Paid holiday in France: accrual, holiday pay and settling it when you leave

Paid holiday is a right for every employee, whatever their contract. This guide is for you if you want to know how many days you really have, when you can take them, what they pay and what happens to them when you leave the company or are off sick. To put a figure on unpaid days at the end of a contract, the holiday pay tool does the sums.

How many days you earn

Each month of actual work with the same employer gives you 2.5 six-day-week days of holiday, i.e. 30 such days, or 5 weeks, for a full year (service-public.gouv.fr). The rule applies to every contract, permanent, fixed-term and agency, full time or part time. When the total is not a whole number, it is rounded up to the next day.

Some absences count as actual work for earning holiday (article L3141-5 of the Labour Code): paid holiday itself, maternity, paternity and childcare or adoption leave, RTT days off, time off for a workplace accident or occupational illness and, since 24 April 2024, ordinary sick leave, with fewer days earned per month (see below).

Six-day weeks or working days: two ways of counting

Jours ouvrables are every day of the week except the weekly rest day, usually Sunday, and public holidays not worked: 6 a week. Jours ouvrés are the days actually worked in the company, usually Monday to Friday: 5 a week. The entitlement is the same: 30 six-day-week days equal 25 working days, i.e. 5 weeks, and a count in working days must always give at least as much as the legal count in six-day weeks.

The trap: on a six-day-week count, a week off from Monday to Friday also uses up the Saturday, so 6 days are deducted. Check which unit your payslip uses before counting what you have left.

When you earn them, when you take them

The reference period, during which you earn your days, runs by default from 1 June to 31 May of the following year; a company or sector agreement can set other dates, and some sectors follow the calendar of their holiday fund. Taking leave: the period in which you take your holiday always includes 1 May to 31 October. That period, the dates and the order of departures are set by the collective agreement or a company agreement, failing that by the employer after consulting the works council; you are told at least 1 month before you leave.

• As a rule, you cannot take more than 24 six-day-week days in a row, i.e. 4 weeks; the employer can allow more where there are particular geographical constraints or if your household includes a disabled person or an elderly person losing independence.
• You must take at least 12 six-day-week days in one go, i.e. 2 weeks, between 1 May and 31 October, unless an agreement sets another period.
• Split leave: if you take part of the main holiday outside that period, you earn extra six-day-week days, 1 extra day for 3 to 5 days taken outside it, 2 extra days from 6 days. Your collective agreement can set other rules.
• Days not taken by the end of the period only carry over, as a rule, if the employer agrees or your collective agreement provides for it, except after sick leave.

Holiday pay: one tenth or salary maintenance, whichever is higher

During your holiday, your salary is replaced by holiday pay. The employer compares two methods and keeps the more favourable one (service-public.gouv.fr): one tenth, i.e. 10% of the gross pay for the reference period, spread over the days earned, and salary maintenance, what you would have earned by working those days. The one-tenth basis includes basic salary, overtime and premiums, commission, seniority bonus and benefits in kind; it excludes, among others, the year-end bonus, profit-sharing schemes and expense reimbursements.

The same holiday by profile, calculated by the site's code: 10 working days taken by someone now paid €2,500 gross a month, over a full year of 25 working days earned.

On a stable salary, the two methods give similar amounts. A period with a lot of overtime makes one tenth win, as it follows what you actually earned; a recent pay rise makes maintenance win, as it is based on current salary. For your own figures, the holiday pay tool applies both methods.

When the contract ends: untaken days are paid

When the contract ends, days earned and not taken, from the current period and any carry-over from the previous one, are paid to you as compensation, calculated the same way. It is owed whatever the reason for leaving: resignation, rupture conventionnelle, end of a fixed-term contract, termination during the trial period, retirement, and dismissal, even for gross misconduct. For a fixed-term contract, it is at least 10% of total pay for the contract, end-of-contract bonus included. It appears on the final settlement and bears contributions and tax like salary; in sectors with a holiday pay fund (construction, transport, entertainment), the fund pays it.

The resignation guide works through a departure with days left, the end-of-contract bonus guide covers fixed-term contracts, and the final settlement guide explains how to check the line before signing.

Sick leave: what changed in 2024

Since 24 April 2024, sick leave for a non-work-related illness no longer costs you all your holiday: you earn 2 six-day-week days per month off, up to 24 days per reference period (service-public.gouv.fr). Time off for a workplace accident or occupational illness counts as actual work, however long it lasts: 2.5 days a month.

When you return, the employer must tell you, within the following month, how many days you have earned and by when to take them. Holiday you could not take because of the sick leave can then be carried over for 15 months; after that, it is lost. For holiday pay, the pay for the period off counts at 80% for ordinary illness, and in full for work-related absence. For a particular situation, your collective agreement, a staff representative or the labour inspectorate will tell you what applies.