Belgium

Claeys & Engels logo

Claeys & Engels is the largest HR law firm in Belgium, with five offices located in the different regions and more than 65 lawyers. We have the skills, expertise and manpower to meet the needs of the most demanding client. We can handle urgent, sensitive and complex matters and deal with large files requiring substantial work to be undertaken in a short time period. For example, we regularly deal with the human resources aspects of major company restructuring, labour disputes and social election-related litigation.

In the 2004 edition of European Legal 500, our firm is the only firm to be placed in the top rank with the following comment: “Claeys & Engels, member of Ius Laboris, is considered the leading national labour practice, with experience acting for employers and employees in all aspects of labour law”.

Through the Ius Laboris alliance, we keep an international focus. We continuously exchange know-how and experience with the other member firms of Ius Laboris. The alliance’s international network offers us the opportunity to initiate, monitor and coordinate international cases from Belgium.

Visit Website

Indemnity for Unfair Dismissal of Blue-Collar Workers: The Supreme Court Requires More In-Depth Examination of Cases

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Claeys & Engels

Article 63 of the Act on Employment Contracts states that, when the termination of the employment contract of a blue-collar worker is not justified by the worker's abilities or behaviour or when it is not based on the company's operational needs, the worker is entitled to a lump-sum indemnity for unfair dismissal.

It has generally been considered that Article 63 compensates blue-collar workers for the fact that their notice periods are shorter than those for white-collar employees.

Up to now, Courts have usually applied this provision strictly and excluded the possibility to consider a dismissal of a blue-collar worker as unfair as soon as the termination of employment was linked to the employee's behaviour, that behaviour being wrongful or not. Generally, Courts have not examined the reasons which have led the employer to terminate the employment contract.

In a recent judgment of 22 November, the Supreme Court decided that a dismissal which is effectively based on the employee's behaviour can still be regarded as unfair if it is clearly unjustified. In fact, the Courts must henceforth examine whether the decision of the employer to terminate the employment contract on the grounds invoked was legitimate or not.

With this judgment, the Supreme Court makes it more difficult for the employer to avoid the payment of an indemnity for unfair dismissal. This judgment requires the Courts to examine more in-depth and review the dismissal decisions of employers where the worker invokes unfair dismissal.

This judgment indicates once again the importance and the necessity for employers to gather and keep sufficient evidence when the employment contract of a blue-collar worker is terminated on grounds of his/her behaviour.

It must be recalled that this judgment does not entail any change to the dismissal rules regarding white-collar employees.
Tags: Unfair Dismissal
Trackbacks (0) Links to blogs that reference this article Trackback URL
http://www.globalemploymentlaw.com/mtc/mt-tb.cgi/1027
Comments (0) Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end