Marga Caproni

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Belgium’s Private Investigations Act: Is Your Internal Investigations Service in Focus?

In December 2024, the new Private Investigations Act came into force. The Act replaced the Private Detectives Act of 1991 and was long overdue, considering how much has changed in the world of private investigations. The 1991 law focused on detectives as sole practitioners, think Columbo or Magnum P.I., a world of uncertain ethics, periodic … Continue Reading

Europe – Pay Transparency Directive: preparing for the great unknown?

Over the last few months, we have done a lot of sessions with clients on the Pay Transparency Directive.  Chief among the questions that inevitably comes up is implementation of the Directive in the different Member States. Clients wonder if and how they can prepare for June 2026 when – as per usual – most … Continue Reading

“Work of equal value”  – if apples and pears were jobs (EU)

2023’s EU Directive 2023/970 to “strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms”, also known as the Pay Transparency Directive, must be implemented by European member states by no later than 7 June 2026. With such … Continue Reading

Belgium – the double or triple whammy of employment protection indemnities

In Belgian law, there are certain periods of employment during which there are greater than usual restrictions on an employer’s ability to dismiss an employee. These include periods of maternity, parental and other types of care leave. Parting company with employees during any period when they are protected against dismissal can become a costly affair, … Continue Reading

Belgium – the synergy between pension contributions and the severance indemnity

If you terminate an employee in Belgium you will often need to pay a severance indemnity.  This is calculated in part by reference to the employee’s pay for his notice period.  It is calculated on the “full salary”, including not just base salary, 13th month and vacation pay, but also all other benefits enjoyed by … Continue Reading

Belgium – “When the lights go out”: the burn-out pandemic

In this last episode of our mini-series on long-term absence, we will zoom in on probably the most common current ground for long-term absence in Belgium, which is burn-out. Burn-out was in the Belgian press again recently because of a decision in the Antwerp Employment Court that it is discriminatory for a health care insurer … Continue Reading

Employees on long-term sickness absence – out of sight, out of mind no longer (Belgium)

The Belgian Parliament is currently discussing a draft Bill proposed by Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke which aims to reverse the growing trend of long-term sickness. About half a million employees have been off sick for more than a year, according to figures from the National Institute for Sickness and Disability Insurance. That’s two-thirds more … Continue Reading

Belgium – “Who you gonna call?” — appointment of a person of trust mandatory as of 1 December

While some are already hanging up the Christmas decorations and squeezing back into their Christmas jumpers, the Belgian legislator has picked the festive season to introduce a number of new measures relating to well-being in the workplace. We will discuss these measures in a series of blogs. The first measure holds that the appointment of … Continue Reading

Competition and employment – a marriage that does not allow for a prenup …

In our blog here, we noted EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s focus on the evolution of cartels in recent years, with the emergence of purchasing cartels and the focus in the US on ‘no-poach’ agreements, whereby companies agree not to recruit each other’s workers and/or fix wages.  This is similar to a purchasing cartel, except … Continue Reading

The gender pay gap and what Belgian employers need to do about it (now and in the future)

The statistics Some uplifting news last week from Statbel, the Belgian Agency for Statistics. In 2021, there was no longer a pay gap for young women in Belgium. But as their age goes up, so opens up the pay gap with male colleagues. On average across all ages, women in Belgium earned 5% less per … Continue Reading

What’s new in Belgium on the employment front, Part 2 – rolling out the biking allowance

In the first part of our mini blog series we discussed the training plan you are required to introduce for your employees in Belgium before 31 March. In this second blog, we will zoom in on the biking allowance which was introduced recently. Although we are not quite at the level of the Dutch (the … Continue Reading

Belgium finally transposes the Whistleblowers Directive – fashionably late, but worth the wait?

Roughly a year late, but here we are then: Belgium has finally transposed the Whistleblowers Directive into national law. The Act of 28 November 2022 on the protection of reporters of breaches of Union or national law discovered within a legal entity in the private sector sets out the rules for companies in the private … Continue Reading

Belgium’s new measures on employee illness – headaches for employers?

If I were to rank the employment law questions I receive by popularity, questions around long-term absence, absenteeism and generally how to deal with work incapacity would be right up there, a definite podium finish. The tension between the legitimate frustrations of employers and the no-fault nature of the employees’ absence seems eternal. To give … Continue Reading

Belgium takes first steps towards improved work-life balance in new Labour Deal

After the federal majority parties failed to conclude an agreement on Friday on a series of labour market reforms, they finally broke the deadlock overnight on Monday this week. In an early fail on the work:life balance front, the new measures were unveiled at a presumably sparsely-attended press conference at 2.30am. Bleary-eyed Ministers praised the … Continue Reading
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