Mobility leave

Verified 01 January 2024 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)

The employer may offer the employee mobility leave in the context of a collective agreement or a collective agreement. Mobility leave is intended to encourage the employee to return to stable employment at the end of the leave. During the mobility leave, the employee has support to reclassify him to a new position. We present you with the information you need to know.

The employer may offer the employee mobility leave provided that he has concluded a collective agreement or an agreement relating to conventional break collective.

For the employer, the purpose of mobility leave is to anticipate the economic developments that the company may encounter in the future. It makes it possible to anticipate the consequences of these changes on personnel management.

For the employee, the purpose of mobility leave is to promote the return to stable employment of the employee after the leave. Accompanying measures, training measures and periods of work within or outside the company are offered to the employee during the leave.

Mobility leave shall start as soon as the agreement between the employer and the employee has been signed. The employee does not perform any notice.

The employee's employment contract is terminated at the end of the leave. However, mobility leave does not amount to dismissal or resignation.

Mobility leave is only introduced as part of a collective agreement. It cannot be imposed by either party.

Warning  

mobility leave should not be confused with secure voluntary mobility.

Mobility leave may be offered by any company or group of companies which have concluded a collective agreement on the forward management of jobs and skills (GPEC):

  • at least 300 employees
  • or of a Community dimension comprising at least one establishment of at least 150 employees in France.

The term “ Community-scale company a company which employs at least 1 000 employees in the the European Union or the EEA and which has at least one establishment with at least 150 employees in at least two of those countries.

The collective agreement shall determine the following:

  • Length of mobility leave
  • Conditions which the employee must meet in order to benefit from it
  • Method of the employee's acceptance of the employer's proposal, including the conditions for expressing his written consent, and the commitments of the parties
  • Organization of periods of work, the conditions under which leave is to be terminated and the methods of accompanying the training measures envisaged
  • Level of remuneration paid during the period of mobility leave
  • Information requirements for staff representative institutions
  • Termination benefits guaranteed to the employee, which may not be less than the statutory compensation due in the event of dismissal on economic grounds.

Mobility leave is optional. The company doesn't have to move it.

If it proposes so, the steps relating to the employee's accession are specified in the collective agreement on the forward management of jobs and skills (GPEC).

Agreement

If the employee accepts the mobility leave proposal, his/her employment contract is terminated by mutual agreement with his/her employer at the end of the leave.

The employee applying for mobility leave shall give his agreement in writing to the employer in accordance with the conditions of transmission laid down in the collective agreement.

The employer no longer has the obligation to offer him a reclassification leave.

Refusal

The employee is free to refuse mobility leave. The employer cannot sanction him.

If the employee does not wish to take mobility leave, he/she shall be entitled to reclassification leave.

The duration of the leave is specified in the collective agreement on the forward management of jobs and skills (GPEC).

The organization of working periods and training activities are specified in the collective agreement on the GPEC.

The periods of work offered to employees may be completed within or outside the company, as part of a new DTA: titleContent or a CSD: titleContent.

When the employee has signed a CDD, the mobility leave is suspended. It shall resume at the end of the CSD for the remainder of the term.

During mobility leave, the employee receives his regular salary.

However, mobility leave may last longer than the period of notice. If this is the case, the remuneration paid is determined by the collective agreement on the GPEC. It must be at least 65% of the average gross remuneration of the last 12 months, but not less than €1,501.88.

The remuneration paid shall be exempt from social contributions for a maximum of the first 12 months of the leave. It remains subject to the generalized social contribution (CSG) and the social debt repayment contribution (CRDS).

An employee who has not found a job after the end of the mobility leave may be entitled to unemployment benefit and return-to-work assistance (ARE), subject to conditions.

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