Update your work regulations !

In accordance with various legislative provisions that have recently come into force in the field of employment law, it is necessary to update your work regulations.

The following provisions must be incorporated in the work regulations as soon as possible (*1):

- the procedure, including the formal requirements and the length of the notice periods, which the employer and the employee must observe in the event of termination of the employment relationship, as well as the deadlines for disputing the dismissal, or the reference to the legal or regulatory provisions governing these points;

- the reference to the collective bargaining agreements (“CBA”) and/or collective agreements concluded within the company and which apply to the working conditions and, regarding CBA’s concluded outside the company, the reference to the competent joint body within which they were concluded (including at interprofessional level);

- the right to training offered by the employer or reference to the legal or regulatory provisions or CBA’s governing this right;

- the social security body that collects the social security contributions related to the employment relationship.

For employers with more than 20 employees, by 1 January 20232 at the latest, provisions regarding the right to disconnect must be included in the work regulations, in the absence of a CBA entered into at company level.

Concerning variable working hours for part-time workers, the period within which these workers must be informed beforehand by a notice of their working hours must be modified (from 5 days to 7 days or from 1 day to 3 days in case of derogation by CBA made compulsory by Royal Decree). The work regulations must be updated in this regard by 20 August 2023 at the latest.

The work regulations can also be amended to insert a derogation from the exemption from a medical certificate for the first day of work incapacity. This derogation from the exemption is only possible for employers who employ less than 50 workers on 1 January of the year during which the work incapacity 
occurs.

Some of these changes must be inserted in accordance with the procedure for amending the work regulations.

We are happy to assist you in this regard.

(*1) Cfr. art. 6 of the Work Regulations Act of 8 April 1965.
(*2) Although the law stipulates that this communication must take place before 1 January 2023, the FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue has indicated that, in consultation with the Minister, the administration will in practice apply a 3-month delay, postponing the deadline for implementing these provisions to 1 April 2023.