Belgium entered a new era of workplace regulation on 1 June 2026 as two federal laws adopted on 18 May 2026 came into force. The legislation – published in the Belgian Official Gazette this morning – delivers the first tranche of measures promised in the De Croo II coalition agreement and is being hailed by business groups as the biggest modernisation of Belgium’s labour code in a decade. For globally-mobile employers, the headline change is the hard cap of 52 weeks on dismissal notice for any employment contract that starts on or after 1 June 2026. Until now, long-serving employees could accrue well over two years of notice – a significant financial exposure for multinationals closing Belgian entities or rotating expatriate staff. The new ceiling provides cost certainty and aligns Belgium more closely with neighbours such as the Netherlands (maximum 104 weeks) and France (no statutory formula for cadres). Flexibility is also expanding for part-time roles.
![Belgium’s Labour Law Overhaul Takes Effect Today, Capping Notice Periods and Liberalising Night Work]()
In parallel, companies navigating these changes often need rapid immigration solutions for foreign talent. VisaHQ’s Belgium desk (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) helps employers and assignees secure the appropriate visas and work permits through a fully digital process, offering step-by-step guidance and real-time status tracking that dovetails neatly with the government’s newly streamlined onboarding rules.
The legal minimum has dropped from one-third to one-tenth of a full-time schedule, enabling HR teams to craft micro-contracts for accompanying spouses, students and seasonal workers without breaching labour standards. Trade unions fear more precarious jobs, but technology and e-commerce employers argue that ultra-short shifts will make Belgium a more attractive hub for regional fulfilment centres and shared-service operations. In a move watched closely by companies running 24/7 distribution or data-centre sites, the long-standing ban on night work has been abolished. Any sector may now roster staff between 20:00 and 06:00 without first securing an exemption, although new hires in retail, logistics and e-commerce will only earn night-shift premiums from 23:00. Existing workers retain acquired rights, limiting immediate payroll savings but giving businesses a pathway to leaner staffing models as turnover occurs. Finally, temporary-agency employment is simplified: the separate ‘declaration of intent’ is scrapped, and bonus-plan filings move to a mandatory online portal. Together with the earlier digitisation of work-permit filings, the measures reduce paper and speed up onboarding – critical gains for relocation providers racing to deploy foreign specialists on tight project deadlines.
In parallel, companies navigating these changes often need rapid immigration solutions for foreign talent. VisaHQ’s Belgium desk (https://www.visahq.com/belgium/) helps employers and assignees secure the appropriate visas and work permits through a fully digital process, offering step-by-step guidance and real-time status tracking that dovetails neatly with the government’s newly streamlined onboarding rules.
The legal minimum has dropped from one-third to one-tenth of a full-time schedule, enabling HR teams to craft micro-contracts for accompanying spouses, students and seasonal workers without breaching labour standards. Trade unions fear more precarious jobs, but technology and e-commerce employers argue that ultra-short shifts will make Belgium a more attractive hub for regional fulfilment centres and shared-service operations. In a move watched closely by companies running 24/7 distribution or data-centre sites, the long-standing ban on night work has been abolished. Any sector may now roster staff between 20:00 and 06:00 without first securing an exemption, although new hires in retail, logistics and e-commerce will only earn night-shift premiums from 23:00. Existing workers retain acquired rights, limiting immediate payroll savings but giving businesses a pathway to leaner staffing models as turnover occurs. Finally, temporary-agency employment is simplified: the separate ‘declaration of intent’ is scrapped, and bonus-plan filings move to a mandatory online portal. Together with the earlier digitisation of work-permit filings, the measures reduce paper and speed up onboarding – critical gains for relocation providers racing to deploy foreign specialists on tight project deadlines.
