Paid Leave and Sick Leave in France: What the April 22, 2024 Law Changes for Your Company
Law No. 2024-364 of April 22, 2024 put an end to an anomaly in French law by aligning our legislation with European case law. From now on, an employee on sick leave continues to accrue paid leave, including where the leave is non-occupational in origin. For employers, this reform entails concrete changes in the management of leave balances, employee information, and the handling of retroactivity.
What the Law Says: The New Accrual Principle
Before this law, only leave of occupational origin (workplace accident, occupational illness) gave entitlement to the accrual of paid leave, subject to a one-year limit. Ordinary sick leave gave no entitlement. This distinction was held to be contrary to European Directive 2003/88/EC by the Court of Justice of the European Union, and subsequently by the French Court of Cassation (Cour de cassation) in its rulings of September 13, 2023.
The law of April 22, 2024 introduces a dual accrual regime:
For non-occupational sick leave: the employee accrues 2 working days (jours ouvrables) of paid leave per month of absence, i.e. 24 working days per year (4 weeks). This is less than the usual 2.5 days (30 working days, i.e. 5 weeks) accrued during periods of actual work.
For sick leave of occupational origin: the employee accrues 2.5 working days per month, with no time limit (the one-year cap is removed). The employee therefore accrues the same rights as if they were working.
Retroactive Effect: How to Handle It
The most delicate aspect of this reform is its retroactive application. The law provides that employees may claim paid leave not accrued in respect of periods of sick leave dating back to December 1, 2009. However, this right is subject to a two-year limitation period (délai de forclusion) running from the entry into force of the law, i.e. until April 23, 2026.
In practical terms, your current and former employees have until April 23, 2026 to claim entitlement to paid leave in respect of past sick leave. After that date, the right is time-barred.
Worked Example
An employee was on ordinary sick leave for 8 months in 2022. Under the former regime, they accrued no paid leave during this period. With retroactivity, they may claim 8 x 2 = 16 working days of paid leave. If they are still employed, these days are added to their leave balance. If they have left the company, they may request a compensatory indemnity (indemnité compensatrice).
The Obligation to Inform the Employee
The law imposes a strengthened obligation to inform on the employer. Within the month following the employee’s return after sick leave, you must inform them by any means providing a certain date:
– Of the number of leave days available to them;
– Of the deadline by which these days of leave may be taken;
– This period for taking leave is 15 months from the date of notification.
If you fail to provide this information, the carry-over period for the leave does not begin to run. The employee then indefinitely retains entitlement to these days, which can create a problematic accumulation. Put in place a standard letter or an automatic email for the return from sick leave.
Carry-Over of Leave: A New 15-Month Period
Where an employee has been unable to take their paid leave due to sick leave, this leave is carried over. The law sets a 15-month carry-over period running from the date on which the employee is informed of their rights. This period replaces the former case-law rules, which could lead to unlimited carry-over.
If the sick leave lasts more than one year, the 15-month carry-over period begins to run 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 carry-over expires on August 31, 2027 (15 months after May 31, 2026), provided the employee has been informed.
Financial Impact for the Employer: How to Provision
This reform has a real cost for employers, notably because of the retroactivity. Provisioning must take several parameters into account:
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 paid-leave indemnity. It is harder to quantify because it depends on the number of former employees who will file a claim before April 23, 2026.
In practice, not all companies will be exposed in the same way. Sectors with high absenteeism rates (industry, healthcare, large-scale retail) will be proportionally more affected than service sectors with few long-term absences.
5 Concrete Actions to Achieve Compliance
1. Update your payroll software to incorporate the new accrual rules (2 days/month for ordinary illness, 2.5 days/month for workplace accidents/occupational illness with no time limit).
2. Create a standard information letter to be sent to the employee within the month following their return from sick leave. This letter must specify the number of days accrued and the deadline for taking them.
3. Audit your leave balances to identify employees who have had sick leave since 2009 and calculate any retroactive entitlement.
4. Provision the cost in your accounts, distinguishing the certain cost (current employees) from the potential cost (former employees).
5. Inform your managers about the new rules so that they can plan return-from-sick-leave holidays without disrupting teams.
The DAIRIA advice: The date of April 23, 2026 is a hard cut-off for retroactivity. Review your workforce now. DAIRIA helps you identify the employees concerned, calculate the days owed, and generate information letters that comply with the law.