Duration, schedule, priority of certain employees… How does paid leave really work, exactly? Can you take your vacation whenever you want? Is there a maximum number of days? Do you have to take a summer vacation? Planet takes stock to help you see things more clearly.
Each month, an employee accumulates 2.5 days of paid leave, or 30 days per year. With regard to the taking of summer holidays, it extends, at least, over the period from May 1 to October 31 of the year. His employer, therefore, does not have the right to refuse that an employee take his leave during this period of time.
On the other hand, it can theoretically impose the dates of the summer holidays, in particular in certain companies where the activity is slowed down or stopped at a time of the summer. The rules can be refined according to your company, your sector of activity or, possibly, your collective agreements and branch agreements.
During the summer, it is only possible to take a maximum of 24 consecutive days off. Thus, you cannot take more than four weeks of paid leave during the reference period, the fifth week not being included.
Are you fighting with your colleague for the same week of August or for the weekend of the Assumption? Warning: certain elements give you more or less priority… Like, for example, the composition of your household. We take stock.
According to article L3141-16 of the Labor Code, modified by Ordinance n°2017-1386 of September 22, 2017 – art. 4, the employer must define not only the period of leave, but also the order of departures, taking into account the family situation of the employees. In particular, account must be taken of “the possibilities of leave, in the private sector or the public service, of the spouse or partner bound by a civil pact of solidarity, as well as the presence within the household of a child or disabled adult or an elderly person with a loss of autonomy”.
Be careful, however: other criteria are taken into account for the order of departures on leave. Here they are.
The family situation of employees is not the only element taken into account by the employer to define the order in which employees go on summer vacation. Among the criteria, there is also the duration of the employee’s services with the employer as well as their activity with one or more other employers. “Cannot, except in exceptional circumstances, modify the order and the dates of departure less than one month before the scheduled departure date”, specifies the Labor Code.