Working days: what's the difference for paid vacations?
All employees are entitled to 5 weeks' vacation a year, provided they work full-time all year round (excluding RTT). However, when it comes to taking paid vacations, there are a number of variations.
Without going into the details of how days are acquired, or how holiday entitlements are split, we'd like to give you a better understanding of how paid vacations are taken under ordinary law in working days, and the derogatory system in working days provided for by the national collective bargaining agreements themselves. Here are our explanations of paid leave regulations, the difference between working and non-working days, and how paid leave is calculated.
Absence management: which types of leave are concerned?
Types of leave
All types of leave and absences are covered.
- paid leave in both the private and public sectors,
- reduced working hours (RTT),
- public holidays and bridging days,
- sick leave,
- leave related to the arrival of a child:
- maternity leave,
- paternity leave,
- paternity leave on birth or adoption (3 days),
- adoption leave,
- full-time parental leave,
- absences to pursue another activity:
- setting up or taking over a business,
- teaching or research,
- exercise of a local political mandate,
- leave for a sick child,
- Caregiver leave,
- parental presence leave,
- family solidarity leave,
- daily allowances to support a person at the end of life,
- absences due to a child's disability,
- donated rest days for a seriously ill child,
- specific days off :
- marriage or civil partnership,
- death of a family member,
- sabbatical leave.
Paid leave: employees' rights
Paid leave is a right for all employees, regardless of the type or duration of their contract or their length of service.
As a reminder, here is a list of the most important information you need to know about paid leave:
- Leave must be approved by the employer.
- Each employee is entitled to 2.5 working days' paid vacation per month worked for the same employer, i.e. 30 days (5 weeks) per year.
- The reference period for paid vacations corresponds to the period during which the employee has acquired his rights. Unless there is a company or branch agreement, this period starts on June 1 of each year.
- The legal minimum number of days of paid leave may be reviewed and increased by collective bargaining agreement, branch agreement, company agreement or employment contract.
- An employee may take a maximum of 24 consecutive working days off, i.e. 4 weeks, unless an individual exemption is granted.
- It is possible to take leave in instalments. In this case, the vacation period must be greater than or equal to 12 consecutive working days between two weekly rest days.
Ordinary working days
What is a working day? In France, the rule for calculating paid vacation (CP) days under ordinary law is the working day. Your employee, present in your company all year round on a full-time basis (maternity leave and paternity leave are treated as equivalent to actual working hours, which does not mean that he or she is entitled to a working day), is entitled to a working day.This is not the case for parental leave, sick leave (unless otherwise stipulated by collective bargaining agreement), sabbatical leave or unpaid leave), and your employee will be entitled to 30 days' paid leave. School vacations, on the other hand, do not entitle employees to more paid leave.
What are working days? Working days are potentially "workable" days, i.e. all days of the week (generally Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays), except for the weekly rest day (generally Sundays).
Is Saturday a working day? Yes, Saturdays and Mondays, for example, are working days, even if your employees don't usually work on those days.
When a week of annual leave is taken, you count the paid vacation from Monday to Saturday of the week in question, i.e. 6 working days. In fact, 5 weeks' vacation in the year equals 6 days' CP, for a total of 30 days per year. If you only count 5 working days in your week (from Monday to Friday, for example), then your employee will benefit from 6 weeks' paid vacation. They should be very happy!
When an employee takes paid leave without taking a full week, you need to check that, at the end of the period, you have indeed deducted your 5 working Saturdays or Mondays, but no more! To illustrate this, let's imagine that an employee twice requests days off at the end of the week for a long weekend. If your company is usually closed on Saturdays, you don't have to count Saturdays twice. In all, these two periods will make a full week, i.e. 6 equivalent days from Monday to Saturday.
The difference between the two methods of managing working and non-working days really lies in the subtlety described above. Common law is designed to apply to as many companies as possible. That's why it applies equally to industry, banking and commerce.
Collective agreement working days
To find out whether ordinary law applies in your company, or whether you are covered by a derogatory system, you need to refer to your applicable National Collective Agreement (CCN ) or company agreement. This specifies whether the number of days of vacation earned are working or non-working days. If paid leave is calculated on the basis of working days, your full-time employee will be entitled to 25 days' paid leave.
What are working days? Working days are days "worked" in the company: they correspond to days when your company is open for business. Is Saturday a working day? Depending on the nature of your business, Saturday or Monday are not working days when your company is closed. As a result, Saturday can be considered a working day in many businesses, as long as they are open on that day of the week. Thus, the number of working days in 2016 was 253, while the number of working days for 2017 will be 251.
When an employee, subject to the CCN applicable to the Personnel of Technical Design Offices, Consulting Engineering Firms and Consulting Companies - i.e. Syntec - applies for a week's vacation, the calculation is in working days. If you wish to apply for vacation and take it from Monday to Friday inclusive, this will represent 5 working days of paid leave.
To help you with this process, there are vacation management software packages available! The Manatime application responds to this need, providing you with a clear view of your employees' remaining paid leave entitlements, based on the days taken. By setting up management in working or non-working days, all you have to do is keep track of the counters for all your employees, without the legal worries you had with your spreadsheet.
In addition, the collective bargaining agreement applicable to your company may provide for a higher number of vacation days than that stipulated by law, as well as bonuses such as the vacation bonus (e.g. the Syntec vacation bonus). It is therefore important to refer to it and keep abreast of any updates.
Special case: paid leave and public holidays
A public holiday in a week of paid leave will not be deducted from your holiday pay, as long as it is not taken by your company. The same rule applies to the calculation of working and non-working days. This is why the month of May is a good time to take paid leave to liquidate your remaining entitlements!
In all cases (working or non-working days), you need to ensure that your employee has the equivalent of 30 working days' annual leave at the end of the period. This is particularly true when a public holiday falls on a Saturday. If the calculation of paid vacation in working days is more favorable to the employee, case law stipulates that the employee whose calculation in working days applies, benefits from an additional vacation day to compensate.
The pay slip must mention the dates on which these days off are taken, in addition to the remuneration (gross salary, net salary). It will therefore always be possible to carry out this check before the end of the period, and adjust if necessary. However, by integrating a leave management solution like Manatime into your company, you can considerably simplify the management of schedules and balances. You'll be able to concentrate on your core business.
Article translated from French