European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
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In case of individual redundancy:
Both the employer and the dismissed worker have to choose between the notice period during which the employment contract is still running and the severance pay by stopping the contract immediately. In the later case, the severance pay is equivalent to the wage and benefits multiplied by the duration of the notice period that should have been notified.
In case of collective dismissals:
In addition to the unemployment benefits, workers affected by the collective dismissal are entitled to a special severance pay. The amount of this allowance is equal to half the difference between the net wage and the amount of the unemployment benefits the worker receives. The maximum gross salary value used for this calculation amounts to €3,144.66.
The employee is entitled to four months of severance pay, starting the day after his/her working agreement or after his/her notice period ended.
Certain categories of workers are excluded, such as those in the construction sector, and port and ship workers.
For the purpose of calculating the special indemnity, the law considers that the collective dismissal is deemed to occur if during any given 60 day period, a notice of termination is given to:
In case of fixed-term contracts:
There is no severance pay during the trial period.
After the trial period, the severance pay is equivalent to the amount of salary that was due until the end of the contract. Nevertheless, this amount may not exceed twice the wage corresponding to the duration of the notice period that would have been calculated in the case of a permanent contract.
Employability-enhancing measures
In cases where a dismissed worker is entitled to a notice period of at least 30 weeks, the worker is entitled to a single lump sum of EUR 1,800 for the purpose of monitoring and financing employability-enhancing measures, for instance training or support. The purpose of the measure is to enable the worker to find a new job as soon as possible.
There is the possibility to extend this obligation to companies with at least five workers through collective agreement.
Eurofound (2015), Belgium: Severance pay/redundancy compensation, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/severance-payredundancy-compensation/belgium
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