Following a formal warning notified by the European Commission to France, the French High Court of Justice made a reversal in its case law on September 10th, 2025.
Until now, the French High Court (Court of Cassation) applied the rule of the first event giving rise to absence: if sick leave occurred during a period of paid vacation leave, the employee could not demand that these days off be carried over.
The Court of Cassation has ruled that from now on, employees who fall ill during their paid vacation leave and obtain a sick leave certificate from a doctor are entitled to carry over their paid vacation leave.
However, the Court specifies that this new rule is not to be applied retroactively.
In practice, notification of sick leave certificate is sufficient to generate the right to deferral, regardless of whether or not the sick leave gives rise to compensation from the French Social Security and/or the employer. Notified sick leave suspends the employment contract even if the employee is on paid vacation leave.
At the end of the sick leave, either the period of vacation leave has not expired, and the employee remains on vacation leave until the initial end date, or it has expired, and the employee returns to work.
If the sick leave has been notified to the Social Security authorities within 48 hours and to the employer within the legal or contractual time limits, compensation rules for the period of illness then apply.
Paid vacation leave replaced by sick leave is reinstated to the employee’s remaining vacation leave balance.
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