Vacation leave in the public service
Verified 23 June 2026 - Public Service / (Prime Minister)
Amendment of the conditions for the carry-over and compensation of unused annual leave
The Council of State annulled, in a decision of 16 june 2026Articles 5-1 and 5-2 of Decree No 85-1250 on annual leave in the territorial civil service, concerning the conditions for postponing and compensating annual leave not taken because of leave for health reasons or related to parental or family responsibilities.
Pending new regulatory provisions, these provisions are therefore no longer applicable.
Are you a public official and would like to know the rules regarding annual leave in the public service? We present you the information to know according to your public service of belonging (State - FPE, territorial - FPT, hospital - FPH).
EPF
General rule for calculating annual leave
You are entitled to one year of service of 1er january to december 31, paid annual leave of a duration equal to 5 times the number of days worked per week.
This applies whether you are a civil servant (trainee or full-time) or a contract worker and whether you work full-time, part-time or on a contract basis. non-full time employment.
This also applies if you are a seconded official.
Example :
You work full time 5 days a week, you are entitled to 25 working days annual leave.
You work part-time at 80% 4 days a week, you are entitled to 20 days of annual leave.
You work part-time at 80% 5 days a week (so as to reduce your daily working time), you are entitled to 25 days of annual leave.
If you don't work the calendar year complete, the length of your annual leave is calculated in proportion to the length of service completed. The number of days obtained is rounded if necessary to the next half-day.
Example :
You work full-time 5 days a week for 9 months out of 12, you are entitled to 18.75 days of leave, rounded to 19 days (25 x 9 / 12).
FYI
Some staff may be subject to specific rules (e.g. teachers).
Some leave is considered to be completed service and do not reduce your annual leave entitlements.
These include:
- Leave of absence illness, of long-term illness (CLM), of long-term (CLD), leave for temporary invalidity attributable to service (Citis) if you are a civil servant
- Leave of absence illness, of severe illness, leave for accident at work or occupational disease if you are a contractor
- Leave of absence maternity or of adoption, 3 days leave for birth or adoption, additional birth leave, paternity and childcare leave
- Vocational training leave, for validation of experience acquired, for skills assessment
- Volunteer Association Leave
- Family solidarity leave
- Citizenship Leave
- Parental Attendance Leave
- Caregiver Leave.
Additional days off
If you take a certain number of days of annual leave, outside period 1er may - 31 october, you have extra days off (called split days).
Number of days of leave taken outside period 1er may - 31 october | Number of additional days of leave |
|---|---|
5, 6 or 7 | 1 |
8 and more | 2 |
Agent under 21
If you have under 21 at 1er January of the year, you can apply for full annual leave, even if you have not worked the full year.
In this case, the days of leave granted in addition to the days of leave to which you are entitled according to your period of work are not remunerated.
Example :
You are 20 years old at 1er January of the year and you work full time 5 days a week from 1er june to december 31, you are entitled to 15 days of leave (25 x 7 /12 = 14.5 rounded to 15). You can apply for 25 days of annual leave, but only 15 days are paid.
General rule
The holiday schedule is set by your head of department, after consultation with all officers.
Leave may be split in the interest of the service.
You cannot be absent more than 31 calendar days consecutive.
However, you may exceptionally be allowed to accumulate your leave for more than 31 consecutive days for travel to your country of origin or accompany your spouse to their country of origin.
If you are a caregiver, you have priority in the choice of your annual leave periods.
Reminder
You can work during your holidays only in certain special cases.
Deferral and compensation of leave
Annual leave must be taken between 1er January and December 31.
Leave not taken as at 31 December may be paid on a time savings account (CET)under certain conditions.
They can also be carried over to the following year on exceptional authorization from your employer administration.
Leave not taken shall not give rise to any compensatory allowance.
If you permanently leave your institution, you must take your annual leave before the date scheduled for your termination of employment.
However, when you have not been able to take all or part of your annual leave due to leave for health reasons or leave related to parental or family responsibilities, you are entitled to the automatic carry-over of your leave remaining due on a 15-month period.
Health absences eligible for deferral are as follows:
- Leave of absence illness, of long-term illness (CLM) or long-term (CLD), leave for temporary invalidity attributable to service (Citis), if you are a civil servant
- Leave of absence illness or severe illness, leave for accident at work or occupational disease, unpaid sick leave if you are a contractor.
Leave related to parental or family responsibilities eligible for deferral is as follows:
- Leave of absence maternity or of adoption
- 3 days leave for birth or adoption
- Paternity and childcare leave
- Supplementary Birth Leave
- Parental Attendance Leave
- Caregiver Leave
- Family solidarity leave
- Parental Leave.
The annual leave that may be carried forward is leave earned before leave for reasons of health or related to parental or family responsibilities and leave earned during leave for health reasons or related to parental or family responsibilities.
For the vacation leave earned before on leave for health reasons or related to parental or family responsibilities, the 15-month period begins from the date of resumption of duties.
For the annual leave earned during leave for reasons of health or related to parental or family responsibilities, the 15-month period shall begin, at the latest, at the end of the year for which the annual leave is due.
The 15-month period may be extended with the exceptional authorization of your head of department.
Where the carry-over of annual leave occurs because of leave for health reasons, the duration of annual leave which may be carried over shall be a maximum of 4 weeks.
Where the carry-over of annual leave occurs because of leave related to parental or family responsibilities, all unused leave remaining due fromcalendar year may be postponed.
If you do not take the leave carried over in the allotted period, it is lost and does not give rise to any compensatory allowance, except in the case of permanent departure from the public service.
If you are absent for several consecutive years, leave not taken at the end of each 15-month carry-over period shall be forfeited.
