Meet Esther Soetens

Telephone:
+32 2 426 14 14
Email:
esther.soetens@altius.com

Esther specialises in individual and collective labour law and in social security law. She advises Belgian and international clients on a wide variety of labour law issues, such as hiring and firing, well-being, transfer of undertaking and working time.

She also assists clients during negotiations, the drafting of company policies, contracts and collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). Esther has broad experience in due diligence and advising in M&A-transactions.

She represents clients before the Employment Courts and Employment Appeal Courts.

Esther is also responsible for legal know how within ALTIUS’ employment department, the drafting of its newsletters, the organization of its webinars and the development of its tools and websites.

Esther is a regular speaker at seminars and is a member of the ‘Vereniging Sociaal Recht’.

Education
  • Lic. Juris (University of Ghent)
Languages
  •  Esther is fluent in Dutch, French and English
Selection of publications
  • Booklet on Monitoring of Employees, issued by the WSG network in 2017, Belgian chapter
  • Employment section of the Belgian chapter in “Legal Aspects of Doing Business in Europe”, published by the Center For International Legal Studies, 2018
  • Booklet on Work Life Balance, issued by the WSG network in 2018, Belgian chapter
  • Booklet on Recovery and Claw-back and booklet on GDPR in an Employment Context (Belgian contributions) on the occasion of the EMEA Employment Lawyers Meeting of January 2019 in Paris
  • Booklet on Equal Gender Pay, issued by the WSG network in 2019, Belgian chapter
  • Share-related benefits granted by foreign parent companies: Esko strengthens view that social security contributions are due, Lexology, 2020 (with P. De Wulf)
  • Posting workers to Belgium: all you need to know, Lexology, 2021 (with E. Van Caenegem and A. Caporali)
  • EU Posted Workers Directive: impact on employers posting workers to Belgium, International Law Office, 2020 (with E. Van Caenegem)
  • The end of mandatory telework?, Lexology, 2021 (with A. Coopman)
  • Belgian strategy to increase vaccination coverage: vaccinations in workplaces and option for employers to request vaccination rates, Lexology, 2021 (with P. De Wulf)
  • Dos and don’ts for employers regarding COVID-19 vaccination, Lexology, 2021 (with M. de Foestraets)
  • Back to the (pre-pandemic) future – but not for employers, Lexology, 2022 (with A. Coopman)
  • What can employers expect from government’s labour deal?, Lexology, 2022 (with P. De Wulf)
  • Coordination of the ‘Question of the month’ published in HR Magazine
  • The drafting of several newsletters