The parties may include certain arrangements in the employment contract. Some clauses are explicitly regulated by the legislator, other ones are explicitly forbidden.

SECTION 1. PROHIBITED CLAUSES

AVOIDANCE CLAUSES

Clauses stating that marriage, motherhood or reaching the legal or conventional retirement age terminate the contract are invalid.

Also invalid are clauses that give the employer the right to terminate the employment contract without notice or before the term has expired when the employee's wages are garnished because of a credit agreement established by the Law of 12 June 1991 regarding consumer credit.

THE MODIFICATION CLAUSE

Sometimes parties agree that the employer has the right to change the terms of the contract unilaterally. Executive staff members, for instance, may agree to be employed ‘anywhere in the world’. Such a clause is null and void. With this the legislator wanted to avoid employees from being at the mercy of the entrepreneur. However, parties may agree to employment in a limited number of locations. This is not a case of unilateral modification of the contract. At the time the contract is concluded the employee already knows where he/she may end up.

SECTION 2. CONDITIONS LAID DOWN IN THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT ACT

PROBATION CLAUSE

A probation clause is a clause in the contract of employment enabling the employer to assess the employee's suitability or enabling the employee to assess the suitability of the job. On 1 January 2014 this clause was removed from law except for a few categories of workers.

GUARANTEE DEPOSIT

An employee can only be asked to provide a guarantee deposit under the provisions laid down in a collective labour agreement. If no collective agreement has been concluded at enterprise level or at the level of the joint (sub-)committee, the provisions of Collective Agreement No. 41 apply. To prevent the employer from capitalising these deposits there are very strict rules.

ARBITRATION CLAUSE

See infra.

COMPETITION CLAUSE

See infra.

THE DELCREDERE CLAUSE

See infra.

SECTION 3. CLAUSES NOT REGULATED BY THE LEGISLATOR

Article 6 Employment Contract Act determines that clauses that are contrary to the provision of this law and its implementing orders are invalid insofar as these are intended to curtail the employee's rights or to aggravate his/ her obligations. As a result, a job applicant cannot renounce his/her legal rights.