The calculation sheetPrivate-sector employees · time off sick
Paid leave and sick leave in France: how many days you earn and until when to take them
Since 24 April 2024, non-work sick leave earns 2 ouvrable days per month, up to 24 per reference year; occupational sickness earns 2.5, without a duration cap (articles L3141-5 and L3141-5-1). Carry-over usually runs 15 months from the employer’s notice. For sickness lasting at least one year at a reference year’s end, article L3141-19-2 starts the period at that year-end: old rights may already have expired.
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Julie by AlphaDeep is an AI legal assistant for French law: it researches official references to help answer your questions (Légifrance, case law, service-public), analyses your documents and drafts your letters, for individuals and professionals alike.
General legal information with official references and dated checks. It is not personalised advice: for a decision that commits you, have your situation checked by a qualified professional.
Let’s look at your situation
Give the dates of the sick leave, its cause and what your employer told you, without any diagnosis.
Example questions
Your question carries over after signup. Maximum 400 characters. Avoid health data and names.
How many days of paid leave do you earn, depending on why you were off?
French paid leave counts in ouvrable days, Monday to Saturday, over the reference year: 1 June to 31 May, unless an agreement or a leave fund sets another period.
| Situation | Days earned per month | Ceiling per reference year | Text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working | 2.5 ouvrable days | 30 days | L3141-3 |
| Off sick, non-work illness or accident | 2 ouvrable days | 24 days for this leave, 30 in all | L3141-5 7° and L3141-5-1 |
| Work accident or occupational disease | 2.5 ouvrable days, with no time limit | 30 days | L3141-5 5° |
A total that is not a whole number is rounded up to the next day (article L3141-7). According to service-public, two months of sick leave in the year give 29 days instead of 30.
Sources: Labour Code L3141-5-1 · Service-public F37482
How many days did you earn while off sick, and until when can you take them?
Enter the dates of the sick leave and of your return: the calculator counts the months off in each reference year, the days earned, and dates the employer’s notice and the end of the 15-month carry-over. The example: sick leave from 5 January to 30 April 2026, back at work on 4 May.
Fictional example · paid leave earned
Leave you could not take because of the sickness: to be taken by 4 September 2027 at the latest, if your employer gives notice on the last possible day.
- Sick leave in the reference year 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2026
- 3.87 months
- Days earned during the leave, at 2 days a month
- 7.74 days
- Days fewer than if you had worked
- 1.94 days
- Estimated total for the year, rest of the year worked
- 29 ouvrable days
First day of the sick leave
Last day of the sick leave
Back at work
Last day for your employer to tell you your leave days and the date to take them by (1 month after your return)
End of the 15-month carry-over for the leave the sickness prevented you from taking
The 24-day ceiling per year covers all your non-work sick leave together: add any other sick leave in the same year.
Calculation by calendar month, like the service-public example; a collective agreement or company agreement can do better, for instance a longer carry-over.
Is the paid leave you could not take because of sickness lost?
This calculation concerns leave earned during sickness and leave sickness prevented you from taking. For ordinary unused leave without sickness, the dedicated unused-leave guide in French covers that separate question.
They are not automatically lost. An employee whom illness or an accident prevented from taking leave during the leave period keeps it for 15 more months (Labour Code, article L3141-19-1). For this ordinary carry-over, the 15 months start on the day the employee receives, after returning to work, the employer’s notice of how many days are available and the last date to take them.
The employer must give this notice within a month of the return, by any means that gives a certain date, including the payslip (article L3141-19-3). For ordinary carry-over, the 15 months do not run before receipt. But for leave earned during a sickness absence that has already suspended the contract for at least a year at the end of the reference year, carry-over starts at that year-end (article L3141-19-2). If it expired before the return, the notice does not create another 15 months; otherwise, only the remaining period is suspended between the return and receipt. A company or sector agreement can provide a longer carry-over (article L3141-21-1).
Sources: Labour Code L3141-19-1 · Service-public F37482
What happens if you fall ill during your paid holiday?
Since a Cour de cassation ruling of 10 September 2025 (no. 23-22.732), an employee who falls ill while on paid holiday can carry over the holiday days that overlap with the sick leave, provided the employer was notified. These days are not taken off the leave balance.
The court reversed its 1996 position, which counted those days as holiday. The sick note must be sent to the employer as for any sick leave.
Sources: Cass. soc. 23-22.732 · Service-public F2262
Can you still claim leave for sick leave before 24 April 2024?
