Employment law
Special leave
Permissions for family events as organised by a collective agreement, and the allowance attached to births.
Special leave refers to the exceptional permissions granted on the occasion of family events. The Labour Code sets the protective principle; each collective agreement organises the detail.
This article presents the regime as it appears under an agreement applying the statutory ceiling. For a more favourable agreement, and for the general procedure, see Permissions for family events.
1. The principle: ten non-deductible days
The basic rule is the Code's: within a limit of ten days, exceptional permissions granted on the occasion of family events directly affecting the employee's household may not be deducted from accrued leave.
Two consequences follow, cumulatively: the permission is not charged against annual leave, and it entails no deduction from pay. Labour Code, Article L.146 (French).
2. Events and durations
An agreement applying this ten-day ceiling generally organises permissions as follows:
| Duration | Events |
|---|---|
| 3 days | Baptism of the employee's child |
| 2 days | Employee's marriage; death of the spouse or of the spouse's direct parents |
| 1 day | Marriage of a child, brother or sister; death of a sibling or a direct parent-in-law |
These durations apply only under the agreements that set them. Other sectors adopt longer periods : three working days for the employee's marriage, the birth of a child or the death of a spouse, with the annual ceiling raised to fifteen days. The agreement applicable to the company is the only document that governs.
3. The allowance attached to births
Leave connected with births also opens entitlement to an allowance paid under the Social Security Code. It is distinct from the permission itself: one concerns the absence, the other a social benefit.
Payment is staggered over time, which requires follow-up:
| Instalment | When paid | Document required |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | At birth | Medical certificate of delivery and birth extract |
| 1/4 | At the child's 6 months | Infant monitoring certificate |
| 1/4 | At the first birthday | Infant monitoring certificate |
The employer's role here is to inform: many families lose the second and third instalments for want of producing the monitoring certificates. Social Security Code, Article 19 (French).
4. The procedure
- Prior written authorisation from the employer, save force majeure, which usually covers bereavements.
- A supporting document (marriage, birth or death certificate) provided within the deadline set by the agreement, generally three days after the event.
- A certificate stating the event, the duration granted, the return date and the payroll treatment.
5. What happens beyond the ceiling
The ceiling, ten or fifteen days depending on the agreement, is a ceiling on non-deduction. It does not limit how many family events may occur in a year.
Beyond it, the additional absence does not disappear: it changes regime. It then falls under ordinary authorised absence, deducted from annual leave or treated as unpaid as agreed. It is worth writing this into the internal rules, to avoid deciding case by case in circumstances that are often difficult.
Key takeaways
| The rule | What it implies |
|---|---|
| Ten days not deducted from accrued leave | The ceiling set by the Labour Code |
| No charge against leave, no deduction from pay | The two protections apply together |
| Durations vary by agreement | Only the company's agreement governs |
| Births open a separate allowance | Paid in three instalments by social security |
| Supporting document within three days | Unless the agreement sets a different deadline |
| Beyond the ceiling, the regime changes | The absence becomes an ordinary authorisation |