Simmons & Simmons

Employment

Dimitri heads the employment & benefits department for Belgium. He specializes in employment law and provides advice to a wide range of clients, finding solutions to their most complex legal challenges and he has an extensive experience in all sectors, including Financial Institutions, Life Sciences, TMT and Energy and Infrastructure. His main areas of expertise are labour law and social security law, with a specific focus on the employment law aspects of corporate restructuring, transfer of undertakings, flexible work arrangements, and privacy at the workplace.

Dimitri also advises regularly on remuneration packages for executives, employee benefits schemes, and employment contracts. He provides strategic advice regarding labour union relations within companies and business-critical issues.

Dimitri is known on the market as a pragmatic and to the point lawyer who always focuses on the legal and economic interests of the company.

His recent work includes:

successfully assisting a major insurance company in the transfer of its marine portfolio and the transfer of the employees. successfully assisting a multinational pharma company in a “soft” restructuring process, i.e. a change in working conditions for the employees without formal termination. successfully assisting an international entertainment company in respect of the outsourcing of certain activities. successfully assisting a multinational pharma company with the implementation of new flexible working methods and flexible working time schemes. successfully assisting a telecom company in the negotiation of the transfer of 600 employees in the framework of CBA 32bis.

Before joining the firm in 2019, Dimitri was a senior associate at a leading international law firm based in Brussels.

He is a frequent lecturer on employment related topics.

English, Dutch, French.

Dimitri is also a member of the disciplinary commission of the Belgian Horse Federation.

2017-2017: INSEAD, Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Corporate Finance

2010-2011: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Master's degree, Labour and Social Security Law

2008-2010: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Master's degree, Economic Law