What is a fixed-term contract (CDD)?
A fixed-term contract is an employment contract that ends by itself. It takes one of two forms: a contract for a defined period, which ends on its date, or a contract for clearly defined work, which ends when that work is complete.
Belgian law attaches a hard formality to it. The term has to be in writing, signed, and in place no later than the moment the employee starts work. Miss that and the contract is treated as a permanent contract (CDI). The temporary intention simply does not survive the paperwork failure.
How is a fixed-term contract different from an interim contract?
Both are temporary, so duration is not the distinguishing axis. Who employs you is. On a fixed-term contract, the company you work for is your employer and signs your contract directly. On an interim contract, a licensed agency is your legal employer and the company where you work only directs the work.
That changes who owes you what. Pay, payslips, holiday entitlement and the end of the assignment are handled by a different party in each case.
How often can a fixed-term contract be renewed in Belgium?
Chaining is restricted. Successive fixed-term contracts with no real interruption can be recharacterised as a single permanent contract, unless a narrow legal exception applies. The purpose of the rule is to stop indefinite work being packaged as a series of temporary agreements.
The consequence is worth understanding before signing a third or fourth renewal, because it is easy to misread. What the rule produces is not a penalty paid to you. It is a change in the nature of your contract.
What happens when a fixed-term contract ends?
It ends automatically at term. Normally neither side gives notice and neither owes anything for the ending itself. Two situations change that. Ending it early gives the other side a claim based on the pay remaining until the term, subject to a legal cap. And continuing to work past the term without signing anything new converts the relationship into a permanent contract by operation of law.
Where an assignment is meant to lead somewhere, that intention is usually structured explicitly rather than left to run out, which is what contract to perm describes. Sparagus states the contract type on every opening, so you can see how a role is structured before applying by browsing the roles currently open across technology, engineering and business.
