Additional leave entitlement for employees under 21 and employees with dependent children

The French Labor Code contains little-known provisions on the treatment of vacation time or the granting of additional leave for employees under 21 - withor without dependent children - and for employees over 21 with dependent children.

Please note that collective bargaining agreements, employment contracts or customary practice may provide for a more favorable calculation of leave than that stipulated by law.

What should you do if you're affected?

If one of your employees is affected, it is your responsibility to provide your social services department with the information so that their rights can be taken into account.

Employees under 21

All employees (including apprentices) under the age of 21, on April 30 of the previous yearmay apply for 30 working days' leave.

As an employer, you cannot refuse to grant them. However, you are under no obligation to pay for them (except in the case of customary practice or more favorable contractual provisions).

Example: if an employee has only 12 days' paid leave, he can still take 30 days' leave. Days taken in excess of the 12 days will not be compensated.

Employee with dependent children

All parents (including apprentices) are entitled to 2 additional days of paid vacation per dependent child* :

• those under 21 years of ageon April 30 of the previous year, are entitled to 2 additional days paid leave per dependent child. This leave is reduced to 1 day if the statutory leave does not exceed 6 days.
• those over 21 years of ageas of April 30 of the previous year, are entitled to 2 additional days of paid vacation per dependent child, provided that the total number of additional days of vacation and annual leave does not exceed the maximum annual leave of 30 working days (or 25 working days).

Example: A 25-year-old employee is hired on January^1, 2024. The vacation entitlement period is from June^1, 2023 to May 31, 2024. The employee has acquired 12.5 working days' paid vacation by May 31, 2024, so 2 days' vacation must be added for each dependent child.

(*) Child living at home and under 15 years of age on April 30 of the current year, or disabled child living at home regardless of age.

Your chartered accountancy firm is at your side to support you in all your endeavours, so don't hesitate to contact us.