Methodology for computing the Belgian notice period
This document details the methodology used by our notice period calculator. The Belgian notice period depends on when the employment contract was concluded, on the employee's seniority, on the type of termination (dismissal by the employer or resignation by the employee), and — for pre-2014 contracts — on status (blue- or white-collar). The full logic is based on the law of 26 December 2013 introducing the Single Status and on the official grids published by SPF Emploi.
1. The Single Status (law of 26 December 2013)
Since 1 January 2014, Belgium has applied the "Single Status" which unifies the rules between blue- and white-collar workers for any contract concluded from that date. Before 2014, blue-collar workers had very short notice periods (sometimes 7 days) while white-collar employees had complex rules based on annual salary (notably the Claeys formulas).
The Single Status replaces all of this with a fixed grid in weeks, identical for blue- and white-collar workers, based solely on seniority accrued since hiring.
2. Post-2014 grid — dismissal
For dismissal by the employer, the post-2014 grid progresses by tiers: 1 week below 3 months of seniority, 3 weeks at 3 months, 4 weeks at 6 months, 5 weeks at 9 months, then +3 weeks per year up to 23 years, after which +1 additional week per year.
For example, a worker with 5 years of seniority receives 15 weeks of notice; 10 years = 30 weeks; 20 years = 60 weeks.
3. Post-2014 grid — resignation
For resignation by the employee, the duration is roughly half that of a dismissal, and capped at 13 weeks. This is the "part 1" grid of the law of 26/12/2013.
Example: 5 years of seniority = 6 weeks of resignation notice (vs 15 for a dismissal).
4. Ratchet mechanism for pre-2014 contracts
For a contract concluded before 1 January 2014, the notice period is computed in two independent parts that are added together.
Part 1: duration accrued as of 31 December 2013 under the old status-specific rules (blue- or white-collar), frozen on that date.
Part 2: duration accrued from 1 January 2014 onwards under the new post-2014 grid, computed as if seniority had restarted from zero on that date.
5. Sources and updates
The calculation is based on the official grids of the SPF Emploi (Belgian federal labour authority). These grids may evolve (typically each year on 1 January) following legislative changes or Constitutional Court decisions. Our calculator is updated automatically as soon as a new grid is published.