Belgium public holidays 2026
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