A new law included in the Labor Code allows you to acquire more leave in a specific case. It is retroactive but under certain conditions…
A few months ago, the Court of Cassation handed down several judgments to align French law with European law, particularly with regard to the accumulation of paid leave during sick leave. Indeed, until now, the French Labor Code did not allow employees to acquire paid leave during a work stoppage due to illness or accident of non-professional origin. But in September 2023, the Court of Cassation set aside these provisions deemed to be contrary to European law, thus opening the way to the acquisition of paid leave for any type of sick leave.
Following these decisions, many questions remained unanswered, causing concern among employers. Without a clear indication of possible retroactivity, they particularly feared seeing the number of days owed to their employees explode. A legal vagueness which required clarification from the legislator. This is now done with the law of April 22, 2024 included in the Labor Code and which came into force on April 24.
This law enshrines in the Labor Code the principle according to which any sick leave, whatever its origin (professional or not), gives right to paid leave. Periods of contract suspension due to accident or illness are therefore considered as actual working time to determine employees' leave rights. This also applies to temporary workers on temporary assignments.
-The law, however, sets a limit for sick leave linked to a non-professional accident or illness: in this case, the employee acquires 2 working days of leave per month (instead of 2.5 days in normal times), within the limit of 24 days per year or per reference period to be more precise (set from June 1 to May 31 in most companies). The objective is to guarantee the acquisition of the main leave of 4 weeks provided for by European law, without going beyond. On the other hand, in the event of sick leave due to a work accident or occupational illness, the employee continues to acquire 2.5 working days per month, or 30 days per reference period.
Furthermore, the law also requires the employer to inform the employee, in the month following the return to work, of the number of days of leave available to him and the deadline by which he can take them (this can be simply do it via the pay slip). It also sets a carryover period for leave not taken due to the shutdown: the employee has 15 months from receipt of information from the employer to pay off their leave. This period may, however, be extended by collective agreement.
Finally, the legislator wanted to limit the retroactivity of this law and to make it explicit. It is impossible to request cumulative leave during sick leave for periods dating before December 1, 2009. In addition, additional leave due to employees will be limited to 24 days per year, after deduction of days already acquired. For the period within which a claim can be made, before the law of April 22, 2024, it is two years if the employee is still linked to his employer at the time of the request and three years if this is not the case.
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