Belgium: Health & Safety

Extreme heat continues to disrupt workplaces across Europe and beyond, raising a critical question for employers: can employees lawfully stop working when temperatures become unbearable? This analysis examines the legal frameworks governing work stoppage due to heat exposure, revealing that most jurisdictions tie the right to refuse work not to temperature alone, but to serious and imminent health and safety risks—and crucially, to whether employers have taken adequate protective measures.

Labour and Employment Comparative Guide for the jurisdiction of Belgium, check out our comparative guides section to compare across multiple countries

While we have, in some ways, moved beyond the pandemic, mental health continues to grow in importance as a workplace issue, and indeed as an issue in society at large.