What decides the length of your notice period?
Your seniority with the employer, counted from the first day of work to the day before the notice starts. The tables are the same for blue-collar and white-collar workers whose contract started from 1 January 2014, as the SPF Employment sets out. The full mechanism is explained in our definition of the notice period.
The second factor is who ends the contract. If your employer dismisses you, the notice keeps growing with seniority. If you resign, it is much shorter and capped at 13 weeks: that case has its own page, how much notice you give when you resign.
How long is the notice when your employer dismisses you?
For a contract that started from 1 January 2014 and before 1 June 2026, the SPF Employment table gives, in weeks:
- Less than 3 months: 1 week
- 3, 4 and 5 months: 3, 4 and 5 weeks
- 6 months to less than 1 year: 6 to 7 weeks
- 1 to less than 2 years: 8 to 11 weeks, one more week every three months
- 2 years: 12 weeks. 3 years: 13 weeks. 4 years: 15 weeks
- From 5 years: 18 weeks, then 3 more weeks per year, up to 60 weeks at 19 years
- From 20 years: 62 weeks, then 1 more week per year
Example: hired on 1 March 2020 and dismissed with a notice starting on 1 November 2026, you have 6 years of seniority, so 21 weeks of notice.
What changed in 2026?
Two laws changed the table for new contracts only. First, for contracts whose work started from 1 June 2026, the employer’s notice is capped at 52 weeks, reached at 17 years of seniority. The cap also applies to a notice indemnity, as Securex explains.
Second, for contracts whose work started from 1 August 2026, the notice is 1 week during the whole first six months, whether the employer or the employee ends the contract. It was 1 to 5 weeks before, according to Securex. From six months on, the usual table applies. This is not a return of the probation period, but it works much like one.
When does the notice start, and what if you were hired before 2014?
A notice starts on the Monday after the week in which it was given. A registered letter counts as received on the third working day after it is sent, so a letter posted on a Thursday starts the clock on the Monday eleven days later. During a notice given by your employer, holidays, sickness and some other absences suspend it, as the SPF Employment lists.
If your contract started before 1 January 2014, the notice has two parts: one for your seniority up to 31 December 2013, under the old rules, and one for your seniority since 2014, under the current table, as the SPF Employment details. If your employer prefers to end the contract at once, it pays a notice indemnity instead.
