Summary
Paid leave, a legal obligation
In accordance with the legal provisions, an employer cannot deprive an employee of his paid leave. The latter being theoretically obliged to take them every year. However, nothing prevents the employee from continuing to work within the company. He will then receive his normal remuneration, without compensatory allowance.
Unless the applicable collective agreement or the company’s own collective agreement allows it, unused leave days cannot be carried over from one year to the next. They are therefore definitively lost for the employee. Unless he agrees with his employer or he wishes to fund his time savings account (within the limit of 10 days per year).
To know : an employee cannot work for another employer during his leave period. Disregarding this prohibition constitutes a real and serious reason for dismissal.
Count of days off
The legal duration of the leave is set at 2.5 working days per month work done during the reference period, which runs from June 1 of the previous year to May 31 of the current year. That is to say 30 working days of rest (or five weeks) for a full year of work. For part-time employees, the duration of the leave is calculated according to the same methods as for full-time employees. The number of hours worked per day is therefore not taken into account in the calculation.
Since June 1, 2012, the employee no longer has the obligation to justify at least 10 days of effective work – continuous or discontinuous – in order to benefit from paid leave.
Apart from public holidays, the periods of absence (sickness, partial unemployment or strike) are not counted in the working time giving right to paid leave. On the other hand, training time, paid leave (including that for family events), absences for occupational disease or accident at work, compensatory rest or maternity leave are counted.
If he is ill during his leave, the employee is not entitled to any additional days. Same for maternity leave. However, these sick days are not counted as working time.
To know : even if the leave period has expired (see below), employees returning from maternity or adoption leave are entitled to their annual paid leave.
Holiday dates
Set by the applicable collective agreement, or failing that by the employer, the period of paid leave must extend between May 1 and October 31.
The order and dates of departures are set by the company manager, after consultation with any staff representatives. The employer must nevertheless take into account the family constraints of the employees. Spouses within the same company, such as cohabitees who have signed a PACS, are thus entitled to simultaneous holidays.
To know : the dates of leave must be communicated to employees at least one month before their departure. After this period, these dates cannot be changed, except in exceptional circumstances.
Leave distribution
The distribution of leave follows very specific rules:
- an employee cannot ask more than 24 consecutive business days leave (the “5th week” must therefore be taken separately);
- between May 1 and October 31, the employee must take at least 12 continuous days off ;
- paid leave of less than 12 working days must be continuous (it cannot therefore be divided).
Outside the period between May 1 and October 31, the splitting of holidays gives the right to days of additional leave when it is at the initiative of the employer:
- the employee benefits from 2 more days if the off-period leave exceeds 6 days;
- he benefits from 1 day in addition if this leave lasts from 3 to 5 days.
If it is the employee himself who requests the splitting of his paid leave, the employer can authorize this splitting but often makes it subject to a waiver of the additional days of leave.
To know : the splitting of holidays requires a written agreement of the employee. The employer can however impose the splitting of the 5th week to allow the closing of the company.
Content updated on 07/11/2012
Our tips:
If the number of days of leave acquired is not a whole number, the duration of the leave is increased to the next whole number (26.5 days of leave are thus rounded up to 27 days).
The applicable collective agreement, or the collective company agreement, may provide for other terms and conditions for the distribution of leave.