Why is this distinction important?
In a company with several locations, the registered office and the place of business may be situated in different municipalities, or even in different Regions.
This is often the case when your company has its administrative headquarters in Brussels but carries out its activities in one or more offices, establishments or operational sites located in Flanders or Wallonia.
These concepts therefore do not refer to the same reality:
- The registered office refers to your company’s official legal address.
- The place of business refers to the location where the activity is actually carried out.
- The employee’s place of work corresponds to the location where they actually perform their duties.
- The place stated in the employment contract does not always correspond to the actual place of work.
What is meant by the registered office?
The registered office is your company’s official legal address. It is stated in the company’s articles of association and registered with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE). It is therefore the address you have declared for your company and which, in particular, allows it to be identified in its administrative, legal and judicial relations.
In practice, the registered office does not necessarily correspond to the location where your employees perform their work. For example, your company may have:
- A registered office in Ixelles
- A commercial office in Zaventem
- A workshop in Wavre
- Employees who regularly work remotely
What is a place of business?
The place of business corresponds to the location where your company actually carries out its activities. This may be an office, shop, workshop, construction site, establishment or any other operational location.
The place of business therefore cannot automatically be inferred from the address of the registered office. Nor should it be confused with the employee’s home address, a location where the employee worked occasionally or the address stated in their employment contract. The latter may indeed have become theoretical or may no longer reflect changes in the company’s organisation.
Point of attention: the place of business and the CBE
You should also check whether the place of business constitutes an establishment unit that must be registered with the CBE. The activities actually carried out at that address must then be registered using the appropriate NACE-BEL codes and kept up to date.
This check is particularly important when opening a new location or transferring activities to another site.
What are the consequences for your employees?
When an employee carries out their activities in several locations, you should not only consider the place where they worked on a particular day. You should also determine the place of business or establishment to which they were attached and which other criteria may justify the territorial jurisdiction of a court.
This analysis is particularly important for companies that combine:
- A registered office in Brussels and locations in Flanders
- Several establishments located in different judicial districts
- Itinerant work
- Structural or occasional telework
- Regular changes in the place of work
- An organisation based on teams or projects
In these situations, a single address does not always reflect the reality of the employment relationship.
Must the employee always bring proceedings before the court of the place where they work?
Not necessarily.
In a judgment of 16 December 2025, the French-speaking Labour Court of Brussels held that the employee could establish territorial jurisdiction on the basis of either the registered office of her former employer or the place of business to which she was attached.
In this case, the employee chose to bring her action before the French-speaking Labour Court of Brussels on the basis of the registered office of her former employer, located in Ixelles. The court considered that this connecting factor was sufficient to establish its jurisdiction, even though the employee had, among other places, performed her work in Zaventem.
The fact that the place of business is located in Flanders therefore does not automatically exclude the jurisdiction of the French-speaking Labour Court of Brussels where the registered office in Brussels constitutes the connecting factor relied upon by the employee.
However, this decision does not mean that an employee may bring proceedings before any court. The criterion relied upon must correspond to a connecting factor provided for by law and must be relevant in light of the specific circumstances of the company and the employment relationship.
Practical lesson for employers?
You should therefore not assume that the place where your employee actually performs their work determines, on its own, which court has jurisdiction. Before challenging the jurisdiction of the court before which proceedings have been brought, check in particular:
- The address of your registered office at the time of the dispute
- The place or places of business to which the employee was attached
- The periods during which these attachments applied
- The locations where the employee actually performed their work
- Periods of telework and mobility
- Consistency between the employment contract, any addenda and your HR documents
In the case examined, the address stated in the contract was Wavre, even though the employee had never worked there. She had performed her work partly remotely and partly from the place of business in Zaventem.
We therefore recommend that you accurately document the reality of your organisation and each employee’s attachment, particularly where your company has locations in several Regions.
Before raising any procedural challenge, separately analyse the registered office, the place of business, the actual places where work was performed and the contractual documents. This check will allow you to assess more accurately whether the court before which proceedings have been brought has jurisdiction and to determine whether a challenge is genuinely well-founded.
What can Securex do for you?
Do you have several locations or are you facing proceedings brought by a former employee? Your Legal Advisor can assist you in identifying the relevant registered office and places of business, as well as in analysing the employee’s actual attachment.
For any additional information or further questions, please contact your Legal Advisor by email at myHR@securex.be.
Source
Decision of 16 December 2025 of the French-speaking Labour Court of Brussels.
