Belgium
Verified figures: penalty quantum published and sourced against statute, regulator and case law.
Loi 16/03/1971 + AR 8/08/1980 (working-time records); Loi 3 October 2022 (Right to Disconnect); CCT law of 5 Dec 1968; Code pénal social; GDPR (this IS a GDPR jurisdiction); CJEU C-55/18 applies BUT Belgian courts resisted burden-reversal (see nuance). Verified against Belgian law + Cour du travail + SPF Emploi.
General duty to count each worker's time (Loi 1971 + AR 1980). A strict obligation applies to variable-schedule and part-time workers, and from 1 July 2024 employers without a recording system for variable-hours staff face fines/sanctions from the social inspectorate. Certain sectors (construction, meat processing, funeral services, parcel delivery) have mandatory time recording. Absence of conforming social documents = offence under the Code pénal social. Important CCOO nuance: unlike Spain/France, Belgian courts have resisted reading CJEU C-55/18 as an automatic burden-reversal (Cour du travail Bruxelles 25 Oct 2022; Liège/Neufchâteau 22 June 2022), C-55/18 does not by itself reverse the burden of proof for overtime. The evidence route runs through Art. 870 Code judiciaire (each party proves its allegations): where the employer alone holds the objective records and refuses to produce them, the judge may accept the worker's count; a 2020 Brussels Cour du travail decision held that all employers should install time-management tools, failing which they must prove the hours — difficult without records.
Administrative + criminal via Code pénal social; non-conforming social documents = offence. Right to Disconnect (RtD) (Loi 3 Oct 2022): employers with ≥20 workers (headcount, all contract types except interim) must implement RtD via company CCT or work-rules amendment, in force since 1 Jan 2023 (practical deadline extended to 1 Apr 2023); sectoral CCT can substitute; applies at legal-entity level; work rules deposited with the inspectorate within 8 days. From 1 Feb 2026 the Social Penal Code criminal fines increased to a Level 4 sanction, €6,000–€70,000 per worker (10 disturbed workers ≈ €700,000 theoretical liability). GDPR access route: a worker can demand their time data (RGPD art. 15); refusal can draw APD action with fines up to EUR 20M or 4% global turnover, this is the DPA regime, NOT a wage-specific penalty. Overtime: reference week 38h (CP 200 + most sectors); premium +50% (weekday/Saturday) and +100% (Sunday/public holiday), Belgium is +50%/+100%, never 25%; compensatory rest generally required IN ADDITION to the premium; prescription 5 years during the contract, 1 year after it ends.
Employers in Belgium are subject to the WTD working-time recording obligation and the CJEU C-55/18 standard requiring an objective, reliable, and accessible recording system. An editable HRIS export does not meet this standard. //AIRGAPT produces a hardware-signed, employer-unalterable evidence chain that is designed to meet it.
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