Coming soon: no more doctor’s note for first day off work

In June 2022 the Council of Ministers approved a preliminary draft bill which includes an exemption of employees’ obligation to present a doctor’s note for their first day of inability to work up to three times per calendar year. A doctor’s note remains required if it is the employee’s fourth sickness absence or they are off sick for longer than one day.

This rule is to apply to all companies with at least 50 employees.

That means quite a few companies will need to update their company rules to reflect this new provision. The legal texts have not been finalised yet, however. Once these are available, we will provide further information.

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Elissa Vantomme

Senior Advisor Social Legal elissa.vantomme@vdl.be

Ellen Verstraete

Senior Manager Social Legal ellen.verstraete@vdl.be

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In our opinions, we rely on current legislation, interpretations and legal doctrine. This does not prevent the administration from disputing them or from changing existing interpretations.

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