FAQs

I would like to ask what my rights will be if my employer sends me to work on a contract in Belgium. Do I have to agree to the posting? What am I entitled to? Will I receive subsistence allowance?

Without your consent, the employer cannot send you on a business trip, which the posting of workers is. The entitlements of employees posted to work in another Member State of the European Union are governed by Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services. Posted workers shall be subject to the legislation of the host Member State as regards to:

• Maximum length of working hours and minimum length of breaks and rest
• Minimum length of vacation days per calendar year
• The minimum rates of pay, including overtime rates
• The conditions of hiring-out of workers, in particular the supply of workers by temporary employment undertakings (employment agencies)
• Health, safety and hygiene at work
• Protective measures with regard to pregnant women or women who have recently given birth, children and adolescents
• Equal treatment of men and women and other provisions on non-discrimination.

Where the rights stemming from the legislation of the posting Member State are more favourable for the worker, s/he will be subject to the rights of the posting State. In accordance with the Labour Code, the posting employer is obliged to pay travel expenses to posted workers  if they meet the conditions of their entitlement.

Access to European Union law