In CBA 129, the Belgian National Labour Council has raised the quota for voluntary overtime from 100 hours to 120 hours per calendar year.

The system of voluntary overtime (set out in Article 25bis of the Labour Act) entails that the employee whom the employer asks to do overtime and who wishes to do so, can work a limited quota of 100 hours of overtime per calendar year. This quota can be increased to a maximum of 360 hours by a CBA that is declared generally binding.

With CBA 129, the quota for voluntary overtime has now been increased to 120 hours per calendar year for all companies in the private sector. This new quota does not influence already existing industry-level CBAs with a higher quota. It also remains possible for industries to further raise the quota to a maximum of 360 hours per calendar year via a CBA that is declared generally binding.

CBA 129 still needs to be declared generally binding, but in practice this is only a formality.

Action Point

From now on, it is possible for employees who are willing to do so to work up to a maximum of 120 voluntary overtime hours per calendar year. In your industry, a higher quota, up to 360 hours, can be determined by CBA. Always verify this and seek legal advice if uncertain.