For employment contracts concluded after January 1, 2014, there is no distinction between employees and workers regarding notice of dismissal. The notice period depends on the duration of service and ranges from 1 week to 65 weeks in case of dismissal and from 1 week to 13 weeks in case of employee resignation. In the case of employment contracts concluded before 2014, there were different notice periods for workers and employees. The notice period for workers ranges from 4 weeks to 16 weeks.
Regarding the notice period when the employee has less than 6 months' seniority, a distinction must be made depending on whether the employment contract began before August 1, 2026, or on or after August 1, 2026. For contracts executed after August 1, 2026, the maximum notice for both employees and employers is a flat 1 week for all under 6 months' seniority.
The notice period for lower employees (with a gross annual salary below EUR 32,254) is 1 month per 5 years of service. The notice period for superior employees (with a gross annual salary above EUR 32,254) is 1 month per year of service, with a minimum of 3 months' notice. For service beyond January 1, 2014, the notice period is calculated with the new general scheme and added to the prior notice period.
For contracts formed after June 1, 2026, notice periods are capped at 52 weeks for employer-initiated termination of contracts entered into on or after that date. This cap applies at 17 years of seniority. Employees hired before this date retain existing rights.
To employ a non-European national in Belgium, it is generally necessary to apply for a work permit. The employee's remuneration must comply with Belgian regulations. Since the beginning of 2025, only the basic monthly remuneration is considered, and it is based on the percentage of the average gross monthly salary in the Brussels Capital Region of EUR 4,748.
Regional offices issue work permits. To work for more than 90 days, employees must apply for a single permit (work permit + residence permit) through their employers and submit an employment contract, a certificate confirming no criminal record, and a medical certificate confirming they have no communicable diseases. If the Region and the Foreigners Office grant the work permit and the residence permit, the third-country national will receive a single document certifying that he is authorized to stay for more than 90 days in Belgium to work there (single permit). Single permits can also be issued for an indefinite duration after a third-country national has lived and worked in Belgium for at least 4 years (30 months for Brussels).
The minimum salary thresholds for employing foreign nationals under work permits and single permits vary by region and job categories, as follows:
Wallonia
Brussels
Flanders
Effective January 1, 2026, third-country nationals coming to work in the Flemish (Flanders) region are required to fulfill additional requirements. They can obtain a single work+residence permit. Applications for a single permit require the payment of both the processing fee by the Flemish region and the processing fee by the Immigration Office. The new law requires that highly qualified persons must also effectively perform a highly qualified function. A new list of in-demand occupations has been introduced that includes medium-skilled professions. For these professions, there is an exemption from the labor market study requirement when applying for a single permit in Flanders. It is no longer possible to hire foreign nationals for low-skilled positions in the region. The fee for a combined permit is EUR 180 per application, paid in addition to the federal fee.
Employees who work for less than 90 days must apply for a "short-term work permit." This permit is valid for working with a particular employer. Effective May 1, 2026, Flanders region introduced a digital work permit application process through the Uniek Loket portal for short-term work permits. The system became mandatory from September 1, 2026.
In Belgium, employees are entitled to a holiday period of at least 20 days (24 days for a 6-day workweek) or a maximum of 4 weeks for 12 months of work, including the non-working days declared by Royal Decree. Unused annual leave can be carried over up to 24 months later when the employee is unable to take leave due to sickness, occupational accident/disease, maternity, paternity, adoption, or parental leave.
*Days of temporary unemployment due to COVID-19 in 2022 must be treated as days of actual work for the calculation of annual vacation days and the statutory vacation pay for 2022.
In Belgium, all working and rest time regulations are based on a default working time arrangement considered "normal" or at least common practice. These general rules are subject to derogations, sectoral or sometimes individual, making it possible to adapt to the specific needs of companies, activities, and workers.
The working hours regime considered to be "normal" (which can also be defined as the regime not requiring the application of any derogatory provision) is a regime in which:
Belgium's Labor Law allows employees to work a 4-day workweek. When the actual weekly working time is equal to or less than 38 hours, the maximum daily working time may be increased to 9 hours 30 minutes per day by means of an amendment to the work rules. When the actual weekly working time exceeds 38 hours per week (with a maximum of 40 hours), a collective agreement may stipulate that the daily working time is equal to the actual weekly working time divided by 4.
Teleworking is no longer required unless dictated by collective labor agreements or existing agreements, and appropriate measures, including social distancing, must be taken to ensure employee safety.
Employers who permit employees to continue teleworking must conclude an agreement meeting specific requirements. The agreement is valid until either party wishes to end the arrangement.
As of January 1, 2023, Companies that employ more than 20 employees cannot require employees to be online or work after regular hours.
The labor law of Belgium states that pregnant women are entitled to 15 weeks of maternity leave: 6 weeks of prenatal and 9 weeks of postnatal leave. In case of multiple births, the leave is for 17 weeks and can be extended to 19. The employee must submit a medical certificate stating the expected delivery date to the employer 7 weeks before the delivery date.
During maternity leave, employees receive a maternity allowance from their health insurance fund:
Employees are also entitled to adoption leave for an uninterrupted period of 6 weeks. This leave can be broken into 1 week or multiples thereof. An additional 4 weeks of leave is available to be shared between the adoptive parents. This leave will increase to 5 weeks from January 1, 2027.
Effectively, there are 3 different types of minimum wages: public sector, private sector, and category-specific minimums based on the collective bargaining agreements. Minimum wages for public sector employees depend on employment type and experience and are updated every year on the Minimum Wage Database (see references). Other wage structures exist for students and employees under 21. These wages are linked to the central health index and increase by 2% when the health index increases by 2% or higher.
The guaranteed average monthly minimum income currently stands at EUR 2,233.61 effective July 1, 2026 (RMMM, or guaranteed minimum monthly income), after 2% indexation. Any higher wages set forth by collective bargaining agreements remain unaffected by the new wage minimums. The private sector minimum wage for students and other employees 16-21 is determined based on specific percentages of the monthly base wage. Non-student employees aged 18 or older are entitled to the RMMM.
Minimum amounts of remuneration are laid down per sector by the competent joint committees. The collective agreements concluded within these committees include provisions designed to determine the general basis for calculating the remuneration conditions based on the various levels of qualifications and posts. Sectoral minimum wages cannot be lower than the RMMM. For more information on industry-level gross wage levels, refer to the "Remuneration" resource in the references section.
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