An Act of 20 March 2023 amended Article 11quarter of the Law of 3 July 1978 on employment contracts to limit the duration of successive fixed-term employment contracts and replacement contracts (M.B., 28 April 2023, 43003).

It closes the loophole in the law, which did not provide rules for the succession of fixed-term employment contracts with replacement contracts.

The Constitutional Court had decided, in a judgment no. 93/2021 of 17 June 2021, that this omission was contrary to the Constitution.

The new law limits the succession and combination of fixed-term employment contracts and replacement contracts to two years.

This limit does not apply when the interruption is attributable to the employee.

If this period is exceeded, the rules governing open-ended employment contracts will apply.

The law also lays down a special rule.

Where a replacement contract follows on from several fixed-term employment contracts or contracts for clearly defined work, this replacement contract is not taken into account once for the purposes of calculating the total two-year period when the succession of fixed-term employment contracts or contracts for clearly defined work is justified by the nature of the work or by another legitimate reason.

In this case, however, the total duration of the series of contracts may not exceed three years.

These new provisions came into force on 8 May 2023.

They apply to employment contracts concluded on or after that date.

However, when calculating the two-year period, account must be taken of employment contracts concluded before 8 May 2023 that successively precede the employment contract concluded on or after that date.

For more information, please contact: Olivier Langlet (olivier.langlet@cew-law.be) and Sophie Poncin (sophie.poncin@cew-law.be), lawyers, CEW & Partners.