Private sector holidays and bridges
Verified 01 January 2024 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)
Some holidays are public holidays that can be unemployed or worked and remunerated under conditions which vary according to the days concerned (1er May or other). In some cases, public holidays allow you to benefit from a bridge. The arrangements for completing the day of solidarity shall be laid down by company or establishment agreement or, if not, by branch agreement.
Legal holidays
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:
Other public holidays
Some local or professional commemorations are also public holidays, including:
- Saint-Éloi (recognized as a public holiday by certain collective agreements in the metallurgy industry)
- Sainte-Barbe (for employees working in mines)
- Mi-Lent in some Drom: titleContent
General case
Among the legal holidays, only the 1ster may is obligatory unemployed person for all employees (all companies and categories).
As an exception, the employee may work on the 1er may be employed in a company which, because of the nature of the activity, cannot interrupt work (e.g. hospitals, public transport).
Other public holidays are non-working days if such arrangements are provided for:
- By the collective agreement or by a branch agreement or a company or establishment agreement
- Or, in the absence of an agreement, by the employer
The employee is not obliged to recover the hours of work not performed during a holiday without work.
A non-working holiday may fall on a day that is not normally worked (for example, Sunday).
In this case, the employee is not entitled to any additional day off.
However, treaty provisions may provide for more favorable conditions.
Under 18
Employees or apprentices under 18 years of age cannot work on statutory holidays.
However, exceptions are possible in the following areas:
- Hotels, restaurants, caterers or reception organizers
- Coffee, tobacco or a beverage outlet
- Bakery, pastry shop, butcher's shop, cooked meats, cheese-cream shop, fish shop
- Company of other sectors principally producing food for immediate consumption or exclusively engaged in the retail sale of food
- Shop selling flowers, gardening and seed
- Shows
An employee or apprentice under the age of 18 who works on a public holiday shall be entitled to a weekly rest period of at least 36 consecutive hours.
General case
Unemployment on public holidays may not lead to any loss of wages for the employee who has at least 3 months of seniority in the company.
Seasonal employees who have signed various contracts of employment in the company (successive or not) are also fully paid if their total cumulative length of service is at least 3 months.
Public holidays are not payable for the following employees:
- Employee working from home
- Intermittent employee
- Temporary employee (the holiday must however be paid to the temporary employee as long as this holiday is included in his mission)
However, treaty provisions or practice in the company may provide for more favorable conditions.
May 1
The 1er May is a public holiday and non-working day.
The public holiday on the 1ster but can't be a cause of salary cuts.
Employees paid hourly, daily or yield are entitled to compensation equal to the wages lost as a result of this unemployment. This allowance shall be paid by the employer.
The employee who works on the 1ster mai receives double his salary.
A bridge day preceding or following a public holiday may be scheduled in the company.
This practice is not regulated.
The allocation of a bridge may be provided for by treaty provisions, a collective agreement or be decided by the employer.
Hours of work not worked due to the bridge may be worked at another time to compensate.
These hours may be recovered within 12 months before or after the bridge. These hours are not subject to any salary increase.
For example, lost bridge hours can be recovered when:
- 1 or 2 working days are unemployed between a public holiday and a weekly day of rest
- 1 day before annual leave is non-working
The day of solidarity consists of an extra day's work. It is intended to finance measures to promote the independence of the elderly and disabled.
The day of solidarity takes the form of one additional day of work per year without pay.
It may provide for:
- Or the work of a previously non-working holiday other than 1er May (e.g. Pentecost Monday)
- That's the day's work RTT provided for in a working time agreement
- Or any other way of organizing that allows the work of 7 hours previously not worked (work on a Saturday, for example)
The conditions for the day are:
- Let the collective agreement or by a branch agreement or a company or establishment agreement
- Or, in the absence of an agreement, by the employer after consulting the Social and Economic Committee (ESC)
The hours worked during the day of solidarity shall not be remunerated:
- A maximum of 7 unpaid hours for monthly employees, reduced in proportion to the contractual duration in the case of part-time work
- Or a maximum of one working day for the employee who works on the package of days
Hours worked during the day of solidarity are not considered overtime.
Please note
in Alsace-Moselle, the day of solidarity cannot be completed on 25 and 26 December, nor on Good Friday.
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
Telephone administrative information - Allo Public Service
The informants who answer you belong to the ministry responsible for labor.
Cost: free service
Attention: the service does not respond questions relating to unemployment compensation and representations to Pôle emploi, civil servants or public service contractors, the amount or payment of social, wage or employer contributions.
The service is available at the following times:
- Monday: 8.30am to 5.30pm
- Tuesday: 8:30 to 12:15
- Wednesday: 8:30 to 12:15
- Thursday: 8.30am to 5.30pm
- Friday: 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m
- 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
Legal holidays, situation of the employee during a public holiday, remuneration of public holidays (public order)
Status of the employee during a public holiday (scope of collective bargaining)
Employee's situation during a public holiday (supplementary provisions)
Situation of employees under 18 years of age
Special case of 1 May (public order)
Bridges (public order)
Number of overtime hours, remuneration, consideration on rest (scope of collective bargaining)
Day of solidarity (public order)
Solidarity Day (scope of collective bargaining)
Solidarity Day (additional provisions)
Remuneration on a temporary holiday (L1251-18)