Mobility budget during long-term sick leave, parental leave or a career break: what changes?

An employee is unable to work for several months. A colleague takes parental leave and temporarily switches to a four-day week. Someone else is planning a career break.

What happens to their mobility budget? Does the full amount remain available? And what if they already have a bike lease or another ongoing expense?

The starting point is always the same: would the employee keep the right to use a company car privately in that situation?

The basic rule: check the company car arrangements

The Belgian mobility budget is an alternative to a company car. During periods of absence, it therefore receives the same treatment as the benefit of using that car privately.

For sick leave, parental leave, time credit or a career break, first check what would happen to the company car in the same situation.

• The employee would be allowed to keep using the car privately? Their corresponding entitlement to the mobility budget will generally continue.
• That entitlement would end? This may also affect their mobility budget.

Check the car policy, employment contract, mobility budget policy and any applicable sectoral collective agreements or company arrangements. Working fewer hours or temporarily stopping work does not automatically mean a lower budget.

Make sure these arrangements are clearly documented in your policy. Read more in our step-by-step guide to implementing the mobility budget.

What happens during long-term sick leave?

Employees retain their entitlement to the mobility budget during an absence covered by guaranteed salary.

What if they remain unable to work beyond that period? Check the arrangements for private use of a company car during long-term sick leave.

If those arrangements allow the employee to keep the car for longer, the same more favourable entitlement extends to the mobility budget. If the right to private use ends, the available budget may also be adjusted.

For HR: the end of the guaranteed salary period does not automatically mean the end of the mobility budget. First check whether more favourable arrangements apply within your sector or company.

What about parental leave?

The consequences depend partly on whether the employee takes full-time or part-time parental leave.

Full-time parental leave

During full-time parental leave, the employment contract is temporarily suspended in full. Whether the employee keeps their mobility budget depends on their corresponding entitlement to private use of a company car.

If that benefit continues under the applicable arrangements, their entitlement to the mobility budget will generally continue too.

Part-time parental leave

An employee who temporarily reduces their working hours to 80% or 50% after joining the mobility budget scheme will normally not automatically receive a lower budget.

Working 80% does not automatically mean a 20% reduction in the mobility budget.

However, check whether the car policy links eligibility to working hours. If it states that employees lose their entitlement to a company car below a certain threshold, this may affect their mobility budget.

The distinction matters: working fewer hours is not, in itself, a reason to reduce the budget proportionally.

What about time credit or a career break?

Here too, start with the company car arrangements.

Would the employee retain the right to use the car privately during their time credit or career break? If so, their corresponding entitlement to the mobility budget will generally continue.

Do the arrangements limit or end that entitlement? Check how this affects the budget and when the change takes effect.

Do not automatically stop the mobility budget when the leave begins, or reduce it in proportion to the employee’s working hours.

How do you calculate an adjustment?

The mobility budget is made available per calendar year, rather than as a separate monthly entitlement.

If the employee’s entitlement does not continue throughout the year, you can take into account the number of calendar days on which they would still have been entitled to private use of the company car.

The official FAQ describes this as a possible approach when the employment contract is suspended. It is not a mandatory standard formula for every absence.

Example

An employee has an annual mobility budget of €8,000. Under the applicable car arrangements, they would be entitled to private use of a company car for 200 calendar days.

Using a calculation based on calendar days, in a year with 365 days:

€8,000 × 200 / 365 = €4,383.56

In a leap year, use 366 as the denominator.

First establish whether the entitlement changes and for which period. Then calculate any adjustment.

What about an ongoing bike lease or other fixed expenses?

A lower available budget can also affect expenses the employee has already committed to. These might include:

• a bike lease with monthly payments;
• rent or mortgage principal repayments and interest under pillar 2;
• an electric company car under pillar 1;
• other ongoing mobility contracts.

Adjusting the budget does not automatically end an existing contract. Check which payments will continue, whether the contract can be amended and who covers any shortfall.

Set out these arrangements in the mobility budget policy and discuss them with the employee in advance. This helps avoid surprises when the available budget changes.

Pay particular attention to housing costs

Housing costs are subject to separate conditions. In particular, the home must be within a 10-kilometre radius of the normal place of work. If the employee mainly works from home, their home may qualify as their normal place of work, provided the employer can demonstrate this.

Being temporarily absent from work does not, in itself, count as working from home. Check separately whether the employee continues to meet the conditions.

You can find more details in the Mbrella Help Center article on housing costs.

What should HR check?

When an employee announces a long absence or a temporary reduction in working hours, work through these steps:

1. Check the car arrangements. What would happen to private use of a company car in the same situation?
2. Review the other applicable agreements. Do the employment contract, sectoral collective agreements or company arrangements provide more favourable entitlements?
3. Establish whether the budget changes and when. Do not assume it must stop or be reduced proportionally.
4. Calculate any adjustment. Assess whether a calculation based on calendar days is appropriate.
5. Check ongoing expenses. Consider lease contracts, housing costs and any car under pillar 1.
6. Coordinate with payroll and inform the employee. Explain what changes, why and how this affects ongoing expenses.
7. Document the decision. Record the arrangements and calculation used.

If the existing arrangements do not provide a clear answer, discuss the situation with your employment law adviser.

Keep track, even when circumstances change

Long-term absence or temporarily reduced working hours call for clear arrangements and careful monitoring of budgets and expenses.

With Mbrella, you can manage mobility budgets and expenses in one platform. This helps your HR team keep an overview when an employee’s circumstances change.

Want to see how it works? Book a demo.

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