Claeys & Engels > Brussels, Belgium > Firm Profile
Claeys & Engels Offices
Boulevard Du Souverain 25
1170 Brussels
Belgium
- Go to...
- Rankings
- Lawyer Profiles
- Diversity
- Press Releases
Claeys & Engels > The Legal 500 Rankings
Belgium > Employment Tier 1
Claeys & Engels maintains its longstanding reputation as a top-tier specialist firm capable of handling the full breadth of employment matters, with its very large team of lawyers handling tax, data protection, and immigration matters in addition to advising on core employment issues. Pension-related questions and corporate restructurings are key areas of expertise for the firm, which counts leading Belgian and multinational corporates from a range of sectors such as retail and financial services as well as a wide array of public bodies on its client roster. Olivier Wouters is a key contact for restructuring work, in addition to handling the employment aspects of complex M&A, and co-leads the practice with Chris Engels, who is noted for his extensive experience handling collective dismissals. Inger Verhelst specialises in union relations and employee discrimination matters, while Sophie Maes stands out for her advice on cross-border employment and immigration matters.Practice head(s):
Chris Engels; Olivier Wouters
Other key lawyers:
Inger Verhelst; Sophie Maes; Fabienne Raepsaet; Ward Bouciqué; Bart Vanschoebeke
Testimonials
‘C&E has a unique combination of deep theoretical knowledge and expertise with pragmatic understanding of clients day to day needs.’
‘Very short response time, deep knowledge and expertise, solid understanding of client needs, pragmatic approach (no ivory tower perspective).’
‘Great firm to work with. Top of class in employment law. Knowledgeable, yet practical and solutions oriented. Pleasant and reliable people, client-interested, good culture across the board.’
‘Chris Engels and Bart Vanschoebeke display a depth of expertise and an ability to stay very common-sense and solutions-oriented.’
‘Their international network, their expertise and the way they coordinate cross-country topics stands out.’
‘Long-term established relationships. They know our company and its processes.’
Lawyer Profiles
Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
---|---|---|---|
Mr Bart Adriaens | Partner. | View Profile | |
Mr Luc Bihain | Partner. | View Profile | |
Mr Ward Bouciqué | Partner | View Profile | |
Ms Isabelle De Somviele | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Dieter Dejonghe | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Chris Engels | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Frédéric Henry | Counsel | View Profile | |
Mr Jean-Paul Lacomble | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Henri-François Lenaerts | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Patrick Maerten | Partner | View Profile | |
Ms Sophie Maes | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Jan Van Gysegem | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Bart Vanschoebeke | Partner | View Profile | |
Mrs Inger Verhelst | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Jean-Yves Verslype | Partner | View Profile | |
Ms Gaëlle Willems | Counsel | View Profile | |
Mr Olivier Wouters | Partner | View Profile |
Press Releases
Newsletter – The Claeys & Engels 2023 HR Beacon
27th April 2023 War in Europe and galloping inflation are having an impact on our lives - an impact that will also redefine the workplace. We asked you to share your opinions, insights, needs and vision in terms of HR policy.Newsletter – Amendment AOP strengthening transparency in the context of the second pension pillar
27th April 2023 On 2 February 2023, the Act of 26 December 2022 amending several provisions to strengthen transparency in the context of the second pension pillar, called the “Transparency Act” for short, was published. The Transparency Act reforms the communication to plan members about their occupational pension and this at the time of affiliation, during the period of affiliation, at the time of exit and at the time of pay-out. These amended rules are of practical importance for all pension plans (group insurance or pension funds – see below) and apply to both employees and self-employed persons.Newsletter: Sustainability reporting by companies
27th April 2023 By introducing the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”), the European Commission aims to expand its sustainability disclosure requirements, both in terms of scope, and content. The CSRD requires companies to publish this information in a standardised way and to have it independently audited.Newsletter: New measures for (long-term) sick workers
27th April 2023 Absence due to long-term illness has a high price tag for the employer, social security, for society, but also for the sick worker himself. Consequently, this topic leaves no one unmoved and has led to an influx of new measures in autumn 2022.Newsflash – Amendment of the Gender Act and introduction of a new protected criterion “family responsibilities”
27th April 2023 The Law of 15 November 2022 amending the Law of 10 May 2007 (the “Gender Act”) to combat discrimination between women and men now replaces the protected criterion of “gender” with 11 protected criteria: gender, pregnancy, medically assisted reproduction, childbirth, breastfeeding, maternity, family responsibilities, gender identity, gender expression, gender characteristics and gender reassignment. The Gender Act already equated most of these characteristics with gender. The criterion of “family responsibilities” is completely new.Responsibility of employers and employees in case of incapacity for work
27th April 2023 Within the framework of the current policy aimed at the professional reintegration of employees who are unable to work, various measures have been adopted in order to financially sanction, on the one hand, employees who do not actively collaborate in their return to work and, on the other hand, employers who have too many workers on long-term occupational incapacity.Should employers reimburse monitor employees’ glasses?
