Author: admin

In brief

Belgium is introducing two significant changes that will increase financial exposure for employers who breach Belgian labor legislation. As of 1 February 2026, (i) the statutory multiplier used to calculate criminal and administrative fines will increase, and (ii) a new mandatory minimum penalty will apply in certain cases involving an aggravating factor. Together, these reforms will strengthen the overall sanctioning framework and heighten compliance risks — particularly for serious offenses under the Social Criminal Code.

Increase of criminal and administrative fines

Under Belgian law, the actual amount of criminal or administrative fines is calculated by applying a statutory multiplier (“opdeciemen”/”décimes additionnels”) to the basic fine amounts set out in the relevant legislation. Currently, this statutory multiplier is eight. As a result, basic fines must be multiplied by eight to determine the amounts effectively payable.

As of 1 February 2026, the statutory multiplier will increase to 10, leading to a proportional rise in all administrative and criminal fines.

Within the framework of the Social Criminal Code — which categorizes infringements into four sanction levels depending on their seriousness — the table below sets out (i) the applicable sanction levels and (ii) the corresponding fines (including the statutory multiplier), both before and after the legislative change. The table does not include imprisonment penalties associated with Level 4 infringements.

Importantly, the Social Criminal Code often provides that fines may be multiplied by the number of employees affected, up to a maximum of 100 employees. This multiplication mechanism — combined with the increased statutory multiplier — means that the total financial exposure in cases involving multiple employees may increase substantially.

Mandatory minimum fine for Level 4 infringements with an aggravating factor

Following the recent reform of the Social Criminal Code, the relevant enforcement authorities must take an “aggravating factor” into account when determining sanctions for infringements punishable at Level 4. As a general rule, an aggravating factor refers to situations where the infringement was committed knowingly and intentionally.

Under the current regime, the existence of an aggravating factor obliges the judge or competent administrative authority to consider it when determining the sanction — e.g., by imposing a fine toward the higher end of the statutory range — or when assessing whether additional sanctions (such as an operating ban or business closure) are justified. However, the law does not currently require the court or administrative authority to exceed the minimum threshold for the sanctions.

This will change as of 1 February 2026. Where a Level 4 infringement is found to have been committed with an aggravating factor, the imposed fine cannot be lower than half of the maximum statutory fine for Level 4. This introduces a binding statutory minimum that materially restricts judicial and administrative discretion and ensures that aggravated Level 4 infringements are sanctioned at a substantially higher baseline level.

However, the legislation provides for a limited exception. The mandatory minimum does not apply where the fact that the infringement was committed “knowingly and intentionally” has already served as the aggravating circumstance justifying a reclassification of the infringement from a lower sanction level to Level 4. In these situations, the intentional nature of the conduct cannot be relied on a second time to trigger the new mandatory minimum fine.