Hire employees in Belgium

Belgium ranks among the top countries in the world in terms of employee satisfaction and workplace happiness. International employers recruiting in Belgium can thus be sure to contract a productive and happy employee who is likely to be very loyal to the company.

Furthermore, the country’s workforce was declared third-most talented in the world by the IMD World Competitiveness Center in 2017. Especially when it comes to English skills, the Kingdom of Belgium repeatedly scored high in past years.

Although Belgian employment law does not mandate indefinite employment contracts to be in writing – a written form is only legally required for fixed-term, part-time and several other types of contracts – it is best practice in Belgium to always put a written employment contract in place which spells out the basic terms of employment, including:

• Identification of both parties

• Date of commencement (and employment duration for temporary contracts)

• Workplace

• Job description, duties and responsibilities

• Base salary as well as other compensation or benefits

• Working hours

• Annual leave

• Notice periods for employment termination

• Training and non-competition clause

The language of the employment contract is to be chosen in accordance with the company’s place of business. Companies based in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium should thus provide their new employees with an employment contract in Dutch. Likewise, companies based in the French and German parts of Belgium have to observe the respective language regulations in place.

Probation Period

Ever since the Unified Employment Status Act entered into force, probation periods are no longer allowed – except for students, temporary workers and temporary agency workers.

Working Hours and Breaks

As a standard, employees in Belgium work eight hours a day and 38 hours per week. In exceptional cases, standard working hours may be longer but should in no case exceed eleven hours within one single working day or 50 hours per week – however, this requires special authorisation.

Sunday is generally considered to be a rest day and employees usually get at least one additional rest day per week. Daily rest periods must not be shorter than eleven hours. During shifts which exceed six hours, employees are to be given a break of at least 15 minutes.

In February 2022, a new labor law was proposed which provides more flexibility with regard to working hours. Under the new law, employees will be able to request a redistribution of their weekly working hours in order to shorten their work week to a 4-day week.

Overtime

Where authorised by law, overtime work must be remunerated at a minimum rate of 150% of normal wages. Employers must respect the statutory limits on working hours and rest breaks at all times.

Employees in Belgium usually get paid once a month.

Minimum Wage

Minimum wages in Belgium are set by collective bargaining agreements and depend on different factors such as employee qualification, seniority and region. In no case can an employee’s compensation be less than EUR 1,954.99 per month (valid since December 2022).

Sick Pay

Sick pay is to be provided to employees upon presentation of a medical certificate. For white-collar employees, employers are obligated to provide full pay during the first month of sickness-related absence from work. For blue-collar workers, sick pay entitlements decrease progressively as follows:

• up to seven days: 100% of normal wages

• from the eighth to the fourteenth day: 85.88% of normal wages

• from the fifteenth to the thirtieth day: 25.88% of normal wages up to the threshold set by the disability health insurance and 85.88% of the amount exceeding the set ceiling

After one month, the employee starts to receive sickness benefits from his or her health insurance fund amounting to 60% of his or her usual earnings.

Bonuses

It is common practice for employers in Belgium to award their employees with performance-based bonuses. As of 1 May 2023, all private sector employees who cycle to work will be entitled to a bicycle allowance.

Employees and employers in Belgium are subject to the following tax and social security contribution rates (last review February 2023):

Taxes

Employers

25%

---

25% corporate tax rate

21% VAT (standard rate)

Employees

up to 50%

---

• 25% (up to EUR 15,200)

• 40% (up to EUR 26,830)

• 45% (up to EUR 46,440)

• 50% (over EUR 46,440)

Plus additional communal tax between 0% and 9%

Social security

Employers

Around 27%

---

around 27% of employee’s salary

Employees

13.07%

---

• for white-collar employees: 13.07% of employee’s gross salary

• for blue-collar employees: 13.07% on 1.08 times the employee’s gross salary

• additional monthly contribution between EUR 9.30 and EUR 60.94

Please note that the social security contributions indicated above do not necessarily reflect the actual employment costs. These may differ depending on the employment contract and due to other factors (e.g. 13th and 14th salary, health insurance allowances, accrual for severance pay, etc.).

Annual Leave

Employees in Belgium have the right to four weeks of paid annual leave. Depending on their type of work, they may even be entitled to additional paid days off under collective agreements.

In addition, employees receive a vacation bonus amounting to the equivalent of what they would normally earn during three weeks and three days of work. During their first year, employees receive an adequate proportion of their annual leave entitlement.

Not included in the employee’s annual leave entitlements are the country’s public holidays. Belgium typically observes ten public holidays – without counting Easter Sunday and Whit Sunday – on which work is generally prohibited.

Maternity Leave and Paternity Leave

Female employees can claim up to 15 weeks of maternity leave during which they receive maternity benefits from the health insurance fund. These benefits amount to 82% of their normal salary during the first 30 days and 75% of their normal salary for the remaining maternity leave period.

Fathers can claim up to 15 days of paternity leave in the first four months following their child’s birth. During the first three days of paternity leave, the employee receives his full salary paid by the employer. For the remaining days, paternity leave allowance is paid by the employee’s health insurance fund at a rate of 82% of the usual wage.

Adoption leave is to be granted to adoptive parents. However, its length depends on the child’s age and is limited to a maximum of six weeks for children under the age of three.

Parental Leave

In addition to maternity and paternity leave, both mother and father have the right to take further paid parental leave until the child turns twelve. However, this leave is limited to four months. There are various options concerning the distribution of the leave period.

Additional Leave and Benefits

In addition, employees can claim paid time off under the following circumstances:

• Important family events

• Civil obligations

• Court appearances

• Unpaid leave for any other “compelling” reason that requires the employee’s immediate attention and action – limited to 10 days per year

• 5 days of unpaid leave to provide personal care or assistance to a family member (included in the 10-day leave entitlement detailed above)

Furthermore, Belgian employees enjoy a range of options concerning career breaks with special statutory benefits being available under certain conditions.

In addition to employment termination by default – i.e. in case of a fixed-term contract – resignation and mutual agreement, employment in Belgium may be terminated due to one of the following reasons (non-exhaustive list):

• collective dismissal, redundancy or other business-related reasons

• summary dismissal due to gross misconduct

• underperformance and incapability

When terminating an indefinite employment relationship, employees and employers alike have to give prior notice to the other party. The length of the notice period depends on the employee’s seniority and is calculated as follows (according to the new rules introduced 2014 and 2018):

For any additional year, notice periods for employers increase by three weeks up to 19 years of service.

Payment in lieu of notice is possible and severance pay is only required in those cases where notice periods are not observed – thus equaling the amount of money the employee would have earned if the notice period had been respected – but may also be made after prior notice has been given.