Working Hours and Overtime in Belgium

In Belgium, your company must comply with working hour and overtime laws – including daily limits, overtime thresholds, and rest requirements – to stay compliant and build a strong employee experience.

Between now and 2026, Belgian and EU-level initiatives are expected to keep strengthening enforcement around working time, digital timekeeping, and the right to disconnect. You should review your work regulations, CBAs, and scheduling practices to ensure that standard hours, overtime, and rest periods are clearly defined, properly recorded, and consistently applied across all sites and categories of staff. Proactive compliance – including training managers, auditing time records, and consulting with employee representatives – will help you avoid disputes and adapt quickly to any new guidance or case law.

• Standard Working Hours
• Overtime Thresholds
• Overtime Pay Rates
• Daily And Weekly Rest Requirements
• Night Work Restrictions
• Penalties For Non-Compliance

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Belgium?

An employee whose age is 18 or younger has a maximum of 8 hours per day and 38 hours per week. An employee whose age is 18 or older is allowed to work 38 hours per week. A minimum meal interval of 15 minutes must be observed by employees who work more than 6 hours in a day. In typical working hours, Monday through Friday, the hours are 8:00 to 17:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Belgium

As an employer in Belgium, you must generally organize work so that employees do not exceed 8 hours per day and 38 hours per week, which is the standard full-time schedule in most sectors. Collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) may introduce a different reference schedule – for example 39 or 40 hours per week – but this is usually combined with compensatory rest days so that the average weekly working time over the reference period does not exceed 38 hours. Daily and weekly limits are strict, and any structural deviation must be grounded in a legal or collectively agreed derogation.

Working time is normally calculated over a reference period, often a quarter or up to one year if allowed by sectoral rules. Within that period, you may introduce flexible schedules, provided that the average working time respects the 38-hour weekly limit and that you comply with maximum daily and weekly caps, overtime rules, and rest-period requirements. You must keep accurate working-time records and make them available to the social inspection services upon request.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

• Continuous Process Industries And Shift Work
• Construction And Mobile Worksites
• Hotels, Restaurants, And Catering
• Healthcare, Residential Care, And Emergency Services
• Transport, Logistics, And Road Transport
• Seasonal And Agricultural Activities

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Certain categories of employees in Belgium – such as senior managerial staff and employees in positions of trust – may be partially or fully exempt from the standard working-time limits and overtime compensation rules. These roles are narrowly defined in legislation and by CBAs, and the exemption does not remove your duty to protect health and safety, ensure reasonable workloads, and respect minimum daily and weekly rest. You should not assume that all white-collar or highly paid staff are automatically exempt; the actual duties, level of autonomy, and authority over the organization are decisive.

For genuinely exempt managerial employees, you may agree on broader availability and flexible schedules, but you should still document expected working patterns, clarify that the salary covers irregular hours, and monitor for excessive working time. Misclassifying employees as exempt when they do not meet the legal criteria can expose your company to back payments of overtime, administrative fines, and potential criminal sanctions.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Belgium

In most sectors in Belgium, statutory full-time work is based on an average of 38 hours per week. Sectoral CBAs may define full-time work as 39 or 40 hours per week with compensatory rest days, or may introduce specific reference periods and schedules. When you hire employees, you should clearly state in the employment contract what constitutes full-time work in your sector, the applicable CBA, and how working time is distributed across the week.

Part-time work must be proportionate to the full-time schedule and documented in writing, including the number of hours, the distribution of those hours, and any variable schedule rules. You must also respect minimum daily and weekly working-time thresholds for part-time employees where applicable. Transparent scheduling, proper posting of work rosters, and accurate timekeeping are essential to demonstrate compliance with Belgian working-time legislation.

Overtime Regulations In Belgium

What Counts As Overtime In Belgium?

In Belgium, overtime generally means hours worked beyond the normal daily or weekly limits set by law or by the applicable CBA – typically more than 8 hours per day or more than 38 hours per week for a full-time employee. Overtime can only be performed in specific situations allowed by law, such as exceptional workload, urgent work on machinery, inventory, or peak periods covered by a CBA. In many cases, prior authorization from employee representatives or the labour inspectorate is required.

As an employer, you must distinguish between structural changes to working schedules – which require formal modification of work regulations or CBAs – and occasional overtime, which must remain exceptional. All overtime hours must be recorded accurately, and employees are usually entitled to both a wage supplement and compensatory rest, unless a specific derogation applies. You should ensure that managers understand when extended hours are considered overtime and how to obtain the necessary approvals.

Maximum Overtime In Belgium

Belgian law sets strict caps on overtime to protect employee health and safety. In principle, daily working time, including overtime, should not exceed 11 hours, and weekly working time should not exceed 50 hours, subject to specific legal derogations. Within these limits, there are additional caps on the number of overtime hours that can be performed over a given reference period, depending on the legal basis used (for example, voluntary overtime, technical or unforeseen necessity, or peak-period overtime under a CBA).

Voluntary overtime is subject to its own annual cap per employee, and employees must give written consent that can be withdrawn. You must monitor overtime balances closely to ensure that employees do not exceed the permitted annual or reference-period limits and that compensatory rest is granted within the legally required time frame. Failure to respect these caps can lead to administrative and criminal sanctions, as well as claims for unpaid premiums and damages.

Overtime Payout Rates In Belgium

Overtime in Belgium is usually compensated with both a wage supplement and compensatory rest, unless a specific exception applies. The standard overtime premium is 50% above the normal hourly wage for overtime worked on regular weekdays and Saturdays, and 100% for overtime worked on Sundays or public holidays. Sectoral CBAs may provide more favourable conditions, so you should always check the applicable agreement for your workforce.

In many cases, employees are also entitled to compensatory rest so that their average working time over the reference period remains within the legal limits. The timing and duration of this rest are regulated and must be planned and documented. You should implement clear payroll rules and timekeeping processes to ensure that overtime premiums are calculated correctly, that compensatory rest is tracked, and that payslips transparently show overtime hours and supplements.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Belgium

In Belgium, employees typically work up to 8 hours per day and 38 hours per week, and rest periods and breaks are designed to protect health and safety within these limits. As an employer, you must ensure that workers who approach the daily and weekly maximums receive appropriate meal breaks, daily rest between shifts, and weekly rest days, and that these entitlements are integrated into your work schedules, timekeeping systems, and internal work regulations.

• Meal Break Requirements
• Daily Rest
• Weekly Rest
• Minors
• Employer Duties