French Labour Law

Paid Leave and Sick Leave: Changes from the Law of April 22, 2024 for Your Business

DAIRIA Law · 2026-06-16 · 5 min

Paid Leave and Sick Leave: Changes from the Law of April 22, 2024 for Your Business

The law no. 2024-364 of April 22, 2024, has resolved an anomaly in French law by aligning our legislation with European jurisprudence. From now on, an employee on sick leave continues to accrue paid leave, even when the sick leave is not work-related. For employers, this reform implies concrete changes in managing leave balances, informing employees, and handling retroactivity.

What the Law States: The New Accrual Principle

Before this law, only sick leaves of professional origin (work accident, occupational disease) entitled employees to accrue paid leave, limited to one year. Sick leaves for ordinary illnesses did not provide any rights. This distinction was deemed incompatible with European Directive 2003/88/EC by the Court of Justice of the European Union, followed by the Court of Cassation in its rulings on September 13, 2023.

The law of April 22, 2024, establishes a dual accrual system:

For non-work-related sick leaves: the employee accrues 2 working days of paid leave per month of absence, amounting to 24 working days per year (4 weeks). This is less than the 2.5 days typically accrued (30 working days, or 5 weeks) during periods of actual work.

For work-related sick leaves: the employee accrues 2.5 working days per month, with no duration limit (the one-year cap has been removed). Therefore, they earn the same rights as if they were working.

The Retroactive Effect: How to Manage It?

The most delicate aspect of this reform is its retroactive application. The law stipulates that employees can claim unpaid paid leave accrued during sick leaves dating back to December 1, 2009. However, this right is governed by a two-year limitation period from the date the law comes into effect, until April 23, 2026.

In practice, your current employees and former employees have until April 23, 2026, to claim their entitlement to paid leave due to past sick leaves. After this date, the right is barred.

Numerical Example

An employee was on ordinary sick leave for 8 months in 2022. Under the previous system, they accrued no paid leave during this period. With retroactivity, they can claim 8 x 2 = 16 working days of paid leave. If they are still employed, these days will be added to their balance. If they have left the company, they may request a compensatory payment.

Employer’s Obligation to Inform Employees

The law imposes an enhanced information obligation on employers. Within one month of the employee’s return from sick leave, you must inform them by any means that provides a definite date:

– The number of paid leave days they have available; – The deadline by which these leave days must be taken; – This leave-taking timeframe is 15 months from the date of information.

If you do not provide this information, the timeframe for taking leave does not start to run. The employee then indefinitely retains the benefit of these days, which can lead to problematic accumulation. Consider setting up a standard letter or an automatic email for post-sick leave return.

Leave Carryover: A New 15-Month Deadline

When an employee cannot take their paid leave due to sick leave, these leave days are carried over. The law sets a 15-month carryover period from the date the employee is informed of their rights. This period replaces previous jurisprudential rules that could allow for unlimited carryover.

If the sick leave lasts more than a year, the 15-month carryover period begins after the accrual period during which the leave was accrued. For example, for leave accrued between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026, the carryover expires on August 31, 2027 (15 months after May 31, 2026), provided the employee has been informed.

Financial Impact for Employers: How to Provision?

This reform has a real cost for employers, particularly due to retroactivity. Provisioning must take several parameters into account:

For current employees: identify all sick leaves since December 1, 2009, and calculate the theoretically accrued leave days. Multiply by the employee’s current daily rate. This is your maximum exposure.

For former employees: the risk lies in a compensatory payment for unpaid leave. This is harder to quantify as it depends on the number of former employees who make a claim before April 23, 2026.

In practice, not all companies will be exposed in the same way. Sectors with high absenteeism rates (industry, health care, large retail) will be proportionally more affected than tertiary sectors with few long-term absences.

5 Concrete Actions to Ensure Compliance

1. Update your payroll software to incorporate the new accrual rules (2 days/month for ordinary sickness, 2.5 days/month for work-related issues without a duration limit).

2. Create a standard information letter to be sent to employees within one month of their return from sick leave. This letter must specify the number of accrued days and the deadline for taking them.

3. Audit your leave balances to identify employees who have had sick leaves since 2009 and calculate their potential retroactive rights.

4. Provision the cost in your accounts, distinguishing between the certain cost (current employees) and the potential cost (former employees).

5. Inform your managers about the new rules so they can plan post-sick leave absences without disrupting teams.

DAIRIA’s Advice: The date of April 23, 2026, is a crucial cutoff for retroactivity. Review your workforce immediately. DAIRIA can assist you in identifying affected employees, calculating owed days, and creating compliant information letters.

📚 Further Reading

← All insights