Remuneration of an employee on short-time work (part-time work)

Verified 05 January 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister), Ministry of Labor

Partial activity is a system that allows employers in difficulty to have the State cover all or part of the cost of the employee's remuneration. The employee's employment contract is suspended and the employee no longer works. We're taking stock of the regulations.

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

Employees concerned

An employee with an employment contract under French law (DTA: titleContent, FIXED-TERM CONTRACT: titleContent in particular) is entitled to short-time work, whether:

  • Full or part-time
  • In a flat rate agreement in hours or days over the year
  • Traveler, Representative and Placer (VRP)
  • Employee employed in France by a foreign company without an establishment in France
  • Paid by stamp
  • Temporary employee on a mission contract following the suspension, cancelation or termination of a signed contract of provision
  • On permanent contracts within the framework of the payroll
  • Senior management in the event of total closure the company or part of it (closure of a workshop or a company department for example)
  • Paid-for-the-job homeworker
  • Freelance journalist.

Excluded employees

The following employees do not benefit short-time work:

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

The compensation for short-time work varies according to the length of time worked.

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General case

The compensated hours are those unemployed persons within the limit of legal duration of work or if it is less than the collective or contractual working time.

Working time greater than 35 hours

The regulations vary depending on whether the working time is provided for by the employment contract or by a collective agreement.

Duration of employment contract (flat-rate agreement)

The hours compensated shall be those not worked within the limit of the duration provided for in the employment contract (39 hours per week or 169 hours per month for example).

FYI  

The package agreement is provided for in the employment contract or in a endorsement to this one.

Duration of collective agreement

Indemnified non-working hours are those that are not working within the working time provided for in the collective agreement.

For example, in the national collective agreement for hotels, cafés and restaurants, the standard working hours are 39 hours per week.

Overtime not provided for in the employment contract or collective agreement

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

The employer must pay the employee an indemnity corresponding to 60% of his gross salary per hour unemployed, or about to 72% net hourly wage.

Such compensation may not or be inferior à €8.46, or be superior to a ceiling of €32.45 per non-working hour.

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

The employer must indicate on the employee's pay slip (or in an attached document) the number of hours compensated, 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 event of a backup, recovery or liquidation The judicial service and payment agency (ASP) pays the sum directly to the employee by decision of the prefect.

Please note

Employees on apprenticeship or professional training contracts whose remuneration is less than Smic: titleContent also receive a partial hourly activity allowance. Its amount is equal to the percentage of the minimum wage or of the treaty provisions applicable to them.