25 Oct In Belgium, saturday shall no longer be considered as a working day – Be sure to keep it in mind when computing periods of notice

In its standard definition, the concept of working days applies to days which are, in principle, dedicated to work and therefore when stores are normally open. Until now, this used to involve all days of the week, but for Sundays and legal holidays. However, a small modification inserted in the new Belgian Civil Code is about to bring up significant changes in this regard.
 
Upon its coming into force, Article 1.7 of the first Book of the new Civil Code dedicated to the general provisions of the said Code, will henceforth on exclude Saturdays from the concept of working days  as it states that “timeframes include public holidays, Sundays and Saturdays unless these are expressly excluded or if the timeframes are expressed in working days.” The said provision goes on specifying  that  “working days are all days other than public holidays, Sundays and Saturdays“.
 
This modification is not without  significant consequences for employees and their employers.
 
For instance, in the event of a dismissal, the period of notice begins on the first Monday following the issue of the registered letter of notice. However, one must also bear in mind that the registered letter of notice is legally presumed to have reached its recipient on the third working day following its issue.  In view of this change, letters of notice should now be delivered to the post office no later than on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays for the period of notice to begin on the very next Monday. If the employer misses this window of opportunity, the period of notice shall however only begin a week later and the employer will have to keep the employee in its service  and pay him/her for an extra week.
 
This new provision should also affect each party’s obligations with respect to dismissal for serious reasons, since article 35 of the 1978 law on employment contracts states that dismissal for serious reasons can no longer be given without notice once the fact that would have justified it has been known to the dismissing party for at least three working days.  The fact that Saturday is no longer a working day will therefore have a considerable impact on dismissals for serious reasons that are based on events coming to the dismissing party’s attention on weekend’s eve. This  legal amendment will incur an extension of the employer’s traditionally very tight three-day cooling-off period between the discovery of the serious misconduct and the notification of dismissal.
 
The changes will come into effect on 1 January 2023.

For more information, please feel free to get in contact Mr. Vander Espt.

The Cairn Legal team