Reduction of working time (RTT) in the public service

Verified 04 March 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Reducing working time (RTT) is a device that allows you to benefit from hours of rest if your actual work is longer than the legal working time. We will detail this device.

Working time reduction (RTT) is a device that allows you to hours of rest if your duration of actual work is longer than the legal term of work.

Overtime and Periods standby duty and permanence give rise to the payment of compensation or to the granting of compensatory rest. They are not taken into account in determining entitlements to RTT hours.

You can benefit from RTT days whether you are civil servant (trainee or holder) or contractual.

You get RTT hours when you perform more effective working hours than the legal effective working time.

The legal duration of actual work shall be fixed at 35 hours a week.

Reminder

The legal duration of work may be lower to take account of specific subjects (for example, night work, working staggered hours). In this case, the working time shall be fixed by ministerial decree, after obtaining the opinion of the Social Committee.

There are different forms of organization of working time: working cycles, variable hours, flat-rate day arrangements.

The organization of work shall be determined, after the opinion of the Social Committee, by ministerial decree, in the State civil service, by deliberation, in the territorial civil service or by decision of the head of establishment, in the hospital civil service.

Work Cycles

Working time may be organized according to reference periods called work cycles.

The duration of a work cycle can range from week to year.

Working time within a cycle should be 35 hours on average.

Example :

Working time can be organized in 2-week cycles, including 1 week at 39 hours and 1 week at 31 hours.

If the working time within a work cycle is more than 35 hours per week, you are entitled to RTT hours.

Example :

If the work cycle is a week and the work duration is 37 hours per week, you are entitled to 2 hours of RTT each week.

Variable Hours

Working time may also be organized in variable hours.

This organization defines a reference period (usually a fortnight or a month) during which you have to work an average of 35 hours per week.

Depending on the missions and the needs of the service, the variable schedules can be organized as follows:

  • Either they provide for a minimum working vacation of at least 4 hours per day
  • Either they provide for fixed ranges at least 4 hours (during which you must be present) and moving beaches (during which you choose your daily arrival and departure times).

Example :

Fixed beaches from 9.30am to 11.30am and from 1.30pm to 4.30pm (during which you must be present) and mobile beaches from 7.00am to 9.30am and from 4.30pm to 7.00pm (during which you choose your daily arrival and departure times).

This organization allows you to choose your arrival and departure times at work within the framework that has been defined and according to service requirements.

Your working hours are counted by a pointing system.

A maximum number of hours can be charged to your debit or credit.

For a reference period of 15, this ceiling may not be higher than 6 hours. For a one-month reference period, it may not be greater than 12 hours.

If you end up working more than 35 hours on average per week, you are entitled to RTT hours.

Package-days scheme

Working time may be organized in accordance with the flat-rate system for working days where the assignments are not compatible with an hourly working time statement.

This organization accounts for hours of work in number of days worked in the year (and not in hours) and to allocate in return fixed number of RTT days (usually 18 days).

Obtaining RTT hours is linked to the actual realization working hours exceeding 35 hours per week.

Thus, non-working days for any reason do not generate RTT hours.

There is, however 2 exceptions :

  • Leave authorizations granted under the trade union right
  • And leave of absence for which the text establishing them provides that they shall be treated as actual working time.

In these 2 cases, on these days of absence, you are considered to have completed the scheduled work time, if you are not on a variable schedule. If you were scheduled to work more than 7 hours per day, you are considered to have completed the scheduled work.

RTT hours are granted by day or half-day.

If you cannot use your RTT days due to service requirements, you can keep them on a Time Savings Account (TSA).

The days or half-days of RTT are remunerated under the usual conditions.