Reglementări privind salarizarea: Franța

What does the minimum remuneration include?

• WAGE ( wage paid as compensation for work or in respect of employment):

• • the minimum wage
  • paid leave ( e.g. 1/10^th of the gross remuneration)
  • supplements for overtime
  • benefits in-kind (e.g. mobile phone deal, company car)

• WAGE SUPPLEMENTS ( based on personal circumstances, such as length of service in the company)

• • Bonuses, compensation, supplements
    • stipulated, where applicable, by extended branch-level collective agreement- e.g. 13^th month salary
    • stipulated by the law and extended branch-level collective agreements – e.g. supplements for night work or for working on Sundays/ on public holidays;
    • stipulated by extended branch-level collective agreements, e.g. baby, wedding or civil partnership bonus, performance bonus, overnight bonus (compensation for workers required to stay away from home; not associated with reimbursement of expenses)

• • The allowance specific to posting or daily allowances (where these compensate the disadvantages entailed by the posting – as a result of the workers being removed from their usual environment- and are not paid in reimbursement of expenditure actually incurred on account of the posting) , e.g. expatriation bonus

Please note :

In addition to the provisions contained in the French Labour Code, the extended French collective labour agreements governing employees employed by companies established in France with an identical main business as the work carried out by workers posted on French soil also apply to the posted employees.

The employer must therefore identify which extended collective agreement is applicable by taking into account the work performed by posted workers.

Legal working hours

In France, the maximum number of working hours is 35 per week, from Monday 0.00 to Sunday 24.00. This statutory limit may be exceeded. Any hours worked over the statutory limit are thus considered to be overtime.

However, there are limits to the number of hours beyond which no further work may be requested :

• 10 hours per day (unless an exemption is granted by the labour inspectorate or by extended collective agreement) ;
• 48 hours per week (absolute maximum, unless the labour inspectorate grants an exemption, up to 60 hours) ;
• 44 hours on average over a period of 12 consecutive weeks (unless otherwise provided by collective agreement or permitted by the labour inspectorate, up to 46 hours)

Overtime

Any hour worked over the statutory weekly limit is considered overtime, which entitles the employee to a wage supplement or, where applicable, the equivalent compensatory rest period.

Minimum number of days/hours off:

• In France, all employees must benefit from a minimum daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours between two working periods
• An employer is prohibited from keeping an employee working longer than 6 days a week. As such, all employees benefit from a minimum weekly rest period of one day (i.e. 24 consecutive hours), in addition to the 11 hours’ daily rest between two working days, which adds up to 35 consecutive hours of weekly rest.

Breaks

• After 6 hours of work, the employee must benefit from a minimum rest break of 20 consecutive minutes.

Leave

• All posted employers benefit from a right to paid leave, at a rate of 2.5 days per actual month worked. Where a posted employee works less than one month, the right to leave is calculated on a pro rata basis
• Posted employees may benefit from statutory leave for family events. This is granted as an exceptional leave of absence and may not lead to a reduction in earnings. Upon presentation of supporting documents, all employees are entitled to at least :

– 4 days for their wedding or the registration of a civil partnership ;

– 3 days for each birth occurring in their own household or the arrival of an adopted child ;

– 2 days for the death of a child ;

– 2 days for the death of their spouse ;

– 1 day for a child’s wedding ;

– 1 day for the death of their father, mother, father- or mother-in-law or sibling.

Notification requirement as per The Posted Workers Directive

The company posting employees must provide the labour inspectorate of the place where the service is provided with a prior declaration of posting before the start of its activity in France.