The law of 22 April 2024 applies to non-work sick leave since 1 December 2009, but capped at 24 ouvrable days per reference year, days already earned included (article 37 of law no. 2024-364). An employee still in post had 2 years to go to court, until 23 April 2026 according to service-public: that time limit has passed.
An employee who has left the company has, according to service-public, 3 years from the end of the contract to claim a payment in lieu of that leave (Labour Code, article L3245-1).
Sources: Law 2024-364, art. 37 · Service-public F37482
How is leave earned during sick leave paid?
Holiday pay is the more favourable of two methods: keeping your usual salary, or one tenth of gross pay over the reference year (Labour Code, article L3141-24). In that tenth, non-work sick leave counts at 80% of the pay that matches it; a work accident or occupational disease counts in full.
Source: Labour Code L3141-24
What has changed for paid leave and sick leave in France since 2023?
Three Cour de cassation rulings, then a law, overturned the rule that left sick leave out of paid leave.
The Cour de cassation rules that an employee on non-work sick leave earns paid leave, and sets aside the one-year limit for work accidents (no. 22-17.340 and no. 22-17.638), applying EU law.
Source: Cass. soc. 22-17.340
Law no. 2024-364 of 22 April 2024 sets 2 days per month of non-work sick leave, 24 at most per year, removes the one-year limit for work accidents, and creates the 15-month carry-over and the employer’s notice.
Sources: Labour Code L3141-5-1 · Law 2024-364, art. 37
Sick leave that starts during paid holiday and is notified to the employer lets the employee carry over the holiday days concerned (Cour de cassation, no. 23-22.732).
Source: Cass. soc. 23-22.732
Last day, according to service-public, for an employee still in post to take action for sick leave between 1 December 2009 and 24 April 2024.
Source: Service-public F37482
What does article L3141-5-1 of the Labour Code say?
The article created by the law of 22 April 2024 for non-work sick leave.
Par dérogation au premier alinéa de l’article L. 3141-3, la durée du congé auquel le salarié a droit au titre des périodes mentionnées au 7° de l’article L. 3141-5 est de deux jours ouvrables par mois, dans la limite d’une attribution, à ce titre, de vingt-quatre jours ouvrables par période de référence mentionnée à l’article L. 3141-10.
In English, briefly (our summary, not an official translation): As an exception to the usual 2.5 days, leave earned during periods of non-work sick leave is two ouvrable days per month, up to twenty-four ouvrable days per reference year. For sick leave of at least a year at the end of the reference year, the 15-month carry-over starts from the end of that year (article L3141-19-2).
What do employees ask when they come back from sick leave in France?
Does sick leave of more than a year wipe out the paid leave earned?
Not automatically. If the contract has been suspended for at least a year at the end of the reference year, the 15-month carry-over of leave earned during the sick leave starts on that date; on your return, if it has not expired, it pauses until the employer’s notice (Labour Code, article L3141-19-2).
Are the 2 days a month counted Monday to Saturday or Monday to Friday?
In ouvrable days, Monday to Saturday, like the 2.5 days of a month worked (Labour Code, articles L3141-3 and L3141-5-1). A company that counts in working days, Monday to Friday, converts them without reducing your rights.
Do I have to ask my employer for my leave when I return?
The employer must tell you, unprompted, within a month of your return, how many days you have and the last date to take them (Labour Code, article L3141-19-3). Without that notice, write to your employer: service-public offers a model letter, and the employment tribunal (conseil de prud’hommes) decides a dispute.
Does a commuting accident count as a work accident for paid leave?
For leave, the Cour de cassation treated a commuting accident like a work accident (3 July 2012, no. 08-44.834), under the earlier text. No official source yet confirms the rate that applies since the 2024 law: have your case checked.
Which texts is this paid leave calculation based on?
- Labour Code, articles L3141-3, L3141-5 and L3141-5-1 (earning paid leave)Légifrance, in French
- Labour Code, articles L3141-19-1 to L3141-19-3 (15-month carry-over and employer’s notice)Légifrance, in French
- Labour Code, article L3141-24 (holiday pay)Légifrance, in French
- Law no. 2024-364 of 22 April 2024, article 37 (earlier periods and the 2-year limit)Légifrance, Journal officiel, in French
- Cour de cassation, social chamber, 10 September 2025, no. 23-22.732Légifrance, in French
- Can an employee earn paid leave during sick leave? (fiche F37482)Service-public.fr, in French · checked by the publisher on 12 June 2024
- Can an employee carry over paid leave because of sickness? (fiche F2262)Service-public.fr, in French
- Cour de cassation, social chamber, 13 September 2023, no. 22-17.340Légifrance, in French
Texts cited last checked: 25 September 2026