The Brussels’ Labour Court of Appeal ruled on 13 February 2015 that an employer moving his operating unit to the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium must translate existing labour documents (in the case at hand a yearly bonus plan) into Dutch, even if these documents were valid at the time of their initial drafting, as they were drafted in the language of the region of the former operating unit. Moreover, and in line with reigning jurisprudence, the court ruled that infringements on language legislation cannot be detrimental to the employee. An employee who had resigned, claimed entitlement to a bonus, although ‘being employed at the moment of payment of the bonus’ was an explicit condition of the bonus plan, condition not met in the present case. However, the bonus plan was null and void, as it was not drafted in Dutch. The court ruled that the employee could call upon these provisions of the bonus plan, which were beneficial to him and at the same time invoke the nullity of the provisions that were not in his favor. He could therefore rightfully claim this bonus.
Belgium