Employment, Benefits and Pensions
By the very nature of this area of law, matters can be sensitive, urgent and, at times, both. In response, we act promptly and decisively, providing strategic, tailored advice to our clients and representing them in litigation, disputes and transactions.
Within a broad spectrum of expertise, we focus in particular on complex strategic board-level employment law issues, such as restructuring, compensation packages, advisory work on strategic HR decisions, as well as litigation, contract drafting, collective bargaining agreements or any other customised documentation. Our multidisciplinary team also guides national and international clients through all legal aspects of pensions, social security laws, and AI-related HR issues.
Services
Our practice covers the full range of individual and collective employment law services, such as the negotiating and drafting of employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements, as well as compensation and benefits schemes, and restructurings (including collective dismissals with or without closure), transfer of undertaking, outsourcing, and pensions.
Litigation on various employment and pension issues is an integral component of our work. We have been involved in many litigation cases against trade unions, employees, and executives acting in groups or individually. Given the many changes in the labour legislation in general and in pension matters in particular, we have represented several clients in creating new case law and thus achieving their business objectives. Our litigation expertise encompasses some of the highest profile cases to come to court in the Benelux – right up to board-level matters.
We handle all aspects of compensation topics, including executive remuneration cases, and complex corporate governance issues and supervisory board support, ensuring executive compensation and incentive schemes are strictly compliant with changing applicable laws and market practice.
For employers, pension funds and insurers, we draft and amend pension regulations and advise on their day-to-day pension activities and strategic projects. We also manage the pension aspects of acquisitions and divestments of businesses, outsourcing, collective dismissals, corporate transactions, severance packages, and golden handshakes. Furthermore, we advise pension funds on their structure, corporate governance rules and directors' liability, and we assist them in discussions or negotiations with the relevant regulators.
We also assist clients in the context of international secondments, as well as in complex investigations by the authorities about specific practices, i.e. at a pre-litigation stage.
The size of our team enables us to deal with large, complex and time-intensive matters, often involving cross-border issues, in all areas of labour and employment law. We also frequently advise on matters that lie between employment law and public, tax and (Belgian) sports law.
We are always one step ahead of legal developments and are at the forefront of new areas of labour and employment law. We have excellent contacts with trade unions and supervising authorities.
As strategic employment law and pension matters entail legal aspects beyond traditional employment law, we regularly work in close partnership with our regulatory, tax, corporate, public law and litigation specialists.