Can an employee postpone days of paid sick leave?
Verified 25 October 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The carry-over of paid leave of an employee on sick leave depends on the period of the leave, before departure on leave or during paid leave. We present you with the information you need to know.
Before the leave of absence
The employee on sick leave before his departure on leave a right to carry over leave with pay after the date of resumption of work.
Paid leave earned but not taken is therefore not lost.
The employer must grant the employee a new period of leave, either during the current period of leave taken in the company or beyond.
The period for taking paid leave shall be:
- Either by collective agreement or a collective company agreement
- Or, in the absence of an agreement, by the employer, after the Social and Economic Committee (ESC), if one exists in the company.
The dosing period should, in principle, include the 1er May year N to 31 October year N (unless otherwise provided for in a collective agreement or a company collective agreement).
Warning
Special provisions shall apply for the carry-over of paid leave acquired but not taken as a result of non-occupational disease or occupational disease.
Please note
If the employer refuses to defer paid leave earned but not taken due to a work stoppage, he will have to pay the employee damages to compensate for the damage suffered.
In the event of termination of his employment contract, the employee shall be entitled to a compensatory allowance for paid leave acquired but not taken.
During paid holidays
An employee who becomes ill during a period of annual leave may request the postponement of annual leave days which coincide with sick leave.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) considers that the purpose of paid annual leave is to enable workers to rest and enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure.
The entitlement to paid annual leave differs from the entitlement to sick leave.
The purpose of sick leave is to enable the worker to recover from an illness resulting in incapacity for work.
Accordingly, the CJEU considers that a worker who is on sick leave during a period of annual leave has the right to request to take his annual leave at a period other than that coinciding with sick leave.
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
Telephone administrative information - Allo Public Service
For more information on this topic, you can contact Allô Service Public.
Attention: the service does not have access to users' personal files and cannot therefore provide information on their status.
He does not respond questions relating to unemployment compensation and representations to France Labor (formerly Pôle emploi), the officials or contractual of the fpublic service, the amount or payment of contributions social, wage or management.
- Lundi : de 08h30 à 17h30
- Mardi : de 08h30 à 12h15
- Mercredi : de 08h30 à 12h15
- Jeudi : de 08h30 à 17h30
- Vendredi : de 13h00 à 16h15
- Service free
The informants who answer you belong to the ministry responsible for labor.
Periods of actual work taken into account for the determination of the duration of leave