Christmas Leave: What Employers Need to Know to Manage the Year-End Holidays

December 25 is an “ordinary” public holiday: unless a more favourable collective bargaining provision or custom applies, you are not required to grant it as a day off or to pay it at an enhanced rate. No statute imposes a specific “Christmas leave”: year-end rest falls either under public holidays (Article L.3133-1 of the French Labour Code) or under paid leave requested by the employee or imposed by you as part of a company shutdown. This article provides the legal and operational framework to manage this period without litigation risk.

December 25: a Public Holiday, but Not Necessarily a Day Off

Christmas is among the eleven statutory public holidays listed in Article L.3133-1 of the French Labour Code. Contrary to a widespread belief, only May 1 must compulsorily be a paid day off. For all other public holidays, including December 25, the day off is not automatic: it depends on your collective bargaining agreement, a company-level agreement or a custom.

In practice, there are two situations:

• Your collective bargaining agreement or a custom provides that December 25 is a day off: the employee does not work and retains their pay, subject to the conditions set out in Article L.3133-3 (a day off for a public holiday cannot cause a loss of pay for employees with at least three months of seniority).
• No provision imposes a day off: you may ask the employee to work on December 25. In that case, no statutory premium is due, unless a more favourable collective provision applies.

Alsace-Moselle warning: in the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle, December 25 AND December 26 (Saint Stephen’s Day) are compulsory paid public holidays under local law (Articles L.3134-1 et seq. of the French Labour Code). If your company employs staff in these territories, you must strictly comply with this regime, including for secondary establishments.

Company Shutdown Between Christmas and New Year’s Day

Many mid-sized companies (ETI) choose to close between December 25 and January 1. This shutdown is not a “free holiday”: it is deducted from employees’ paid leave.

There are two ways to implement it:

1. Shutdown imposed by the employer. You may set the dates for taking leave and impose a shutdown, in compliance with the applicable legal rules: consultation of the social and economic committee (CSE) and, in the absence of a collective agreement, compliance with notice periods. The leave period must be communicated at least one month before departure, save in exceptional circumstances.

2. Leave requested by the employee. You retain the power to accept or refuse requests based on operational needs, while respecting equal treatment.

Beware of split-leave entitlement (fractionnement). When you impose leave outside the statutory period (May 1 – October 31), the employee may become entitled to additional days of leave for split-leave (jours de fractionnement, i.e. additional days triggered by splitting leave), unless a waiver is provided for by agreement or by the collective bargaining agreement. An employee to whom you impose five days in December may thus acquire one to two additional days. Anticipate this cost by securing a waiver clause in your company agreement.

Employees Without Sufficient Accrued Leave

What should you do if an employee does not have enough accrued days to cover the shutdown? You cannot compel them to take leave they have not accrued. Several solutions are available:

• Taking leave in advance (congés par anticipation), with the employee’s consent.
• Use of short-time work (activité partielle), if the legal conditions are met and after a request to the administration.
• Unpaid leave (congé sans solde): the employee is then not paid for the uncovered days. This period suspends the contract but generates neither salary nor social security contributions, which affects the payslip.

Payroll management of these situations is a technical matter: the treatment of unworked days, the interaction with public holidays falling within the period, and the calculation of paid-leave indemnities must be mastered to avoid any URSSAF reassessment or employee claim.

Working on December 25 and Compensatory Rest

If your business requires continuity (healthcare, hospitality-catering, retail, process industry), work on December 25 is possible, except for young workers under 18, whose employment on public holidays is in principle prohibited (Article L.3164-6 of the French Labour Code), subject to sector-specific exemptions.

Always check:

• what your collective bargaining agreement provides regarding premiums or compensatory rest for working on a public holiday;
• compliance with the weekly rest of 24 consecutive hours, in addition to the daily rest of 11 hours;
• the possible existence of a company agreement setting out counterparts.

In the absence of a collective provision, no premium is legally required for working an ordinary public holiday — but practice and employer attractiveness often justify a negotiated counterpart.

Christmas Bonuses and Gifts: The Social Security Regime

Gifts and gift vouchers given to employees by the CSE — or by you in the absence of a CSE — benefit from an URSSAF tolerance: below an annual ceiling per employee and per event (Christmas being an admitted event), they are exempt from social security contributions. Above that threshold, they constitute a benefit subject to contributions.

The year-end bonus (prime de fin d’année), by contrast, is an element of remuneration: it is fully subject to social security contributions and must appear on the payslip. If it results from a custom, its removal requires a formalised termination procedure (individual notice to employees, information of the CSE, compliance with a sufficient notice period). DAIRIA Avocats secures these terminations of custom, a frequent source of labour-court litigation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are we required to grant December 25 as a day off?

No, except in Alsace-Moselle, where local law imposes it. Elsewhere, whether December 25 is a day off depends on your collective bargaining agreement, a company agreement or a custom. Failing that, you may ask the employee to work, with no mandatory statutory premium (Article L.3133-3 of the French Labour Code).

Can we require employees to take leave during the Christmas shutdown?

Yes. You may set a shutdown period and impose the taking of paid leave, provided you consult the CSE and comply with notice periods. Allow at least one month’s notice before the actual start.

Does the year-end shutdown give rise to split-leave entitlement?

Yes, potentially. Leave imposed outside the May 1 to October 31 period may generate additional days for split-leave (fractionnement), unless a waiver is provided for by collective agreement or by the collective bargaining agreement. A well-drafted waiver clause neutralises this cost.

Must an employee without sufficient leave be paid during the shutdown?

Not automatically. If they have not accrued enough days, you may resort to advance leave with their consent, to short-time work if the conditions are met, or to unpaid leave. In the latter case, the uncovered days are neither paid nor subject to contributions.

Are Christmas gifts and gift vouchers subject to contributions?

Below the annual ceiling tolerated by URSSAF, gift vouchers and gifts linked to the Christmas event are exempt from social security contributions. Above that threshold, they become a benefit subject to contributions and must be processed through payroll.

Secure Your Year-End Management

The Christmas period concentrates several risks: challenges to imposed leave, unanticipated split-leave days, payroll errors on public holidays, the social security regime for bonuses and gifts, and Alsace-Moselle specificities. DAIRIA Avocats supports HR directors and executives of mid-sized companies in drafting shutdown agreements, securing split-leave waiver clauses, terminating customs and auditing public-holiday payroll. We act upstream to avoid litigation and guarantee provable compliance. Contact us to prepare your year-end holidays with peace of mind.