How many public holidays are there in Belgium in 2026?

Belgium has 10 statutory public holidays (jours fériés légaux / wettelijke feestdagen) in 2026, governed by the Public Holiday Act of 4 January 1974. Belgium's three Communities and three Regions each observe their own official celebration day, but those are not statutory paid public holidays under Belgian labour law. Entitlement to paid leave on those days depends on the applicable collective labour agreement.

Are employees in Belgium legally entitled to paid time off on public holidays?

Yes. Under the Belgian Public Holiday Act of 4 January 1974, employees cannot be required to work on any of the 10 statutory public holidays. The employer must pay full salary for each public holiday, including any bonuses and benefits the employee would have received had they worked that day. The same pay obligation applies to substitute days and compensatory rest days.

What happens when a public holiday falls on a weekend in Belgium?

If a public holiday falls on a Sunday or on any day that is normally non-working in the company (usually Saturday), it must be replaced by a paid substitute day on a regular working day. In 2026, Assumption of Mary (Saturday, 15 August) and All Saints' Day (Sunday, 1 November) both require substitute days. These must be granted within the 2026 calendar year and cannot be carried over to 2027. Employers must post a signed and dated workplace notice indicating substitute days before 15 December of the preceding year.

Are public holidays the same across all regions of Belgium?

The 10 statutory public holidays are the same nationwide. However, each Community and Region has its own official celebration day (for example Flemish Community Day on 11 July and French Community Day on 27 September). These are not statutory paid public holidays under Belgian labour law, but many sector-level collective agreements grant paid leave on these days. Entitlement depends on the applicable joint committee (comité paritaire) agreement for the relevant sector.

As a foreign employer, do I need to observe Belgium's public holidays?

Yes. If you employ or post workers in Belgium, Belgian public holiday law applies in full, including substitute days, the workplace notice by 15 December each year, and full remuneration for public holidays and substitute days. The LIMOSA declaration is mandatory for posted workers before posting begins. Foreign employers without a Belgian legal entity commonly use an Employer of Record (EOR) to manage these obligations.

Belgium Public Holidays 2026: Dates & Pay Rules

Belgium public holidays 2026: dates, pay rules & employer guide

Key takeaways

Belgium has 10 statutory public holidays (jours fériés légaux / wettelijke feestdagen) in 2026 under the Public Holiday Act of 4 January 1974.
Paid time off on those dates is legally required; when a holiday falls on a Sunday or a normal non-working day in the company, a paid substitute day applies (two cases in 2026).
Employers must display a signed and dated workplace notice on substitute days before 15 December of the preceding year. Community and regional celebration days are not the same as statutory paid holidays.

Employer action required: Belgian law requires employers to post a signed and dated workplace notice indicating substitute days for 2026 before 15 December 2025. If you have staff in Belgium and this was not done, contact your payroll provider or HR adviser immediately.

Key facts at a glance

Topic	Detail
Country	Belgium
Statutory public holidays	10 (jours fériés légaux / wettelijke feestdagen)
Year covered	2026
Governed by	Belgian Public Holiday Act of 4 January 1974 + Royal Decree of 18 April 1974
Paid time off legally required?	Yes — Public Holiday Act 1974
Holidays on non-working days in 2026	2 substitute days required (Assumption 15 Aug + All Saints 1 Nov)
Employer posting deadline	15 December 2025 (signed workplace notice)
Official government source	employment.belgium.be — public holidays

Introduction

Belgium has 10 statutory public holidays (jours fériés légaux / wettelijke feestdagen) in 2026, governed by the Belgian Public Holiday Act of 4 January 1974 and its implementing Royal Decree of 18 April 1974. In principle, workers may not be employed on these 10 statutory public holidays per calendar year, irrespective of the nature of their job, their seniority, or the duration of their work. All 10 holidays are paid, and the employer must pay the full wage including any bonuses and benefits the employee would have received had they worked that day.

In 2026, two holidays fall on non-working days for most companies: Assumption of Mary (Saturday, 15 August) and All Saints' Day (Sunday, 1 November). Both must be replaced by paid substitute days on ordinary working days. Employers were required to notify employees of those substitute days by posting a signed and dated notice at the workplace before 15 December 2025.

Public holidays in Belgium 2026

The 10 statutory public holidays

Date	Day	Holiday (English)	French	Dutch	Status
1 Jan	Thursday	New Year's Day	Jour de l'An	Nieuwjaarsdag	All sectors
6 Apr	Monday	Easter Monday	Lundi de Pâques	Paasmaandag	All sectors
1 May	Friday	Labour Day	Fête du Travail	Dag van de Arbeid	All sectors
14 May	Thursday	Ascension Day	Ascension	Hemelvaartsdag	All sectors
25 May	Monday	Whit Monday	Lundi de Pentecôte	Pinkstermaandag	All sectors
21 Jul	Tuesday	Belgian National Day	Fête Nationale	Nationale Feestdag	All sectors
15 Aug	Saturday	Assumption of Mary	Assomption	O.L.V. Hemelvaart	Substitute required
1 Nov	Sunday	All Saints' Day	Toussaint	Allerheiligen	Substitute required
11 Nov	Wednesday	Armistice Day	Armistice	Wapenstilstand	All sectors
25 Dec	Friday	Christmas Day	Noël	Kerstdag	All sectors

2026 substitute day obligation: Assumption of Mary (15 Aug, Saturday) and All Saints' Day (1 Nov, Sunday) fall on non-working days for most Belgian companies. Two substitute days must be determined and communicated. They must be taken within the 2026 calendar year and cannot be carried over to 2027.

