Belgium to introduce reduced obligations when terminating an employee’s contract in the first six months

At a glance

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When an employee starts a new job, sometimes the employer or the employee quickly realises that the employment relationship isn’t going to work.

If the employer wants to terminate the employment contract, this employer currently has to follow these notice periods:

Continuous employment	Notice period (weeks)
Less than three months	One week
Three months, but less than four	Three weeks
Four months, but less than five	Four weeks
Five months, but less than six	Five weeks
Six months, but less than nine	Six weeks

 

If the employee wants to terminate the employment contract, the employee currently has to follow these notice periods:

Continuous employment	Notice period (weeks)
Less than three months	One week
Three months, but less than six	Two weeks
Six months, but less than nine	Three weeks

 

An employer may terminate the employment contract by giving notice; however, where the contract is suspended due to sick leave or holiday, the notice period is suspended accordingly. Taking into account statutory or contractual sick pay, termination on notice can ultimately be more costly than making a payment in lieu of notice.

Up until 2013, employers could insert a trial clause in the employment contract. When invoking a trial clause, the notice period was only one week. The clause couldn’t be invoked in the first month of employment and the employee had to be willing to sign an employment contract with a trial clause.

The coalition agreement of the current federal government published in January 2025, stipulated that the government wanted to reintroduce the trial clause so both parties can terminate the employment contract by respecting a notice period of one week during the first six months of employment.

Introducing new notice periods

The government has now submitted a draft act to Parliament to implement this intention. The draft act doesn’t reintroduce the trial clause but rather amends the clause in the Act of 3 July 1978 concerning employment contracts stipulating the applicable notice period.

The new notice periods will apply automatically, and the employment contract won’t have to include a specific clause. The new notice period is one week if the employee has less than six months’ continuous employment. This holds both for a notice period issued by the employer and one issued by the employee. The draft act doesn’t change the applicability of notice periods when the employee has been employed for at least six months.

Parliament still as to approve the draft act but when it does, it will enter into force on the first day of the month following the month of publication in the Belgian Official Journal.

Under the new legislation, an employer will have a clear interest in terminating the employment contract before the six-month threshold is reached. The notice period will only be one week during the first six months, but then it will automatically change to six weeks for the subsequent quarter.

Collective bargaining agreement n° 109

The six-month threshold is where collective bargaining agreement n° 109 on the reasons for a dismissal becomes applicable. This collective bargaining agreement gives employees the right to request a written statement on the detailed reasons for dismissal and the right to claim an indemnity of between 3 and 17 weeks’ remuneration for manifestly unreasonable dismissal. This is defined as a dismissal not based on either the employee’s conduct or the organisational requirements of the employer and which a normal and reasonable employer would not have implemented.

When an employer terminates an employee’s contract before they reach the six-month threshold, the risk is clearly lower but there is still some risk. Some specific protections against dismissal aren’t subject to any qualifying period of continuous employment, for instance the one applicable to an employee lodging a complaint alleging harassment.

A terminated employee might also invoke the prohibition on abusive of rights under general contract. It’s then up to the employee to prove the employer used the right to terminate the employment contract in an abusive way and the prejudice resulting from this abuse.