What happens to the annual leave of a public official who changes administration?

Verified 24 October 2025 - Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

If you are a civil servant or contractor DTA: titleContent and you change employer administration, the conditions under which you can benefit from your annual leave vary according to your status.

Public servant

The conditions under which you can benefit from your annual leave vary depending on whether you change employer administration during the year or to 1er January of the year.

In the public service, vacation leave entitlements are calculated as 1er January to December 31.

Thus, if you change administration during the year, you can take your leave either in your old or your new administration. This applies if you change administration by mutation, detachment, making available or direct integration.

However, it is customary for a public servant leaving an employer administration to take all the leave to which he is entitled according to his length of service in that administration.

Annual leave entitlements are equal to 5 times the number of days worked per week, i.e. 25 working days per year (5 weeks) for an agent working full time 5 days per week.

For example, if you change administration to 1er but without having taken any leave in your previous administration, you keep your 25 days of leave and you can take it in your new administration.

However, according to usual practice, leave entitlements are generally distributed between the two administrations in proportion to the time spent in each of them, namely:

  • 8 days in your previous administration (25 days / 12 months x 4 months)
  • 17 days in your new administration (25 days / 12 months x 8 months).

Some jurisdictions grant additional days off. The additional leave is calculated based on the length of service completed.

For example, if your former administration grants 12 additional days of leave per year and the new administration grants 18 days, you are entitled, in your former administration, to 4 additional days of leave to be paid before your departure (12 days / 12 months x 4 months). And, in your new administration, you are entitled to 12 additional days off (18 days / 12 months x 8 months).

If the 2 administrations agree, you can keep, in your new administration, all or part of the leave not taken in your former administration.

Please note

It is recommended that you pay your RTT days in your previous administration before your departure date.

Vacation leave not taken as of December 31 is forfeited unless it is paid into a time savings account (CET).

However, leave not taken due to prolonged absence due to health reasons is automatically postponed to certain conditions.

Please note

It is recommended that you pay your RTT days in your previous administration before your departure date.

Contractual

If you are a contractor in DTA: titleContent, you can change employer administration as part of a mobility leave.

Mobility leave is unpaid leave during which you do not earn

You must pay your annual leave before your furlough.