Notice period during sick leave in Belgium
Whether your notice period stops when you fall ill depends on who terminated the contract. With notice from your employer the end moves later, with your own resignation it does not.
Your employer gave notice
A term your employer gave does not run while you are ill or recovering from an accident. The same applies, among others, during your annual holiday, maternity leave, birth leave and economic unemployment.
If you receive notice while already ill, the term only starts once that period is over. The FPS counts the suspension in calendar days.
Source: FOD Werkgelegenheid, ontslag door opzegging: algemene regels (checked on 23 October 2026)
You gave notice yourself
If you resign yourself, no suspension applies at all. Illness then does not change your last working day.
Source: FOD Werkgelegenheid, ontslag door opzegging: algemene regels (checked on 23 October 2026)
Dismissal during your illness
Your employer may also give notice while you are unfit for work; the normal terms still apply. If the employer later breaks the contract during your illness after all, it pays compensation up to the end of the term.
From that compensation the employer may deduct the guaranteed salary paid since the start of that sick period, but only if you were first dismissed with a term to work, only fell ill afterwards and the contract is broken during that illness.
If you had partly resumed work with the consent of your health insurer's doctor, your employer calculates compensation on the pay from before that resumption.
Sources: FOD Werkgelegenheid, bijzondere regels (tegenopzegging, pensioen, ziekte, tijdelijke werkloosheid) (checked on 23 October 2026); FOD Werkgelegenheid, ontslag met betaling van een opzeggingsvergoeding (checked on 23 October 2026)
What is your term?
Choose who gives notice and since when you have been employed, and see your number of weeks and last day straight away.
Frequently asked questions
Does my notice keep running if I go on holiday?
If your employer gave notice, it is suspended during your annual holiday and your contract ends later. If you gave notice yourself, it simply keeps running.
Source: FOD Werkgelegenheid, ontslag door opzegging: algemene regels (checked on 23 October 2026)
What happens to my notice during parental leave?
A full suspension for thematic leave, such as full-time parental leave, suspends a term your employer gave. Part-time leave is not on the FPS list.
Source: FOD Werkgelegenheid, ontslag door opzegging: algemene regels (checked on 23 October 2026)
General information based on the law and the sources listed. Your collective agreement, your contract and your payroll provider or union remain decisive for your own situation.
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