Paid Leave and Sick Leave in France: What the New Law Means for Your Company
Law no. 2024-364 of 22 April 2024 put an end to an anomaly in French law by bringing our legislation into line with European case law. From now on, an employee on sick leave continues to accrue paid leave, including where the leave is not work-related. For employers, this reform entails concrete changes in the management of leave balances, in employee information, and in handling retroactivity.
What the Law Says: The New Accrual Principle
Before this law, only work-related absences (accident du travail — workplace accident; maladie professionnelle — occupational illness) gave rise to paid-leave accrual, subject to a one-year limit. Ordinary sickness absences gave rise to 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 13 September 2023.
The law of 22 April 2024 establishes a dual accrual regime:
For non-work-related sickness absences: 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 work-related sickness absences: the employee accrues 2.5 working days per month, with no time limit (the one-year cap is abolished). The employee therefore accrues the same rights as if they were working.
Retroactive Effect: How to Manage It
The most sensitive aspect of this reform is its retroactive application. The law provides that employees may claim paid leave not accrued in respect of sick-leave periods dating back to 1 December 2009. However, this right is subject to a two-year limitation period (délai de forclusion) running from the law’s entry into force, i.e. until 23 April 2026.
In practical terms, your current and former employees have until 23 April 2026 to claim paid leave in respect of past sick-leave periods. 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 still employed, these days are added to their leave balance. If they have left the company, they may claim a compensatory indemnity (indemnité compensatrice).
The Duty to Inform the Employee
The law imposes a strengthened duty of information 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;
– The deadline by which this leave may be taken;
– This period for taking leave is 15 months from the date of information.
If you fail to provide this information, the leave-carry-over period does not begin to run. The employee then retains the benefit of these days indefinitely, which can create a problematic accumulation. Put in place a standard letter or an automatic email for returns from sick leave.
Carry-Over of Leave: A New 15-Month Period
Where an employee has been unable to take their paid leave because of sick leave, that leave is carried over. The law sets a 15-month carry-over period 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 1 June 2025 and 31 May 2026, the carry-over expires on 31 August 2027 (15 months after 31 May 2026), provided the employee has been informed.
Financial Impact for the Employer: How to Provision
This reform has a real cost for employers, particularly because of retroactivity. Provisioning must take account of several parameters:
For current employees: identify all sick-leave absences since 1 December 2009 and calculate the leave days theoretically accrued. Multiply by the employee’s current daily rate. This is your maximum exposure.
For former employees: the risk concerns a compensatory paid-leave indemnity. It is harder to quantify, as it depends on the number of former employees who will file a claim before 23 April 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 Steps to Achieve Compliance
1. Update your payroll software to incorporate the new accrual rules (2 days/month for ordinary sickness, 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 absences since 2009 and calculate any retroactive entitlement.
4. Provision for the cost in your accounts, distinguishing the certain cost (current employees) from the potential cost (former employees).
5. Brief your managers on the new rules so that they can plan return-from-sick-leave holidays without disrupting the teams.
The DAIRIA tip: The date of 23 April 2026 is a hard deadline for retroactivity. Review your workforce now. DAIRIA helps you identify the employees concerned, calculate the days owed and generate information letters compliant with the law.