Community and regional days (non-statutory)

Belgium's federal structure means each Community and Region observes its own official celebration day. These are not statutory paid public holidays under Belgian labour law. Employer obligations depend on the applicable comité paritaire (joint committee) collective agreement for the relevant sector.

Date	Holiday (English)	Local name	Community / region
8 May	Brussels-Capital Region Day	Fête de la Région Bruxelloise / Dag van het Brussels Gewest (Iris Day)	Brussels-Capital Region
11 Jul	Flemish Community Day	Vlaamse Gemeenschapsdag	Flemish Community
3rd Sunday Sep	Walloon Region Day	Fête de la Région Wallonne	Walloon Region
27 Sep	French Community Day	Fête de la Communauté Française	French-speaking Community (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles)
15 Nov	German-speaking Community Day	Fest der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft	German-speaking Community

Note for employers: While these community days are not statutory, many collective labour agreements (conventions collectives de travail / collectieve arbeidsovereenkomsten, CAO/CCT) at sector level do grant paid leave on one or more of these days, particularly in Flanders and Brussels. Always check the applicable comité paritaire agreement for the sector in which your employees work.

Employer & payroll obligations

The substitute day cascade system

When a public holiday falls on a Sunday or on a day that is normally not worked in the company (usually Saturday), it must be replaced by a paid substitute day. The public holiday then loses its character as a public holiday for scheduling purposes, and the substitute day becomes the actual paid public holiday. The substitute day is determined through a strict cascade:

By the joint committee (comité paritaire) for the relevant sector — this takes absolute priority. The joint committee must notify the Minister of Labour before 1 October of the preceding year.
Failing this, by the works council (conseil d'entreprise / ondernemingsraad) within the company.
Failing this, through agreement with the trade union delegation (délégation syndicale).
Failing this, through a collective agreement between the employer and all employees.
Failing this, by common consent between the employer and each individual worker.
In the absence of any agreement: the holiday is automatically replaced by the first ordinary working day in the company following the public holiday (usually the Monday after a Saturday or Sunday holiday).

Mandatory posting obligation: Before 15 December of each year, employers must display a signed and dated notice at the company premises indicating the substitute days for the following year. An email or intranet message does not satisfy this legal requirement. A copy must also be enclosed with the work regulations and submitted to the Social Inspectorate (Contrôle des lois sociales / Toezicht op de sociale wetten).

Pay obligations

The employer must pay full salary for public holidays, substitute days, and compensatory rest days. The wage owed for a public holiday or substitute day equals the remuneration the worker would have normally earned if they had worked that day, including basic salary, bonuses, and benefits in kind.

Belgian law does not provide for an automatic wage supplement for working on a public holiday. However, a collective labour agreement at sector or company level, or the work regulations, can provide a premium. For example, in healthcare and social services (Joint Committee 330), a supplement of 56% applies for work on a Sunday or public holiday. Always verify the applicable joint committee agreement.

Legal basis: Belgian Public Holiday Act of 4 January 1974 (prohibition on work) + Royal Decree of 18 April 1974 (pay calculation, substitute day rules, employer notice obligations). The Social Inspectorate enforces compliance.

Working on a public holiday

Workers may be employed on a public holiday only in sectors where derogations from the Sunday rest prohibition are permitted (hospitality, healthcare, energy, transport, and others). If an employee works on a public holiday, they are entitled to compensatory rest: a full day if their work lasted more than four hours; half a day if it did not exceed four hours. This compensatory rest must be granted within six weeks following the public holiday or substitute day, and must coincide with a normal day of activity for the worker.

Annual leave

Full-time employees are generally entitled to 20 days of paid annual leave if they have worked a full year based on a five-day workweek. These 20 days are separate from the 10 statutory public holidays, bringing the total to approximately 30 paid days off per year for a full-time employee. Annual leave in Belgium is managed through the National Office for Annual Holidays (Office National des Vacances Annuelles / Rijksdienst voor Jaarlijkse Vakantie, RJV/ONVA) for workers in the private sector.

What this means for international employers

Belgium's public holiday framework is among the most procedurally detailed in the EU. The obligation to actively determine substitute days through a defined cascade process, post a physical signed notice by 15 December, and attach it to work regulations and submit it to the Social Inspectorate is a compliance requirement that many foreign employers only discover during an inspection.

Belgium's federal structure adds complexity. A company with employees in Brussels, Antwerp, and Liège must understand which sector-level joint committee applies to each role, as different joint committees may have reached different decisions on substitute days and community holidays. The applicable joint committee is determined by the company's principal economic activity, not by employee location alone.

For companies posting workers to Belgium from abroad, the LIMOSA declaration is mandatory before posting begins. Under that framework, Belgian public holiday rules apply from day one. Foreign employers must observe all 10 statutory public holidays and any applicable substitute days, and must pay full holiday remuneration as required by Belgian law.

Foreign employers without a Belgian legal entity commonly use an Employer of Record (EOR) to manage substitute day determination, the mandatory workplace posting, joint committee compliance, the Belgian annual leave system (ONVA/RJV), and correct holiday pay. For country-specific hiring routes, see our Belgium EOR overview.

Sources

Belgian Federal Public Service Employment — public holidays (posting obligations): employment.belgium.be
Belgian FPS Employment — regulation on public holidays (Public Holiday Act 1974 + Royal Decree 1974): employment.belgium.be/en/regulation-public-holidays
Belgian FPS Employment — working time and rest periods: employment.belgium.be
Belgium.be — National Day and feast days of Communities and Regions: belgium.be
Belgian FPS Employment — minimum paid annual holidays: employment.belgium.be