What changes are planned for your labour regulation ?
Currently, you must provide details for each schedule, including start and end times, breaks, days off, and any variations. This requirement can make your regulation complicated and hard to adjust when there are changes in your organisation.
The project aims to ease the requirement to list all full-time schedules in your labour regulation.
In addition to the "standard" schedules (start/end times, breaks, days off), you will now be able to provide a general framework for normal working hours, which outlines the periods during which work is carried out in your company.
This change will allow you to:
- Easily adapt your schedules to meet operational needs
- Reduce formal changes to the regulation
- Gain organisational flexibility while staying within a legally secure framework
What should the general framework contain ?
The framework must include essential elements, such as:
- The days of the week when services can be scheduled (e.g. Monday to Friday)
- The daily time slot when services can be scheduled (e.g. between 6am and 8pm)
- The minimum and maximum working hours per day
- The normal and maximum working hours per week
What is the practical impact for your full-time schedules (and your fixed part-time schedules) ?
If your labour regulation includes a framework for normal working hours, you will be able to agree with a worker on a full-time schedule – or a fixed part-time schedule – as long as it fits within the limits defined by this framework.
In this case, you will no longer need to list this schedule separately in your regulation or start a new formal modification procedure. This will allow you to adapt the actual organisation of work more flexibly, without overburdening your administrative processes.
On the other hand, if you want to implement a schedule that exceeds the time slots provided by the framework – or a schedule that is not included in the general framework or among the schedules already mentioned separately in your regulation – you will first need to modify the labour regulation according to the legal procedure.
Why adapt your regulation as soon as it comes into force ?
If your current regulation lists all schedules in detail, you will remain reliant on the traditional modification procedure for each new schedule.
By adopting a clear and realistic general framework, you:
- Reduce your future administrative burden
- Avoid repeated changes to the regulation
- Secure your practices in the face of social inspection
- Align your document with the actual organisation of your company
In a constantly changing environment (flexibility, peaks in activity, internal reorganisation), this adaptation becomes a true strategic HR management tool.
In case of disagreement: towards a simpler procedure ?
Currently, when a disagreement persists within the company council (or, in the absence of a council, after the internal procedure), the dispute is referred to the joint committee. For a decision to be adopted, the current rule requires a qualified majority: at least 75% of the votes cast by each party (employers and workers).
The project proposes a relaxation of the procedure when the dispute concerns:
- The extension of the established framework for normal working hours
- The introduction of a schedule outside this framework
- The introduction of a new schedule if the regulation does not set a framework
In these cases, a decision by the joint committee would be valid if it receives the votes of at least all present representatives of a representative employers' organisation and at least all present representatives of a representative workers' organisation.
In other words:
- A single representative organisation from each side may suffice
- Provided that its present representatives vote unanimously
What does Securex do for you ?
Do you want to turn this reform into a concrete action plan? Securex helps you to:
- Analyse your current labour regulation and identify what you can shift to a general framework (without losing legal security)
- Prepare the modification of the labour regulation (documents, display/communication, consultation steps)
- Evaluate the impact on your organisation of working time and your HR practices (e.g. fixed schedules, flexibility, change management)
For any further information or additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Legal Advisor by email at myHR@securex.be
Entry into force ?
This is a draft law submitted to the Chamber on 3 February 2026. The entry into force is expected on 1st April 2026.
However, this date still needs to be confirmed within the legislative process. Until the law is adopted and published in the Moniteur belge, your current obligations remain unchanged.
We will keep you informed on Lex4You as soon as the final adoption occurs.
