Employer notice of dismissal letter: Belgian template

As an employer you end an employee's contract with a notice period. For you the form rules are stricter than for the employee: a mistake makes the notice void. This model contains the mandatory mentions; you fill in the term yourself.

When do you use this model?

Use this model when you end an open-ended contract with a notice period to be worked. If you end the contract immediately with compensation in lieu of notice, other rules apply and this model does not fit.

Form requirements

• Notice is given in writing and states the start and the length of the notice period. If either is missing, the notice is void. According to the FPS Employment, the termination still stands, the contract ends at once and the party giving notice owes compensation in lieu of notice.
• If the employer gives notice, this can only be done by registered letter or through a bailiff. Handing over the letter at work is not enough, except in companies under the joint committee for inland navigation. Notice in any other form is void; the employee cannot waive that nullity and the court establishes it of its own motion.
• A registered letter only takes effect on the third working day after the date it was sent. Every day of the week counts as a working day except Sundays and public holidays.
• The notice period starts running on the Monday after the week in which notice was given.
• How many weeks your notice period lasts depends on your seniority and on who gives notice. The model therefore leaves the term open: calculate it with the calculator and fill in the result.

The model

Fill in the fields in square brackets and delete what does not apply. You fill in the term yourself: calculate it first with the calculator. Calculate your notice period→

[Employer's name]
[Street and number]
[Postcode and town]
Company number [number]

Registered letter
[Employee's first name and surname]
[Street and number]
[Postcode and town]

[Place], [date of sending]

Subject: notice of termination of the employment contract

Dear [title and surname],

[Employer's name] hereby gives notice to end the open-ended employment contract concluded on [start date] with [employee's first name and surname], with a notice period.

The notice period is [number] weeks. It starts on Monday [date of the Monday after the week of notification] and ends on [end date].

[Optional: arrangements on work during the notice period, the handover and the return of equipment.]

Kind regards,

[Signature]
[Name and position of the signatory]
On behalf of [employer's name]

Tips

• Work from the sending date: count three working days from the day the registered letter leaves, and base the week of notification on that.
• Have your payroll provider check the letter before you send it, especially the seniority and the calculation of the term.

Which language is required?

Which language is mandatory depends on where the operating site you work at is located. In the Dutch language area it is Dutch (Flemish language decree of 19 July 1973), in the French language area it is French (decree of the French Community of 30 June 1982). Both govern the language of social relations between employer and employee.

In Brussels-Capital and in the Flemish municipalities with language facilities, the federal law on the use of languages in administrative matters applies. In Brussels, documents for staff are drawn up in Dutch or in French depending on the employee's language; in the municipalities with facilities, in Dutch.

Both decrees provide that documents contrary to the language rules are void and that the court establishes that nullity of its own motion. The Flemish decree adds that the annulment may not harm the employee. In Brussels, documents in the wrong language must be replaced.

This is a model, not legal advice. Adapt it to your own situation; your contract, your collective agreement and your payroll provider, union or lawyer remain decisive.