French employees sick leave paid vacation claim back pay from employers, Digi Mart USA News: Employees who have taken sick leave or been off work due to a non-occupational accident in recent years may be owed money by their employer, whether they are still in their job or have recently left. According to a French publication, a decision of the Cour de cassation dated October 14, 2026 (appeal no. 25-17.945) found that a company may no longer ignore ordinary sick leave when calculating paid vacation indemnities.
When employees take paid leave, the employer must compare two methods and apply the more favorable one: maintaining the usual salary, or the so-called one-tenth rule, equal to 10% of gross pay earned during the reference period. The second option is often more advantageous for workers who receive bonuses, overtime or variable pay.
For years, however, payroll calculations applied a practice that penalized workers, treating each day of sick leave as zero euros in the one-tenth base.
The case decided on October 14, 2026 involved a company that had removed sick leave from the paid leave calculation of an employee. Applying the law of April 22, 2024 and Article L. 3141-24 of the Labor Code, the court overturned this practice.
For the one-tenth rule, the employer must now reinstate these absences at 80% of the usual pay before applying the 10%.
Workers should not confuse this euro-based catch-up with the number of rest days. For ordinary sick leave, the law provides for two working days of leave accrued per month, capped at twenty-four days per year.
The special two-year window to claim previously forgotten days before 2024 closed on April 24, 2026, but the action to recover money remains open for three years.
Employees still in their job who receive variable pay may find that their employer underestimated amounts paid during vacations taken over the past three years. Former employees should check their final settlement statement, unless they signed the receipt without reservation more than six months ago.
In such cases, a letter requesting adjustment of indemnities based on the April 22, 2024 law and the October 14, 2026 ruling can initiate an amicable recalculation.
