Employment Contracts in Belgium (CDI, CDD & Notice)

Your Belgian employment contract decides how secure your job is, how much notice you get if it ends, and — for non-EU workers — whether your residence stays valid. The rules changed significantly in 2014 and again from 1 July 2026, so old advice online is often wrong. Here is what actually applies, and what to check before you sign.

The two main contracts: CDI and CDD

Belgian law (the Law of 3 July 1978 on Employment Contracts) recognises a handful of contract types, but the two you'll meet are:

• CDI — contrat à durée indéterminée (open-ended / permanent). No end date. This is the default and the most protective: it can only end through dismissal with notice (or pay in lieu), resignation, or mutual agreement.
• CDD — contrat à durée déterminée (fixed-term). It runs to a specific end date or until a defined event, after which both sides are released.

A quiet but important rule: if there is no valid written CDD, the law assumes you have a CDI. So a missing or late contract usually works in your favour.

Why the CDD "sign before day one" rule matters

This is the single most important thing an expat should know. A fixed-term contract must be in writing and signed at the latest at the moment you enter service — in practice, before your first working day (FPS Employment; L&E Global).

If the employer hands you the CDD a week after you start, or never signs it, the fixed term is not valid and you are legally treated as having a permanent (CDI) contract. For you that's usually better — more protection and proper notice if it ends.

Practical takeaway: never start a fixed-term job on a verbal promise. If the paper isn't ready on day one, that's not a formality to sort out later — it changes what contract you actually have.

Limits on stacking fixed-term contracts

An employer can't keep you on rolling CDDs forever. As a rule, successive fixed-term contracts are capped at 4 contracts, each at least 3 months, up to a total of 2 years (extendable to 3 years only with prior authorisation from the Social Law Inspectorate). Break those limits and, again, the relationship is treated as a CDI (L&E Global).

Interim / agency work (intérim)

Temporary agency work is a distinct, heavily-regulated route. You sign with a temp agency (bureau d'intérim), which is your legal employer, and it places you at a user company. The contract must be in writing.

From 1 July 2026, a new rule lets temporary-agency workers end the assignment without notice or compensation during the first seven days of any form of temporary work (Baker McKenzie). Interim work is common as a first foothold in Brussels, but read the assignment length and the user company carefully — agency pay and conditions must match what a directly-hired worker would get.

The trial period is (mostly) gone

If you've worked elsewhere in Europe, you'll expect a période d'essai / proeftijd of a few months. Belgium abolished the trial period on 1 January 2014. For ordinary permanent and fixed-term contracts there is no probation (L&E Global).

• The only survivals are student contracts and temporary/interim work, which keep short trial-style opening days.
• For everyone else, either side can still walk away early — but only by serving the statutory notice below. Even at 2 or 4 weeks of service, the employer must respect it.

Watch this space: a 2026 government proposal would set a flat one-week notice (either side) during the first six months of any contract, replacing the sliding scale below for that early window. As of writing it is a draft still going through Parliament, not yet law — check the official source before relying on it.

Notice periods: counted in weeks, and they scale with seniority

Belgium is unusual: notice is measured in weeks, and it depends on one thing — your uninterrupted length of service with that employer. Since the 2014 "unified status" reform, the schedule is the same for blue-collar (ouvriers) and white-collar (employés) workers.

If the employer dismisses you, the official scale (contracts from 1 January 2014) starts like this (FPS Employment):

If you resign, notice is shorter and capped at 13 weeks whatever your seniority — for example 1 week under 3 months, 6 weeks at 2–4 years, and 13 weeks from 8 years on (FPS Employment).

Employers who don't want you to work the notice can pay a severance indemnity (indemnité de rupture) equal to the salary and benefits for that notice period instead.

The 2026 cap you should know about

For contracts that enter into force from 1 July 2026, the notice period on dismissal by the employer cannot exceed 52 weeks — the ceiling is reached at around 17 years' seniority (Baker McKenzie). Contracts that started earlier keep the uncapped scale, so most people already working won't feel this for years.

What to check before you sign

1. Contract type — does it say durée indéterminée (CDI) or durée déterminée (CDD)? If CDD, is the end date clear?
2. The date on the page — a CDD must be signed by your first day. Insist on it.
3. Joint committee (commission paritaire / paritair comité) — the number that fixes your sector's minimum pay, bonuses and holidays. It's usually near the top of the contract.
4. Gross salary and what's on top — meal vouchers, 13th-month pay, holiday pay, transport reimbursement. Belgian net pay is far below gross; see the Belgian payslip explained.
5. Working time — full-time is typically 38 hours/week; check overtime and any forfait.
6. For non-EU workers — your job must match the single permit / work authorisation it was granted for; changing employer or role can require a new application. See the single permit guide.

Common problems and fixes

• "You're on a CDD but nobody gave me the paper." If it wasn't signed by your start date, you likely have a CDI. Keep proof of when you started (emails, badge logs). Raise it in writing.
• Rolling short contracts for over two years. More than 4 successive CDDs, or over 2 years total, generally converts to a permanent relationship — flag it.
• Employer expects "unpaid trial days." There's no legal trial period for ordinary contracts. Work performed is paid work. Interim and student contracts are the narrow exceptions.
• Being pushed to resign instead of dismissed. Resigning forfeits any severance indemnity and can affect unemployment benefits. Don't sign a resignation under pressure — get advice from your trade union or a lawyer first.
• Unsure what your notice actually is. Use the official FPS Employment calculators and tables rather than a generic online figure; the numbers hinge on your exact start date.

Your one concrete next step

Before you sign anything, read the contract for two things: the type (CDI or CDD) and the date it must be signed (for a CDD, that's on or before day one). If it's a CDD without a valid signature by your start date, you may already be on a stronger permanent contract — and it's worth a quick check with a trade union (many will advise members free) or the FPS Employment before you accept anything less.