may affect the amount of an unemployment or WIA benefit to be received later.