French Labour Law

Paid Leave and Sick Leave: Impact of the April 22, 2024 Law on Your Business

DAIRIA Law · 2026-07-07 · 5 min

Paid Leave and Sick Leave: Impact of the April 22, 2024 Law on Your Business

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, including when the leave is not work-related. For employers, this reform entails concrete changes in managing leave balances, informing employees, and handling retroactivity.

What the Law States: The New Accrual Principle

Prior to this law, only sick leaves resulting from work-related incidents (work accidents, occupational diseases) entitled employees to accrue paid leave, limited to one year. Ordinary illness leaves did not entitle employees to any rights. This distinction was deemed contrary to Directive 2003/88/EC by the Court of Justice of the European Union and subsequently by the French Court of Cassation in its rulings of 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 usual 2.5 days (30 working days, or 5 weeks) accrued during periods of actual work.

  • For work-related sick leaves: The employee accrues 2.5 working days per month, without a duration limit (the one-year limit has been abolished). Therefore, they acquire the same rights as if they were working.

Retroactive Effect: How to Manage It?

The most delicate aspect of this reform is its retroactive application. The law provides that employees can claim unpaid paid leave for periods of sick leave dating back to December 1, 2009. However, this right is subject to a limitation period of two years from the entry into force of the law, which extends until April 23, 2026.

In practice, your current and former employees have until April 23, 2026, to claim the benefit of paid leave for past sick leave. After this date, the right is barred.

Numerical Example

An employee has been 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 are added to their balance. If they have left the company, they can request a compensatory indemnity.

Employer’s Obligation to Inform Employees

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

  • The number of days of leave they have accrued;
  • The deadline by which these leave days can be taken;
  • The deadline for taking leave is 15 months from the date of information.

If you do not provide this information, the leave deferral period does not commence. The employee then retains the entitlement to these days indefinitely, which could lead to problematic accumulation. Consider implementing a standard letter or an automated email for post-sick leave notifications.

Deferral of Leave: A New Deadline of 15 Months

When an employee cannot take their paid leave due to sick leave, those leave days are deferred. The law establishes a 15-month deferral period from the date on which the employee is informed of their rights. This period replaces the old jurisprudential rules that could lead to unlimited deferral.

If the sick leave lasts more than a year, the 15-month deferral period starts running at the end of the accrual period during which the leave was accumulated. For example, for leave accrued between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026, the deferral expires on August 31, 2027 (15 months after May 31, 2026), provided that 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 into account several parameters:

  • For current employees: Identify all sick leave 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 relates to a compensatory indemnity for paid leave. It is more difficult to quantify as it depends on the number of former employees who will 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, 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 illness, 2.5 days/month for work-related incidents without a duration limit).
  2. Create a template letter of information to send to employees within the month following 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 for the cost in your accounts, distinguishing between certain costs (current employees) and potential costs (former employees).
  5. Inform your managers about the new rules so they can plan post-sick leave schedules without disrupting teams.

DAIRIA’s Advice: April 23, 2026, is a critical date for retroactivity. Review your workforce now. DAIRIA can assist you in identifying affected employees, calculating owed days, and generating legally compliant information letters.

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