What changes are planned for your work regulations?
Currently, you are generally required to detail each schedule: start and end times, breaks, days off, and possible variations. This requirement can quickly make your regulations cumbersome and hard to adapt when organisational changes occur.
The project relaxes the obligation to separately list all full-time schedules in your work regulations.
Alongside the mention of "classic" schedules (start/end of day, breaks, days off), you will now be able to provide a general framework of the normal working hours, which defines the periods during which work is carried out in your company.
This change will allow you to:
- More easily adapt your schedules according to operational needs
- Reduce formal amendments to the regulations
- Gain organisational flexibility while staying within a legally secure framework
What should the general framework contain?
The framework must include mandatory elements, notably:
- The days of the week on which work can be scheduled (e.g. Monday to Friday)
- The daily time window within which work can be scheduled (e.g. between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.)
- 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 work regulations provide a framework of normal working hours, you may set, by mutual agreement with a worker, a full-time schedule – or a fixed part-time schedule – provided it fits entirely within the limits defined by this framework.
In this case, you will no longer have to separately include this schedule in your regulations nor start a new formal amendment procedure. This will allow you to adapt the concrete organisation of work more flexibly without complicating your administrative procedures unnecessarily.
However, if you want to apply a schedule that exceeds the time slots provided by the framework – or a schedule that is neither included in the general framework nor among the schedules already separately mentioned in your regulations – you must first amend the work regulations following the legal procedure.
Why adapt your regulations as soon as the law comes into force?
If your current regulations list all schedules in detail, you will remain dependent on the classic amendment procedure for each new schedule.
By adopting a clear and realistic general framework, you will:
- Reduce your future administrative burden
- Avoid repeated amendments to the regulations
- Secure your practices in relation to social inspection
- Align your document with the actual organisation of your company
In a context of constant change (flexibility, activity peaks, internal reorganisation), this adaptation becomes a genuine strategic HR management tool.
In case of disagreement: towards a simpler procedure?
Currently, when a disagreement persists within the company council (or, if there is no 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 provides a relaxation of the procedure when the dispute concerns:
- The extension of the set framework of normal working hours
- The introduction of a schedule outside this framework
- The introduction of a new schedule if the regulations do not set a framework
In these cases, a decision of the joint committee would be valid if it obtains the votes of at least all the representatives present of one representative employers' organisation and at least all the representatives present of one representative workers' organisation.
In other words:
- Only one representative organisation on each side may suffice
- Provided 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 work regulations and identify what you can shift to a general framework (without losing legal security)
- Prepare the amendment of the work regulations (documents, posting/communication, consultation steps)
- Evaluate the impact on your working time organisation and HR practices (e.g. fixed schedules, flexibility, change management)
For any further information or additional questions, do not hesitate to contact your Legal Advisor by e-mail at myHR@securex.be
Entry into force?
The law containing various provisions relating to work was adopted by the Chamber of Representatives on 30 April 2026.
The new rules relating to work regulations will enter into force on 1 June 2026.
Publication in the Moniteur belge is expected in the coming days. Until then, the current obligations remain formally applicable.
We will keep you informed on Lex4You as soon as the final adoption takes place.
