In France there are different types of employment contract:

You have a “code du travail” which governs the general law in the work environment (groups the laws decided by the State). In addition, all the companies are ruled by a “Convention du travail” (work convention) written by an organisation representing the profession of you company. The best social protection usually comes from banks and State companies (there is no redundancy scheme in State companies).

The new legal working week has been fixed at 35 h/w since 1st January 2000 for companies with over 20 employees and will be valid for companies of less than 20 employees from 1st January 2002. An annual number of working hours may also be applied which is equivalent to 35 hours a week depending on the number of weeks worked. This may not exceed 1,600 hours if working hours are counted on an annual basis.

Overtime

On a weekly basis, overtime is counted from the 36th hour worked. For agreements made since 1st February 2000 to calculate hours on an annual basis, overtime is counted form 1,600 hours upwards. The law defines ways in which the employee will be paid for overtime (cf. a salary increase, days off for extra hours worked).

Sick pay and paid holidays

Days off due to illness are not deducted from the annual holiday entitlement. However, make sure you return to work on the date indicated on your sick note provided by your doctor. You will receive the allowance for paid holidays the same as if you had not been ill, plus the daily allowance from social security.

Legal number of days holiday

You earn two and a half days holiday per month worked, which is 30 days or 5 weeks (which is a minimum, often more since the new law for working 35h/w), for 12 months worked – bank holidays are in addition. Be careful, holidays are counted from April to May and you usually cannot take holiday in advance (exactly like in the United-States). It means often that, for your first year, you will have to wait for the end the holiday year before to be able to use the holidays you got.

Example: Starting date: November 1st Holiday entitlement: 7 x 2.5 = 17.5 days after 1st of June.

Maternity leave

This period is divided up as follows : Six weeks before giving birth and ten weeks after.
On the birth of your third child, the maternity period is increased to eight weeks before and eighteen weeks after the birth. You are covered by your Social Security Office throughout your maternity leave.

Temporary work

In France foreign nationals from outside the EU are only allowed to work if they have an "autorisation de travail", a "carte de séjour" or a "carte de résident". If you do not have any of these documents, you may still obtain a temporary work permit irrespective of your nationality. This would be granted for a period of 6 months (which may be extended) allowing you to carry out certain types of work: Foreign language assistant, guide/interpreter, artist or cinema technician, au pair or seasonal worker (mainly in agriculture and tourism). If you are a student in France, you may start working from the end of the first year of your studies. Applications for temporary work permits should be made to the Préfecture.

DDTEFP Paris :
Service de la main d’œuvre étrangère,
127 Boulevard de la Villette 75019 Paris