What is changing?
Since 2022, a relaxed arrangement regarding the medical certificate for short periods of illness has applied in Belgium. Workers were allowed to be absent for one day due to illness without having to submit a medical certificate up to three times per calendar year. The condition was that the worker immediately informed the employer of the absence.
From 1 January 2026, this arrangement has become somewhat stricter again. Workers can now only be absent for one day without a medical certificate twice per year. For a third one-day illness, an official medical certificate will once again be required.
Concretely, this means that someone who, for example, has already been ill for one day without a certificate twice earlier in the year will have to visit the general practitioner to submit a medical certificate in case of a subsequent short absence.
Local authorities
This provision also applies to local authorities for their contractual workers. The board of directors can also apply the same rules to statutory employees, after clarification in the local legal status regulations. If the board of directors had included in its local legal status regulations that the employee may be absent three times without a certificate, the board of directors must first adjust the local legal status regulations to the new arrangement. However, an employer may always be more lenient and retain the number of absences without a certificate.
Federal civil servants
Since 4 July 2026, the rules have also been tightened for federal civil servants, for whom the maximum number of times they can be absent for one day due to illness without a certificate has been reduced from three to two times per year.
What can Securex do for you?
Securex supports local authorities in the correct application of the new rules regarding the medical certificate. Among other things, we assist you with the analysis and possible adjustment of the local legal status regulations and clear communication to employees and managers.
