Every employee accrues paid leave from the moment they are hired. Its length, how it is taken, how it is paid and what happens to it at the end of the contract are governed by precise rules in the Labour Code, which leave little room for informal arrangements.
Who is entitled to paid leave?
Every employee is entitled to paid leave at the employer's expense (Article 222.8), whether they work full-time or part-time, on a permanent or fixed-term contract. Entitlement accrues month by month, from the date of hiring.
How many days?
Unless a more favourable collective agreement applies, the employee accrues two and a half working days per month of actual service (Article 222.8), i.e. 30 working days for a full year.
Working days are all days of the week except Sundays and public holidays. The first day of leave counted is the day on which the employee would have had to work had they not gone on leave (Article 222.10).
A custom or an agreement may provide for another method of calculation or counting, provided it produces a result at least as favourable to the employee (Article 222.11).
Which absences count as work?
The following are treated as actual work when calculating the length of leave (Article 222.9):
- paid leave;
- training leave;
- absences due to a work accident or occupational disease;
- maternity leave.
Absences due to non-occupational illness or a non-work-related accident only count under the conditions laid down in the collective agreement (Article 222.9).
When can leave be taken?
- The right to go on leave is acquired after one month of actual service (Article 222.12).
- Leave of twelve working days or less must be taken in one continuous period (Article 222.12).
- The leave period is set by the sector collective agreement or, failing that, by the employer, with reference to custom and after consulting the union delegates (Article 222.14).
What cannot be deducted from leave
The following may not be counted against annual leave (Article 222.13):
- days of sickness and work accidents;
- rest periods of an employee in confinement (maternity leave);
- public holidays.
An employee who falls ill during their leave, or whose leave includes a public holiday, therefore does not lose those days.
How is leave paid?
Throughout the leave, the employer pays the wages and allowances the employee would have received had they continued working, excluding the expatriation bonus and allowances that reimburse work-related expenses (Article 222.15).
Can leave be paid instead of taken?
No. The employee must actually take every year all the days they have accrued, and no agreement may provide for an indemnity in place of leave (Article 222.12).
The Code does not say what happens to untaken days. In our view, a limited carry-over, provided for by a collective agreement or a company agreement, may be defensible if it remains exceptional, is requested by the employee and does not deprive them of their annual rest. A carry-over imposed by the employer, or accumulation over several years, does not seem defensible to us.
What happens at the end of the contract?
If the contract ends, for whatever reason, before the employee has taken all their leave, the employer pays them an indemnity in lieu of paid leave, calculated according to the same rules as the leave itself (Articles 222.16, 222.8, 222.9 and 222.15).
Special leave and travel time
Leave for family events or exceptional circumstances, as well as travel time and transport costs linked to leave, are matters for collective agreements and employment contracts (Article 222.17). Check the collective agreement applicable to your sector.
GHR best practice
- Keep an up-to-date record, for each employee, of days accrued and taken.
- Set and communicate the leave period after consulting the union delegates.
- Plan departures so that everyone actually takes their leave within the year.
- Do not deduct public holidays or sick days from leave.
- Never replace leave with a bonus during the contract.
- Calculate the indemnity in lieu in the final settlement.
