CIE - Employment initiation contract (Contrat d'initiation à l'emploi)

General information

The employment initiation contract (contrat d’initiation à l’emploi - CIE) provides a first practical experience for young job seekers under 30 years of age who have been registered with the Employment agency (Agence pour le développement de l’emploi – ADEM) for at least 3 months or are waiting for an apprenticeship contract.

The ADEM can offer a job seeker and a private employer to enter into a CIE, provided that the employer can provide a real prospect of employment at the end of the CIE.

Duration and practical arrangements

The CIE is concluded for a period of twelve months. An extension of up to six months is conceivable, but must be requested at the latest one month before the end of the period initially stipulated. The weekly working time is 40 hours. Part-time work is not permitted under this measure.

The job seeker has a mentor within the company. The mentor assists and supervises the job seeker throughout the duration of the contract.

Within one month of the start of the employment relationship, the employer must draw up a training plan with the mentor and the CIE beneficiary.

During the term of the contract, job seekers are entitled to the leave applicable in the company where they work.

Compensation of the young person

The young person who is the beneficiary of a CIE receives a remuneration calculated on the basis of the social minimum wage (salaire social minimum - SSM) for unskilled workers amounting to:

• 80% of the social minimum wage for unskilled workers for young people under the age of 18,
• 100% of the social minimum wage for unskilled workers for young people without a degree and young holders of a Vocational Aptitude Diploma or a Technician's Diploma or a Classical or General Secondary School Leaving Diploma,
• 130% of the social minimum wage for unskilled workers for young holders of a Higher Technician Certificate, a Bachelor's degree or a Master's degree.

The employer may chose to pay an optional performance bonus to the beneficiary.

Amount and length of subsidies

For the first twelve months of the CIE, the Employment Fund (Fonds pour l’emploi) makes the following monthly reimbursements to the employer:

• 50% of the basic remuneration (65% if the person employed is of a gender which is under-represented in the sponsor's sector of activity and/or in the profession concerned);
• all of the employer's social security costs.

If the CIE is extended, the Employment Fund pays the following to the employer for the duration of the extension (a maximum of 6 months):

• 30% of the basic remuneration;
• all of the employer's social security costs.

If a young job seeker is hired following a CIE, the Employment Fund reimburses the employer's share of the social contributions for the first 12 months of a permanent contract as from the date of hiring, provided that the permanent contract does not include a trial period.

More information about the CIE