Remuneration of an employee on short-time work (partial activity)

Verified 01 November 2024 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister), Ministry of Labor

Partial activity is a mechanism which enables the employer in difficulty to have all or part of the cost of the employee’s remuneration borne by the State. The employee's employment contract is suspended and the employee no longer works. Which employee can benefit from the partial activity? What salary does the employee receive during the suspension of his contract? What hours are compensated? We are taking stock of the regulations.

In the event of a reduction or suspension of the activity of the company, only certain employees may benefit from short-time work.

Affected employees

An employee with an employment contract under French law (DTA: titleContent, CSD: titleContent in particular) shall be entitled to partial unemployment, whether it is:

  • Full or part-time
  • In package agreement in hours or days of the year
  • Traveler, Representative and Placer (VRP)
  • Employee employed in France by a foreign company without establishment in France
  • Paid by the Seal
  • Temporary employee on assignment contract following suspension, cancelation or termination of a signed supply contract
  • Under DTAs under the wage portage
  • Executive in the event of total closure the company or part of it (e.g. closure of a workshop or a company department)
  • Homeworker paid by the job
  • Freelance journalist

Excluded employees

The following employees do not benefit of short-time work:

  • Employees whose reduction or suspension of activity is caused by a collective labor dispute (e.g. strike)
  • Employees with a contract of employment under French law who work abroad
  • Expatriate employees with a local law contract

Compensation for hours for short-time work varies according to the length of work.

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General case

The hours compensated are those not worked within the limit of the legal working time or, if less, than the collective or contractual working time.

Working hours exceeding 35 hours

The regulations vary depending on whether the duration of work is provided for in the contract of employment or in a collective agreement.

Duration provided for in the contract of employment (lump-sum agreement)

The hours compensated shall be those not exceeding the duration laid down in the contract of employment (e.g. 39 hours per week or 169 hours per month).

FYI  

the package agreement is provided for in the contract of employment or in a agreeable to this one.

Duration provided for in a collective agreement

Unemployed hours compensated shall be those which are unemployed within the working hours laid down in the collective agreement.

For example, in the national collective agreement for hotels, cafes and restaurants, the contractual working time is 39 hours per week.

Overtime not provided for in the contract of employment or collective agreement

Overtime not provided for in the contract of employment or collective agreement are not compensated in respect of short-time work.

The employer must pay the employee compensation corresponding to 60% of his gross salary per hour unemployed person, or approximately 72% hourly net salary.

Such compensation may not or be inferior to €9.40, or be superior to a ceiling of €32.08 per nonworking hour.

The allowance is paid by the employer on the usual date of payment of the salary.

The employer must indicate on the employee's pay slip (or in an appended document) the number of hours paid, the rates applied and the amounts paid.

A collective agreement or arrangement and a unilateral decision by the employer may provide for additional compensation.

FYI  

In the case of a backup, of recovery or liquidation The judicial service and payment agency (ASP) pays the sum directly to the employee on the decision of the prefect.

Please note

employees on an apprenticeship or professionalization contract whose remuneration is less than Smic: titleContent also receive a partial hourly working allowance. Its amount is equal to the percentage of the Smic: titleContent or the treaty provisions applicable to them.