Be Aware - May 2026

Implementation summer agreement gives employees more flexible working hours

In July 2025, the government announced a political agreement on implementing most points regarding working time from the coalition agreement negotiated in January 2025. Parliament only approved the Act implementing the summer agreement on 30 April 2026.

The duty to mention all work schedules in the work regulations has been abolished

Currently, the work regulations have to include all work schedules applicable in a company. Part-time work schedules that stipulate work only during the hours of one of the full-time work schedules set out in the work regulations don’t have to be mentioned separately.

If a company has a works council, amending the work regulations (eg adding a new work schedule) requires the consent of the works council. If there is no works council, all employees should be consulted on the amended draft new work regulations. If at least one employee objects, the social inspection and – if necessary – the joint committee will make a conciliation attempt. This means it was often very difficult for an employer to introduce a new work schedule.

Under the new Act, all work schedules no longer have to be mentioned in the work regulations. They now only have to include:

• the days of the week on which at least some employees work.
• the daily timeframe on which work is performed (for instance between 8:00 and 18:00).
• the minimum and maximum daily working time.
• the normal and maximum weekly working time.

If the work regulations include these four points, the working hours can be agreed with the employee personally within this framework.

The Act creates a new possibility. Employers don’t have to take any action if the work schedules included in their work regulations already meet their needs.

The minimum weekly working time has been reduced

The 1978 Act on Employment Contracts stipulated the working time should be at least one-third of the full-time work schedule for a comparable employee in the company. The new Act changes it to one-tenth of the full-time working time.

The change only relates to the minimum weekly working time. A working day still has to be at least three hours. A collective bargaining agreement can deviate from this requirement.

Night work can now be introduced for any function

The Act also simplifies the procedure for introducing night work, which is defined as work between 20:00 and 6:00.

The Act abolishes the principle that working at night is forbidden unless the law expressly allows it. Employers can now introduce night work for any function they want if they follow the applicable procedure. The separate prohibition of working at night in the construction sector has also been abolished.

When an employer wants to introduce a work schedule with work between 20:00 and 23:00, it’s no longer necessary to get the approval of the works council or consult all staff members on whether they have objections to the new work schedule. If the works council doesn’t reach an agreement or, for companies that don’t have a works council, some staff members object, an employer can now ask the social inspection to intervene. Unless the proposed new work schedule infringes the law, the social inspection will now approve it.

Similarly, for employers in the distribution sector and related sectors, night work (including work between 23:00 and 6:00) can either be introduced through a collective bargaining agreement at company level or through the procedure for amending the work regulations. In the latter case, the work schedule with night work can be introduced if either the works council doesn’t reach an agreement or employees object to the work schedule (for employers without a works council) and the social inspection confirms the work schedule meets the requirements of the working time regulations.

A last change included in the new act is the abolition of premiums for working between 20:00 and 23:00 for new employees as of 1 June 2026. New employees are only entitled to premiums for working at night if they work between 23:00 and 6:00. But these premiums for working at night can be reintroduced through a new collective bargaining agreement or an amendment to the work regulations entering into force as of 1 June 2026.

Employees who were already in service on 1 June 2026 will still be entitled to the premiums for night work performed between 20:00 and 23:00. Employers in the distribution sector and related sectors can ask the joint committee for a deviation from the existing premiums for working at night for employees already in service on 1 June 2026. The Act doesn’t set out the criteria the joint committee should use to assess these requests.

 

Belgium’s new voluntary overtime hours: Flexible and tax efficient

For staff covered by working time regulations, performing overtime work is only allowed in legally foreseen cases. Overtime work is generally defined as working more than 9 hours per day or 40 hours per week (although lower thresholds can apply).

Most of the legally foreseen cases cover specific situations, for instance a temporary increase of work or overtime work for handling an accident that occurred or is imminent. Most cases also require a procedure to be followed, for instance obtaining approval from the trade union delegation for performing overtime work for handling a temporary increase in work.

Number of voluntary overtime hours increases

Voluntary overtime hours offer flexibility, as they can be performed for whatever reason. On 30 April 2026, the Belgian Parliament approved an act increasing this flexibility. The act increases the number of voluntary overtime hours an employee can perform from 100 to 360 hours per year. For restaurants and hotels, the maximum is now even 450 hours per year.

The act also amends the requirement to have a written agreement with employees. Previously employers had to have a written agreement with a maximum duration of six months, although it could be renewed an unlimited number of times. Under the act approved on 30 April 2026, this becomes a written agreement with a duration of 12 months, which is impliedly extended for another 12 months, unless either party terminates it with a notice period of one year. In practice, only the employee has an interest in terminating the agreement, as the employer can simply leave the agreement in place but no longer instruct the worker to perform overtime work.

The act in principle excludes part-time employees from the system of voluntary overtime work. This is also the case for employees temporarily reducing their working time in the framework of time credit leave or parental leave.

Part-time employees can only perform voluntary overtime work if they work on a part-time basis for at least three years and there is a temporary increase in work.

There is an exception to this rule for part-time employees who have an agreement to perform voluntary work at the time the act is published in the Official Journal, which will be sometime in the coming weeks.

Overtime hours are now tax free

Voluntary overtime hours are fully paid out. There is no duty to grant any compensatory rest for voluntary overtime hours.

The act abolishes the duty to pay overtime pay of 50% of the remuneration (100% for overtime work on Sunday or a bank holiday) for 240 hours per year. This is because the government has decided to exempt the remuneration for those 240 hours from taxes and social security contributions. While the abolition of overtime pay implies the employee will receive a lower gross amount (100% of the remuneration compared to 150%), this exemption of taxes and social security contributions will result in the employee receiving a higher net amount when performing voluntary overtime work.