In brief
The Belgian legislator adopted an act containing various changes to Belgian employment law, including on working schedules, part-time employees, night work, notice periods and temporary work. These measures will, for the most part, come into force from 1 July 2026.
In more detail
Mandatory information on working time in the working regulations
Belgian law currently requires employer to include the start and end time of the working day, the times and duration of breaks as well as the days of regular stoppage to be included in the working regulations. However, the new legislation now offers the employer the choice between either maintaining the working schedules or replacing them with a general framework indicating when employees can perform work. Such framework must include the following elements:
- The days of the week on which work may be scheduled.
- The daily period during which work can be scheduled.
- The minimum and maximum daily working time.
- The normal and maximum weekly working time.
Modification of the minimum weekly working time in the context of part-time employment
Belgian law currently provides that the working time of a part-time employee must at least be equal to one third of a full-time employee.
The new legislation lowers this threshold and now authorises the conclusion of part-time employment contracts with a working time equal to at least one tenth of a full-time employee.
Night work
The new legislation abolishes the principle of prohibiting night work (i.e., work between 8 pm and 6 am) for all industries.
Accordingly, night work can be introduced within the company, in a simplified way, via an amendment to the working regulations or via a collective labour agreement at company level without a company needing a specific legal ground justifying night work.
Moreover, for the distribution and related sectors, including e-commerce, only work between 11 pm and 6 am will be considered as night work. The companies that meet the following cumulative conditions are considered part of the distribution and related sector:
- Be under one of the following joint committees (JC):
- JC 100: the auxiliary joint committee for blue collars
- JC 119: the joint committee for the food trade
- JC 125.03: the joint subcommittee on the timber trade
- JC 127: the joint committee on fuel trade
- JC 140.03: the joint subcommittee for road transport and logistics on behalf of third parties
- JC 149.01: the joint subcommittee for electricians: installation and distribution
- JC 149.04: the joint subcommittee for the metal trade
- JC 200: the auxiliary joint committee for white collars
- JC 201: the joint committee for independent retail
- JC 202: the joint committee for white collars in the food retail trade
- JC 202.01: the joint subcommittee for medium-sized food companies
- JC 226: the joint committee for white collars in international trade, transport and logistics
- JC 311: the joint committee for large retail companies
- JC 312: the joint committee for department stores
- Perform one of the following activities:
- Retail
- Wholesale trade
- Logistics activities on behalf of third parties
- E-commerce
For employees already in service before 1 July 2026, a transitional regime is provided, allowing them to retain the right to night work premiums for work performed between 8 pm and 6 am. However, an employer has the option of referring the matter to the competent joint committee so that it can examine the proposed adaptations.
Limitation on the maximum notice period
For employment contracts that enter into force as from 1 July 2026, the statutory notice period upon dismissal by the employer cannot exceed 52 weeks.
In concrete terms, this means that after 17 years of seniority within the same company, the employee's notice period will no longer increase and will be capped at 52 weeks.
Temporary work
For employment contracts for temporary agency workers, the Belgian legislator has abolished the requirement to formality that required to confirm in writing the intention to conclude a temporary employment contract.
In addition, the new legislation permits has made the possibility for temporary workers to terminate their contract without notice or compensation during the first seven days now applicable for all forms of temporary work, whereas there were previously there were some exceptions.