New labour law measures: time to update your work rules!

March 21, 2023 | Blog

In the fall of 2022, a number of new labour law measures were introduced inter alia in the context of the "Labour Deal" and the Act implementing Directive 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable terms of employment ("Act on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions").

As a result of these new labour law measures, an update of the work rules is necessary. For example, companies employing at least 20 employees must incorporate the modalities of the right to disconnect into their work rules in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement on this subject.

Some of these measures had to be incorporated into the work rules by 10 November 2022. However, with regard to the right to disconnect, the authorities extended the deadline to update the work rules until 1 April 2023. This deadline is now fast approaching. So, for employers who have not yet updated their work rules, prompt action is needed.

What information must be added to the work rules?

A number of new labour law measures should be added to the work rules. These include the following measures:

A number of other measures only need to be added to the work rules if the employer wishes to introduce them:

 

When to take action?

We recommend doing all the updates at once. This also allows a full review of the work rules to be performed, especially if the latest review was quite some time ago. Bear in mind that modifying work rules requires compliance with a specific process (involving the works council if one is in place, the employees if no works council is in place, and requiring certain notifications to authorities).

For employers who have not yet updated their work rules, we recommend taking action promptly.

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