Can an employer require an employee on paid leave to return to work?

No, the employer may not ask the employee who has taken paid leave to return to work. The employee is no longer available to his employer during his period of paid leave.

However, in the event of exceptional circumstances, the employer may ask an employee to return to work. The employer must then give reasons for the reasons of his recall of his employee on paid leave. The employer must respect the conditions laid down in collective agreement.

The applicable collective agreement is the one to which the main activity of the company falls.

A simulator allows you to search for the collective agreement with the name of the company or its number Siret :

Finding your collective agreement

Of compensation measures may then be provided for in the event of the employee being recalled to his place of work during his paid leave, such as for example:

• Full reimbursement of travel expenses caused by employee recall
• Entitlement to additional days of leave in addition to days of leave not taken due to employee recall.

In the event of a conflict as to the reasons given by the employer, only the judge may determine whether the recall of the employee was warranted.