When a period of paid leave coincides with another cause for suspension of the employment contract, Court of Cassation case law traditionally gave precedence to the first cause for suspension:
- If sick leave was issued before the start of a period of paid leave, the employee retained their paid leave entitlements and could carry them over after returning to work.
- If the employee fell ill during their paid leave, they could not ask to take the days of leave they had been unable to take due to their sick leave at a later date.
However, this longstanding case law clearly contradicted that of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ, 21 June 2012, ANGED, C-78/11).
In a formal notice letter dated 18 June 2025, the European Commission called on France to comply with EU rules on working time and decided to open infringement proceedings. It considers that “French legislation does not guarantee that workers who fall ill during their annual leave can subsequently recover the days of annual leave that coincided with their illness.”
A ruling of 10 September 2025 allows the Court of Cassation to draw conclusions from the solution reached by the Court of Justice.
It has therefore been decided that employees who are unable to work due to illness during their paid annual leave are entitled to take the days of paid leave that coincided with their period of incapacity at a later date.
https://www.courdecassation.fr/decision/68c13314021d8d629a161218
