Belgium to give workers right to request four-day week

An employee at the Stella Artois brewery in Leuven, Belgium. Reforms prompted by the Covid pandemic will mean staff can ask for a four-day week. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Belgians will have the right to work a four-day week without a loss of salary under a government overhaul of the country’s labour laws prompted by the Covid pandemic.

The option for employees to work longer days in order to earn a three-day weekend was among a package of economic reforms agreed within the governing coalition on Tuesday.