France

Standard working hours within French Law are 35 hours a week at all companies, and the working day may not exceed 10 hours.

Overtime

All work above the standard 35 hours a week is to be paid as overtime and is regulated by collective agreements and contracts, generally calculated as follows:

• Additional 25.00% an hour for each of the first eight hours of overtime (from the 36th to the 43rd hour, inclusive)

• Additional 50.00% for each hour after that

Common Benefits

Untaxed common benefits: transportation, mileage, gift card (subject to a cap).

Taxed common benefits: car benefit in kind, housing allowance or housing benefit in kind, bonus. Private pension contributions, leave/vacation allowance. Work from home allowance.

Meal vouchers are partially taxed and are considered a social benefit that should be provided equally to salaried staff. This includes employees working from home or in satellite offices. The working conditions for home office workers should be equivalent to those of on-site workers, including designated meal breaks. Only one meal voucher can be given per working day, as long as the meal is part of the work hours. The meal voucher can be in the form of a paper voucher or a payment card.

To be exempt from social security contributions, the employer’s contribution to meal vouchers must be between 50% and 60% of the voucher’s value. The employee is responsible for paying the remaining 40% to 50%. Starting from January 1st, 2023, the maximum exemption for the employer’s contribution is €6.50. Any contribution exceeding this amount will be included in the calculation of social security contributions.

Maternity Leave

Expectant mothers are entitled to up to 16 weeks maternity leave – six weeks before birth and ten weeks after birth. Maternity leave can be extended to 26 weeks when expecting a third child, extending further to 34 weeks for multiple births (twins) and 46 weeks when expecting triplets or more. The maternity leave can be extended even further should the expectant mother be unwell, with an additional two weeks before the birth and four weeks after.

Maternity pay is made by the Social Security to entitled employees. To be entitled, the employee must have been affiliated with the Social Security for a minimum of 6 months before the due date, have taken at least eight weeks maternity leave, and have worked at least 150 hours in the 90 days preceding the leave.

The amount paid each day is based on the average salary received three months before the leave and paid every two weeks.

Paternity Leave

In France, paternity leave (congé paternité) spans 25 calendar days. It commences after the initial 3 working days following birth, which are designated as birth leave and are paid by the employer. Subsequent to this birth leave period, fathers are required to take 4 calendar days of leave. The remaining 21 calendar days can be divided, but they must be used within 6 months of the birth. Workers have the flexibility to use these 21 days either consecutively or in two separate periods, each lasting a minimum of 5 days.

In the event of multiple births, an additional 7 days of leave are provided. All leave following the birth leave is covered by social security. To qualify for this leave, fathers must have been enrolled with social security for at least 10 months. Notification of the intended leave to the employer should be provided, either in writing or orally, one month prior to taking it.

Social security coverage is calculated based on the average daily salary over the last three months, with a cap of €88.84 per day (for the year 2023).

Parental Leave

Parental leave (congé parental d’éducation) is available to all employees with at least one year of service at the time of the child’s birth, upon employer’s approval. This leave is unpaid and entitles employees to up to one year of parental leave or a change to part-time working hours (if possible, within the business infrastructure), together with a monthly allowance (Allocation parentale d’enfant) for employees with more than one child and more than two years’ service.

In addition, should a child become ill, the employee can request a form of parental leave of between 3 and 5 days, dependent upon the number of children the parent has and the child’s age. Should the child suffer from a severe illness, accident, or disability, the parent can request special specific family care leave of up to 310 days to provide continued parental care.

In France, in the event of the death of an immediate family member, an employee is entitled to three days’ leave.

Employees are entitled to 6 weeks of unpaid leave before adopting a child if they must travel to adopt a child.

France provides universal healthcare.

Employer Payroll Contributions
13.00% or 7.00% - Health, Maternity, Disability, Death (rate varies based on income)
0.30% - Autonomy Solidarity Contribution
8.55% - Old Age Insurance (applied on income up to 43,992 EUR annually)
2.02% - Old-age insurance
Variable - Accidents at work
3.45% – 5.25% - Family Benefits (rate varies based on income)
4.25% - Unemployment (ceiling of 13,712 EUR)
0.15% - AGS (Wage Guarantee Insurance)
6.01% - Supplementary Pension & CEG – up to EUR3,666 taxable income per month
14.57% - Supplementary Pension & CEG – from EUR3,666 to EUR27,424 taxable income per month

31.61% – 54.16% - Total Employment Cost
*Additional employer contributions might be applied in conjunction with the employee’s level e.g. Cadre

Note: Employers must pay 50% of the cost of season tickets for the entire journey between the worker usual place of residence and the place of work using public transport services. This applies to part time employees as well.

Employee Payroll Contributions
6.90% - Old Age Insurance (ceiling of 3,666 EUR taxable income per month)
0.40% - Old-age insurance
9.20% - Social Security Surcharge
4.01% - Supplementary Pension & CEG up to EUR3,666 taxable income per month
9.72% - Supplementary Pension & CEG from EUR3,666 to EUR27,424 taxable income per month

30.23% - Total Employee Cost

Employee Income Tax
0.00% - Up to 11,294 EUR Annually
11.00% - 11,294 EUR – 28,797 EUR Annually
30.00% - 28,797 EUR – 82,341 EUR Annually
41.00% - 82,341 EUR – 177,106 EUR Annually
45.00% - More than 177,106 EUR Annually

*The above rates serve as a broad guideline. Actual rates charged will differ depending on the applicable CBA.

Payroll Cycle

The payroll cycle in France is generally a monthly cycle, with wages paid by the last working day of each month.

13th Salary

The 13th Salary in France is customary and generally paid at the end of the year.

In France, there are two main types of visas, a short stay (visa de court séjour) which is required for visits of 90 days or less where the employer applies to the French Ministry of Labour, the DIRECCTE (Direction regionale des enterprises, de la concurrence et de la consummation, du travail et de l’emploi), or a convention d’accueil and the authorization then goes to the French embassy.

If the employee is from the EU/EEA or Switzerland, they do not need a work permit.

A long stay work visa (visa de long séjour) is also a residence permit. The work contract is sent to the local division of the French Ministry of Labour for approval. Once approved, it is sent to the Office Francais de l’Immigration et de l’Integration (OFII) for secondary approval. Once this is approved, the contract confirmation is sent directly to the French embassy in the employee’s home country. After 18 months in a long-stay residence permit , applications can be made to bring family members to France.

In addition, applications for a four-year renewable visa can be made for a passeport talent which is aimed at executives, independent professionals, or employee-level people who have the potential to make a significant contribution to the French economy, especially in intellectual, scientific, cultural, sporting, or humanitarian fields.

Britons who have been full-time residents in France since before December 31st 2020 must be in possession of a carte de séjour residency card by January 1st, 2022. From this date the card can be requested legally in a range of situations.