A little history of paid leave…

Paid leave represents a period of leave during which the company continues to pay its employee's salary. It is a legal obligation. It was the Front Populaire which in France set up 2 weeks of paid leave in 1936. It was André Bergeron, then general secretary of Force Ouvrière, who then demanded 4 weeks. But it was not until May 1969 that the law was promulgated. Finally, in 1982, the government of Pierre Mauroy established a period of 5 weeks.

What are the rules, how are they set, how are they remunerated ?

Paid leave is a right acquired as soon as an employee is hired: whether in the private sector or in the public sector, your job, your qualification and your working time (permanent, fixed-term, temporary, full-time and part-time) .

The employee is entitled to 2,5 working days (ie Monday to Saturday) per month worked. This therefore represents 30 days per year, or 5 weeks. Or, if you prefer to calculate in business days (i.e. Monday to Friday), that's 25 days. It is important to note that if you are part-time, you are entitled to the same number of days off.

Stops due to illness or maternity leave are not taken into account.

There is a legal period during which the employee must take between 12 and 24 consecutive days: from 1er May to October 31 each year.

Your employer must include the dates of these holidays on your payslip. The employee must imperatively take his leave and cannot obtain a compensatory indemnity.

The employer must also keep a table up to date. He can however refuse dates for the following 3 reasons:

  • Intense period of activity
  • Ensure continuity of service
  • Exceptional circumstances. This term remains a little vague and your employer must define his position more precisely and can evoke, for example, the following problems: economic interest for the company, the absence of the employee will be harmful for the activity...

Of course, depending on your collective agreement or your contract, your employer may grant you more days. Here we can give you some examples:

  • Leave for personal project: business creation, personal convenience or other. In this case, it will be an agreement to be made between you and your employer.
  • Leave related to family events: Death of a member of your family, marriage or other. You will then need to provide a certificate.
  • seniority days

We invite you once again to check your rights with your collective agreement.

This leave is not included in the calculation of paid leave.

What are split days ?

As we have seen previously, the employee benefits from a main leave of 24 days to be taken between 1er May and October 31. If you have not taken them in full by October 31, you are entitled to:

  • 1 extra day off if you have between 3 and 5 days left to take outside this period
  • 2 additional days off if you have between 6 and 12 days left to take outside this period.

These are split days.

The RTTs

When the length of working time was reduced from 39 hours to 35 hours in France, compensation was set up for companies wishing to maintain 39 hours of work per week. The RTT then represent rest days corresponding to the time worked between 35 and 39 hours. It is a compensatory rest.

Above all, these days of rest should not be confused with the RTT days which are a Reduction in Working Time. They are rather reserved for people on the daily package (and therefore who do not have overtime), that is to say executives. They are calculated as follows:

The number of days worked in a year must not exceed 218 days. To this figure are added 52 Saturdays and 52 Sundays, public holidays, paid vacation days. We then deduct the addition of this figure to 365. Depending on the year, we obtain 11 or 12 days of RTT. You can ask them freely, but they can be imposed by your employer.

Logically, part-time employees do not benefit from RTT.

Paid vacation allowance

When you are on a fixed-term contract or on a temporary assignment, you are entitled to a paid vacation allowance.

In principle, you will receive 10% of all gross sums received during the period worked, i.e.:

  • The base salary
  • Extra time
  • The seniority bonus
  • Any commissions
  • Bonuses

However, your employer is also required to perform the calculation using the salary maintenance method in order to make a comparison. The salary to be taken into account is then the actual salary for the month.

The employer must choose the most favorable calculation for the employee.

You are tempted by unpaid leave 

You do have the right to a well-deserved rest, but as the name suggests, it will not be paid. The law does not regulate this type of interruption of the employment contract. It is therefore necessary to agree with your employer. If you are lucky, he will accept, but it is necessary to put in writing the conditions discussed and negotiated together. It is also useful to check that you are not prohibited from working for another employer. By preparing well in advance, you will then be able to take full advantage of this leave which will perhaps change your life!

You have a dispute for departure dates 

The order of departures on leave is the responsibility of your company. It is fixed either by an agreement within the company or within the branch. No law governs this organization. However, the employer must inform his employees at least 1 month before the scheduled dates.