Dismissal protection for candidates: what employers need to know
A social elections candidate cannot be dismissed like any other worker. The law grants them one of the strongest protections in Belgian labour law, and it starts before the candidate lists are even known. For an employer, misreading this rule can cost several years of salary. Here is what you need to know.
The occult period: protected before being known
The trap is in the timing. Protection does not start when the lists are submitted, but 30 days before day X, that is on day X-30. Yet the lists are only submitted on day X+35. Between the two, there is a window, called the occult period, during which future candidates are already protected while no one yet knows who they are.
A very concrete consequence: during this period, any worker may turn out to be a candidate. If you dismiss someone during the occult period and they later appear on a list, the protection applies retroactively. That is why the rule of caution is simple: during the occult period, treat every worker as potentially protected.
Who is protected, and how they can be dismissed
All candidates on the final lists are protected, elected or not. A protected candidate can only be dismissed in two cases, and only with prior authorisation:
- for urgent cause recognised in advance by the labour court,
- for economic or technical reasons recognised in advance by the competent joint committee.
Outside these two routes, any dismissal is unlawful, whatever reason is given.
How long the protection lasts
Protection generally runs until the bodies from the next elections are installed, that is about four years. One important nuance: for a candidate not elected in two consecutive votes, protection ends two years after the announcement of the second election. In other words, an unsuccessful candidate stays protected, but not indefinitely.
The cost of a mistake: the protection indemnity
This is where the stakes become financial. An unlawful dismissal of a protected candidate triggers an indemnity in two parts.
The fixed part, based on seniority:
- 2 years' pay if under 10 years' seniority,
- 3 years' pay between 10 and 20 years,
- 4 years' pay from 20 years.
The variable part: pay until the end of the mandate for which the worker stood as a candidate. It is owed only if the worker requested reinstatement within 30 days and the employer refused.
Combined, these two parts can amount to the equivalent of several years of salary, sometimes far more. It is a deliberately deterrent protection: the legislator wanted an employer to think twice.
In short
Candidate protection starts on day X-30, during the occult period when it is not yet known who will be a candidate, and generally lasts four years. A protected candidate can only be dismissed for urgent cause recognised by the labour court, or for economic or technical reasons recognised by the joint committee. Otherwise, the indemnity (fixed, 2 to 4 years, plus a variable part) can reach several years of pay. Caution during the occult period is not optional.
To place day X-30 and the occult period within the full procedure, read The social elections 2028 timeline. And if you are preparing your 2028 elections, let's talk.
