Public Service Holidays
Verified 01 January 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Some legal holidays are non-working holidays in the public service. However, some services cannot be interrupted and public holidays can be worked (e.g. in hospitals). We present you with the information you need to know.
General case
Alsace-Moselle
Overseas
In addition to national legal holidays, the day of commemoration of the abolition of slavery is a public holiday in the Drom: titleContent. The date varies by department, under the following conditions:
Public holidays are non-working days when service requirements allow it.
Some public services cannot interrupt their activity on public holidays (hospitals, public gardens,...) and these days are then included in your work schedule and worked.
In general, non-working holidays are not recoverable.
However, in the hospital public service (HPF), public holidays may in some cases give rise to compensation.
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General case
Non-working holidays cannot be recovered.
Your employer administration cannot ask you to make up for hours not worked on a holiday.
And conversely, you can also not claim an additional day off or a compensatory allowance when a holiday falls on a non-working day (such as a Sunday).
If you're part-time, you can't change your schedule either, when a holiday falls on a day when you're not working because of your part-time.
Hospital civil service
When a holiday coincides with a weekly day of rest, you may be compensated for the holiday (in the form of a day off) if you meet the following conditions:
- You work on variable rest, that is, you work at least 10 Sundays or public holidays per year
- And your weekly breaks are on fixed dates and do not include both Saturday and Sunday
In this case, a holiday entitles you to compensation when it falls on a day of rest.
If your weekly rest is on fixed dates including Saturday and SundayNo compensation is granted to you.
In a department where holidays are usually not worked, you do not have to lay down a day off for a holiday included in a period of vacation leave.
Example :
If you work Monday to Friday, you don't have to take 1 day off for Friday 1er November 2024 if you are off that week.
Conversely, in a department where holidays are usually worked (for example, in hospital wards), you must lay down a day off for a holiday that is included in a period of vacation.
Example :
If you are working in a department where July 14 is usually worked and on your work schedule, you must take a day off if you wish to take time off.
A public holiday usually unworked is paid as a normal working day.
A public holiday usually worked is remunerated either under the usual conditions or with a surcharge, depending on the authorities.
Example :
Staff members of the decentralized services of the prison administration are entitled to a lump sum allowance when they work on a public holiday.
The same is true of hospital workers.
In some body or framework of usesHowever, it is sometimes possible to benefit from bonuses in case of work on public holidays.
Example :
Staff members belonging to the employment scheme of territorial social workers employed as domestic helpers, carers or family workers may receive a lump sum allowance when they work on a public holiday.
Articles L621-8 to L621-10
List of legal holidays