Labour and Employment Comparative Guide

1 Legal framework

1.1 Are there statutory sources of labour and employment law?

Yes. The primary sources of labour and employment law are statutory laws, such as:

• the Act on Employment Contracts (1978);
• the Labour Act (1971), on working time and conditions;
• the Act on Collective Bargaining Agreements and Joint Committees (1968); and
• the Act on Annual Holidays (1971).

Belgian employment law operates under a strict hierarchy of sources of law. These include:

• mandatory statutory law over collective bargaining agreements rendered binding by royal decree;
• collective agreements to which the employer is a party;
• individual written employment contracts;
• non-binding collective agreements;