Special schemes employee

A different calculation method is applied to certain professional categories of employees:

• miners;
• mariners;
• civilian aircrew members;
• professional journalists.

The first three 'special schemes' will gradually be discontinued. The journalists pay a higher contribution.

When am I considered to be a miner?

You are a miner if you:

• worked in a coal mine;
• worked in an underground quarry (or if your situation was equated therewith, for example by paying insurance contributions);
• worked in a (coke) factory that was linked to the coal mines (employment in the coke factory after the closure of the coal mine is equated with the preceding employment)
• worked in a coal mine and you helped with the closedown of the installations and with the activities concerning the treatment and sale of the products of this mine after it closed;
• worked in one of the abovementioned enterprises as a student miner or as a student of an educational institution within the framework of your education.

We distinguish between:

• underground mining;
  and
• surface mining.

You were an underground miner if you worked:

• underground in the mines as your habitual and principal employment (185 full-time working days per calendar year);
• as a hoisting engineer (at least 20 years of habitual and principal employment as a hoisting engineer and/or as an underground miner);
• in washing and sorting the coal, in the production of briquets on the basis of resin and in the drying of sludge (at least 20 years of habitual and principal employment in one of these capacities and/or as an underground miner).

You worked as a surface miner if you did not perform habitual and principal employment underground.

We equate certain activities as a surface miner with underground activities:

• your employment due to the termination of the extraction of coal in the enterprise you worked for as a surface miner, is equated with underground work if:
  • you had been habitually and principally employed for at least ten years with the abovementioned enterprises at the time of the termination of the extraction;
  • the extraction of coal in the mine in question was terminated after 01.07.1957;
  • the extraction in another enterprise was terminated after 31.12.1949;
  • you worked as an underground miner at the time of the termination of the extraction (or if you found yourself in an equivalent situation).
• we also equate surface work for the mining companies with underground work if you could no longer work underground due to physical incapacity (after at least ten years of habitual and principal employment as a miner, of which five years underground).

We equate the following periods with a career as a miner (National Mixed Mining Commission):

• the period between the general termination of the work as a miner in the coal mining in the Campine coal basin and 31.12.1996 (on the condition that the necessary employer's contributions and employee's contributions as a miner were paid);
• periods during which the abovementioned employees worked as a manual worker or office worker preceding or alternating with their employment as a miner (after having worked as a manual worker for at least ten years before 31.12.1996).

If you want to find out if periods in which you did not work are taken into account for your career as a miner, please contact us.

• When can I retire as a miner?
• How much will my miner's pension be?
• How do I apply for my miner's pension?
• Pension supplement as a miner: do I have to apply?
• When am I entitled to a heating benefit and how much is it?
  
  

When am I considered to be a mariner?

You are a mariner if you entered into an employment contract with a shipowner in the merchant navy to carry out a professional activity on board of a sea-going vessel. A sea-going vessel is a ship used at sea or suitable to be used at sea.

The statute is proven by:

• the optional registration with the general register of seamen and:
  • sailing under the Belgian or Luxembourg flag;
    or
  • the employment contract entered into with a shipowner
• the obligatory registration with the Pool of Seafarers.

We also consider shore-based staff to be mariners.

You are considered to be a shore-based staff member if:

• you are bound directly to the shipowner or his appointee through a contract in which you rent out your services and you carry out work onboard with the view of later going out to sea (you do not have to be registered with the general register of seamen);
  
  
• you work on board of a Belgian merchant ship while it is in a Belgian port;
  
  
• you, as a mariner - officer, are considered to be an office worker for the social security;
  
  
• you, as an ordinary seaman, are considered to be a manual worker for the social security;
  
  
• you, as a mariner, live in Belgium or in Luxembourg and sail under a foreign flag, but employer's contributions and employee's contributions have been paid on the basis of your rank under the Belgian or Luxembourg flag.

Please note: if you are insured with the overseas social security of the NSSOOpens in a new window, you are not a mariner.

Vessel days are always registered at 30 days a month. The social security scheme in Belgium is based on the 6-day week (26 days a month). For the calculation, we therefore multiply the vessel days by 26/30 (=0.866) to reduce them to 6 days a week.
From 1981, the same wage limits apply as for other employees.

Since 01.01.1991, every mariner who is registered with the Belgian Pool of Seafarers and sails under a Luxembourg flag, is entitled to a Belgian pension as a mariner for this work, regardless of his nationality.

If you want to find out if periods in which you did not work are taken into account for your career as a mariner, please contact us.

• When can I retire as a mariner?
• How much will my mariner's pension be?
• How do I apply for my mariner's pension?
  
  

When am I considered to be a member of a civilian aircrew?

You are a member of a civilian aircrew if you:

• have entered into an employment contract with an enterprise whose main purpose is commercial air transport or the building, checking or repairing airplanes;
  and
• the head office of this enterprise has to be located in Belgium (a few exceptions exist).

If you worked as a military pilot with the Belgian army, we can equate this period with the statute of an aircrew member on the condition that:

• you do not receive another pension for this period; and
• regularisation contributions have been paid.

Within the aircrew members, we distinguish between:

• pilot crew members;
  and
• cabin crew members.

For the determination of the retirement age or the application of the exceptional calculation method, the employee has to be able to prove a number of calendar years that contain a sufficient number of worked days.

An employment as a civilian aircrew member is habitual and principal if, per calendar year, an employment can be proven of at least:

• before 2012
  • 185 days of at least four hours or
  • 150 flight hours per calendar year.
• from 2012
  • this is at least 104 full-time days per calendar year of at least 49 flight minutes a day.

If you want to find out if periods in which you did not work are taken into account for your career as a civilian aircrew member, please contact us.

• When can I retire as a civilian aircrew member?
• How much will my civilian aircrew pension be?
• How do I apply for my civilian aircrew pension?
  
  

When am I considered to be a professional journalist?

You are a professional journalist if:

1. you are bound to the employer through an employment contract as an office worker (an activity as a freelance journalist is therefore excluded);
   and
2. you are licenced to carry the title of professional journalist. Conditions:
   • you are at least 21 years old;
   • you may not have been convicted in Belgium or abroad;
   • as your main profession, for which you are paid, you take part in editing newspapers or magazines, radio, tv or movie news, or news agencies that provide general news;
   • you have carried out the abovementioned profession for at least two years as your normal profession and you did not cease it for more than two years;
   • you may not trade in any way, nor exercise activities aimed at advertising, except as the director of a paper, news broadcast, movie news or news agency.
     
     

Periods that are taken into account as a professional journalist:

To find out whether periods in which you did not work are taken into account for your career as a professional journalist, you can:

• consult your career on mypension.beOpens in a new window;
• contact us.

• When can I retire as a professional journalist? The general rules apply.
• How much will my professional journalist's pension be?
• How do I apply for my professional journalist's pension?