27th April 2023 On 22 December 2022, the European Court of Justice ruled on whether an employer must cover the cost of corrective glasses for a display screen employee with vision problems. This preliminary ruling, brought before the Court by a Romanian judge, was answered affirmatively. What does this imply for the Belgian employer?Newsflash – Modification of the right to interruption allowances within the framework of time credit, thematic leave or career breaks
27th April 2023 A Royal Decree of 26 January 2023 has modified certain rules relating to interruption allowances that are granted in the context of time credit, thematic leave or career break schemes. The new rules came into force, for the most part, on 1 February 2023 and apply to applications submitted to the employer as of that date.Newsflash – Some legislative changes regarding collective bargaining agreements and the procedure for the non-recurrent result-related bonus
27th April 2023 On Friday, 27 January 2023, the Law of 26 December 2022 amending various provisions on collective labour relations was published in the Belgian State Gazette. It concerns some amendments to the collective bargaining law and to the legislation on the non-recurrent result-related bonus. We list them here for you.Newsflash – Communication around an employee’s departure
27th April 2023 In a decision of 17 February 2023, the Litigation Chamber of the Data Protection Authority (DPA) confirmed its earlier position that an employer is allowed to inform employees of an employee’s departure. However, the employer must limit itself to what is strictly necessary. In this case, the employer had also notified who the initiating party was and that the employment contract was terminated with immediate effect. This was considered as going beyond what was necessary. The employer was given a deadline to remove the mentions on the intranet and received a warning to no longer communicate such information to the employees in the future.Newsflash – Geolocalisation system in employees’ vehicles
27th April 2023 In a decision of 21 February 2023, the Disputes Chamber of the Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) assessed the legality of a geolocalisation system (also known as a “track & trace system”). The decision followed a complaint filed by an employee of a municipality after it appeared that a geolocalisation system had been installed in his service vehicle enabling the municipality to identify a work time fraud. The DPA ruled that processing geolocalisation data may be lawful if the appropriate legal basis is correctly determined and transparency obligations are complied with. This was not the case with the municipality, resulting in a reprimand.Newsflash – Trade union actions – what you need to know as an employer
27th April 2023 When actions are announced, what about the right to remuneration for the employees willing to work who do not get to work (on time)? Furthermore, the employment of temporary agency workers is in principle prohibited during a strike. But when exactly is there a strike? Does this mean that no temporary agency worker may be employed on that day?Newsflash – Sick during leave – Leave days become sick days
27th April 2023 On 16 March 2023, a Royal Decree was published in the Belgian State Gazette aligning Belgian leave legislation with European Directive 2003/88/EC (the European Working Time Directive) and the case-law of the European Court of Justice. Employees are entitled to paid leave of at least four weeks annually. Under the new rules, the leave days of those who fall ill during the statutory leave days will be converted into sick days. In addition, the rules regarding the carryover of statutory leave days have been amended.Newsflash – Binding value of A1 certificates and fraud
27th April 2023 On 2 March 2023, the European Court of Justice has decided in the case DRV Intertrans BV (C‑410/21 and C-661/21) that the binding value of an A1 certificate remains intact even if the issuing authorities temporarily suspend the binding value of the A1 certificate. However, the court reiterates in accordance with previous case law that the binding value of these A1 certificates can be set aside in the case of fraud.Newsflash – Are daily rest periods additional to weekly rest periods or do they form part of them
27th April 2023 In a judgment of 2 March 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on the concepts of daily and weekly rest. The Court recalls that these concepts are autonomous and cannot be interpreted differently than the definitions provided for in Articles 3 and 5 of Directive 2003/88/EC. It is therefore not possible to consider that daily rest forms part of weekly rest. According to the Court, these concepts entail separate rights, whereby the enjoyment of one cannot lead to the deprivation from the other, irrespective of whether the legislation of the Member State is more favourable than the EU directive.Newsflash – The special dismissal protection of contractual employees at HR Rail
27th April 2023 In its judgment of 23 March 2023, the Constitutional Court confirmed that it is not discriminatory to provide special dismissal protection for contractual staff who execute (or were candidate for) a union mandate and not for statutory staff. The Court considers that statutory staff and statutory staff-trainees already enjoy extensive dismissal protection.Newsflash – The harm suffered by the employer may play a role in assessing the severity of the misconduct
27th April 2023 In a judgment of 6 February 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that when assessing a serious cause, the court may not as such disregard the harm suffered by the employer when determining the severity of the shortcoming.- Employment