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Labour and Employment

Our Labour and Employment department is one of the largest employment teams within a full-service law firm anywhere in Belgium and is recognised as a leading practice. Our lawyers advise and assist clients in all matters touching on Belgian and European labour and employment law.

Our team has vast experience and expertise in all legal aspects concerning human resources related issues. Our overall aim is to offer cost-effective, pro-active and pragmatic advice that enables better business decisions. We strive towards tailor-made and creative solutions to perfectly fit your needs.

Paul GEEREBAERT

Partner, Head of practice

T: +32 2 551 14 58
Send an email

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OUR CLIENTS

Belgian, foreign and multinational corporations, active in different industry sectors.
Public and governmental entities and non-profit organisations.
Employees at executive and management level and self-employed service providers.

OUR APPROACH

We make sure that we understand the client’s objectives, anticipate the issues and tailor our services accordingly to achieve the best possible result.
Our approach is creative, hands-on and practical.
Our practice group works seamlessly with the firm’s other practices, providing a complete approach to each matter.

OUR TEAM

Our team is valued by clients for its knowledge, responsiveness and flexibility.
Our practice group includes several lawyers who are regularly invited to speak at seminars or publish contributions on topics relating to labour and employment law.
Our lawyers are also members of professional associations relating to employment law and/or business immigration.

OUR SERVICES

Our range of services is global. We provide advice, we negotiate and draft, communicate directly with unions and regulatory authorities, and represent our clients before the Labour Courts.

Our know-how includes:

Hiring and dismissals

Drafting of employment contracts, advising on the characterisation of the employment relationship, freelance and consultancy contracts, short-term and temporary work, and posting; dealing with problems linked to, among other things, the performance of the employment contract, individual dismissals, statutory and conventional protection against dismissal, dismissal for serious cause, and constructive dismissal.

Collective labour law

Negotiation and drafting of CBAs, communication with trade unions, work councils and health and safety committees, legal rights of recourse in case of strikes, information and consultation procedures, collective dismissals, (cross-border) transfer of undertakings, outsourcing, harmonisation of employment conditions, mergers, closures, negotiation of social plans, applications for benefits reserved for firms under restructuring or in economic difficulty, early retirement, insolvency, advice relating to the competent joint labour committee and so on.

Compensation and benefits

Design and optimisation of wage packages, variable pay, bonus schemes, financial participation schemes, savings schemes, profit sharing plans – including executive remuneration and corporate governance.

Business immigration and expatriates

Obtaining of permits for foreign workers (work permits) and self-employed persons (professional cards) and/or residence permits for foreign nationals, dealing with social security and tax implications, citizenship and other matters.

Social security

Advice and litigation in relation to, among other things, the scope of application of the employees’ social security system, the regulations on contributions, benefits and allowances, and assistance on the occasion of visits from the social inspectorate.

Supplementary pension plans

Assistance and advice relating to, among other things, the introduction or amendment of supplementary pension plans, statutory duties of information and consultation vis-à-vis employees or their representatives, advice relating to pensions in case of transfer of an undertaking, and pension litigation.

Download our Labour and Employment brochure in PDF

Experience Highlights
Team members
Publications
News & Events

We advise and assist clients in all matters touching on Belgian and European labour and employment law.

Notable recent and relevant deals in which we are or have been involved include:

Assisting an institutional investment company to organize the transfer of personnel from a holding to a bank company bought by our client.
Assisting a textile manufacturing company in the take-over of personnel from another textile producing company in the framework of a legal reorganization by means of a transfer under authority of the court.
Advising two large energy companies regarding a collective dismissal in one of their joint venture companies.
Advising a transport company and a company active in the chemical analysis sector confronted with a decision about changing the competent joint labour committee.
Advising a major international firm with respect to setting up a whistleblowing procedure.
Assisting a major company with the take-over of the personnel of well-known motorway restaurants and negotiation of collective bargaining agreements in order to harmonize the different employment conditions.
Advising a leading listed IT company about the transfer of a non-strategic business division to a Belgian listed company.

Our Labour and Employment team is at your side. Our lawyers aim to provide clear and practical advice and have the ability to adapt to ever- changing business needs.

We have a particularly favorable ratio of experience, ensuring that our clients get the highest level of expertise to achieve their goals. Our Labour and Employment department is organized to guarantee the quality of our work and our responsiveness.

Our lawyers are fluent in English, French and Dutch. Several of them also speak German, Italian or Spanish.

Seminars

News

What others say about us

Clients value the team's "speed of response and that they are comfortable in meeting complex deadlines".

--Chambers and Partners - Employment - 2016

Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick’s Paul Geerebaert and Vincent Busschaert are ‘highly commercial and pragmatic’, and Leen Holvoet is also recommended.

--Legal 500 - Labour and Employment - 2016

Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick’s employment practice produces “an excellent quality of work”.

--Legal 500 – Labour and Employment – 2015

Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick’s “pragmatic”, “solution-oriented” team produces an “excellent” quality of work.

--Legal 500 – Labour and Employment – 2014

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