Employment & HR

The EU Pay Transparency Directive requires companies to communicate transparently about their pay policies from June 2026. The goal of this directive includes reducing the gender pay gap.

The main commitments are:

• Among other things, employers should introduce transparent pay structures, use objective and gender-neutral criteria for pay;
• Employers should transparently communicate pay scale or starting salary in job postings.
• Companies with more than 100 employees must report on their compensation policies with timings dependent on the size of the company. Smaller organizations can include this reporting on a voluntary basis.
• If reporting shows that there is a pay gap of 5% or more, action (so-called joint pay review) must be taken.

In 2026, several rules regarding medical incapacity have changed and employers will have a greater responsibility in the reintegration process of employees on medical incapacity.

This includes:

• The employer must develop a policy for keeping contact with sick employees, with a view to facilitate the return to work. This procedure must be included in the work rules.
• After eight weeks of incapacity, an assessment of the employee’s so-called “work potential” should be made by the prevention advisor-occupational physician.
• The employer must initiate a reintegration trajectory within 6 months, if this assessment shows potential for work (only for employer with at least 20 employees).
• Initiating proceedings to terminate the employment relationship due to medical force majeure is now possible after 6 months of uninterrupted medical incapacity.
• With the introduction of the solidarity contribution, larger employers (in addition to continuing to pay the guaranteed salary in the first month) also contribute financially to the state-sponsored sickness benefits in the 2nd and 3rd months. This contribution amounts to 30% of the primary disability benefit. The goal is to make employers more financially responsible.

Our experts will be happy to guide you through these changes and keep you informed of further developments.

The Belgian Private Investigation Act imposes strict rules for internal investigations. As such, an employer may not simply conduct an internal investigation at will. Failure to follow these rules may invalidate the entire investigation.

Further, if the investigation reveals that fraud has effectively occurred, the employer cannot simply proceed with a dismissal for cause of an employee who is protected against dismissal (under the Act of March 19, 1991). A specific and prior labor tribunal procedure must be followed, in which the labor court must first approve that a dismissal for serious cause can be given.

Our experts support employers every step of the way. We guide employers in analyzing the facts and risks and conducting a proper internal investigation. In addition, we represent the employer in employment court proceedings.

When acquiring a company, several steps must be taken at the HR level to ensure a smooth transition for all employees.

• We conduct a social due diligence analyzing employment law risks.
• We map out whether and how the acquirer can retain the strategic workforce after acquisition.
• We review employment contracts and policies for compliance and flexibility.

During an acquisition, we guide you from A to Z, in collaboration with Baker Tilly. We work closely with our colleagues in Corporate Finance, Individual Tax, VAT and Corporate Law.

An employee can be dismissed for various reasons, such as inadequate performance or reorganization. Even in such cases, however, the employer must comply with Belgian dismissal rules. For example, a notice period may need to be observed or a severance indemnity equivalent to the length of the notice period may be due. Proper preparation for this difficult moment is crucial to avoid discussions afterwards.

In cases of serious misconduct, an employee may be dismissed for serious cause. No notice period or severance indemnity applies in this situation. However, very strict deadlines and formalities must be respected, making it crucial to have proper assistance.

A restructuring sometimes requires the dismissal of several employees over a short period of time. A collective dismissal occurs when there is a minimum number of redundancies over a 60-day period. This number depends on the number of workers employed in the company:

•  20-100 employees: at least 10 employees
•  100-300 employees: at least 10% of the number of employees
•  From 300 employees: at least 30 employees

When a collective dismissal occurs, the employer must first have followed various procedures. In particular, before taking a decision, the employer must have informed and consulted in detail with employee representative bodies and must notify various authorities. A social plan will often be negotiated and confirmed in a collective bargaining agreement.