When you leave the public service, for whatever reason (retirement, resignation, termination of contract,...) and not being able to take all your annual leave before you leave due to service requirements, such leave shall give rise to a compensatory allowance.
Where leave has been carried over due to medical leave, the duration of untaken annual leave for which an allowance is payable shall be a maximum of 4 weeks.
Where the leave has been postponed due to parental or family-related leave, any unused leave still due shall be compensated.
Compensation for one day of annual leave not taken is calculated as follows: (Gross monthly remuneration x 12) / 250.
The number 250 is the average number of working days in a year.
The annual leave allowance is subject to the same contributions as your remuneration.
The gross monthly remuneration taken into account for the calculation of the annual leave allowance is equal to the last remuneration paid during your last full month of effective performance of your duties.
This remuneration may take into account any changes in your statutory or compensation situation that occurred between the last date of effective performance of your duties and the date of termination of the employment relationship.
It includes the index treatment, the residence allowance, the family treatment supplement (FTS) and bonuses and allowances.
However, the following elements of remuneration shall not be taken into account:
- Exceptional or occasional payments, in particular related to the individual or collective assessment of how to serve
- Reimbursement of expenses
- Participation in the financing of supplementary social protection guarantees
- Exceptional or occasional payments related to allowances for first-time assignments, mobility and reorganization and other similar allowances
- Overseas increases and indexing, where payment is interrupted before the end of the employment relationship
- Foreign residence allowance where payment is interrupted before the end of the employment relationship
- Allowances paid for ancillary activity and other allowances not directly related to employment
- Exceptional or occasional payments of premiums and allowances corresponding to a single operative event
- Allowances related to the organization of work and actual exceeding of the work cycle.
The days of recovery of working time (RTT) you are granted, in the event of exceeding the legal working time, according to the organization of the working time in your assignment department (working cycles, variable hours, fixed-days scheme).
FPT
General rule for calculating annual leave
You are entitled to one year of service of 1er january to december 31, paid annual leave of a duration equal to 5 times the number of days worked per week.
This applies whether you are a civil servant (trainee or full-time) or a contract worker and whether you work full-time, part-time or on a contract basis. non-full time employment.
This also applies if you are a seconded official.
Example :
You work full time 5 days a week, you are entitled to 25 working days annual leave.
You work part-time at 80% 4 days a week, you are entitled to 20 days of annual leave.
You work part-time at 80% 5 days a week (so as to reduce your daily working time), you are entitled to 25 days of annual leave.
If you don't work the calendar year complete, the length of your annual leave is calculated in proportion to the length of service completed. The number of days obtained is rounded if necessary to the next half-day.
Example :
You work full-time 5 days a week for 9 months out of 12, you are entitled to 18.75 days of leave, rounded to 19 days (25 x 9 / 12).
FYI
Some staff may be subject to specific rules (e.g. teachers).
Some leave is considered to be completed service and do not reduce your annual leave entitlements.
These include:
- Leave of absence illness, of long-term illness (CLM), of long-term (CLD), leave for temporary invalidity attributable to service (Citis) if you are a civil servant
- Leave of absence illness, of severe illness, leave for accident at work or occupational disease if you are a contractor
- Leave of absence maternity or of adoption, 3 days leave for birth or adoption, additional birth leave, paternity and childcare leave
- Vocational training leave, for validation of experience acquired, for skills assessment
- Volunteer Association Leave
- Family solidarity leave
- Citizenship Leave
- Parental Attendance Leave
- Caregiver Leave.
Additional days off
If you take a certain number of days of annual leave, outside period 1er may - 31 october, you have extra days off (called split days).
Number of days of leave taken outside period 1er may - 31 october | Number of additional days of leave |
|---|---|
5, 6 or 7 | 1 |
8 and more | 2 |
Agent under 21
If you have under 21 at 1er January of the year, you can apply for full annual leave, even if you have not worked the full year.
In this case, the days of leave granted in addition to the days of leave to which you are entitled according to your period of work are not remunerated.
Example :
You are 20 years old at 1er January of the year and you work full time 5 days a week from 1er june to december 31, you are entitled to 15 days of leave (25 x 7 /12 = 14.5 rounded to 15). You can apply for 25 days of annual leave, but only 15 days are paid.
General rule
The timetable for leave shall be fixed by the territorial authority after consultation with all staff
Leave may be split in the interest of the service.
You cannot be absent more than 31 calendar days consecutive.
However, if you are from Corsica, you can ask to accumulate your annual leave over 2 years to go to your home community.
You may also exceptionally be allowed to accumulate your leave for more than 31 consecutive days for travel to your country of origin or accompany your spouse to their country of origin.
If you are a caregiver, you have priority in the choice of your annual leave periods.
Reminder
You can work during your holidays only in certain special cases.
Deferral and compensation of leave
Annual leave must be taken between 1er January and December 31.
Leave not taken as at 31 December may be paid on a time savings account (CET)under certain conditions.
They can also be carried over to the following year on exceptional authorization from your employer administration.
Leave not taken shall not give rise to any compensatory allowance.
If you permanently leave your institution, you must take your annual leave before the date scheduled for your termination of employment.
However, when you have not been able to take all or part of your annual leave due to leave for health reasons or leave related to parental or family responsibilities, you are entitled to the automatic carry-over of your leave remaining due on a 15-month period.
Health absences eligible for deferral are as follows:
- Leave of absence illness, of long-term illness (CLM) or long-term (CLD), leave for temporary invalidity attributable to service (Citis), if you are a civil servant
- Leave of absence illness or severe illness, leave for accident at work or occupational disease, unpaid sick leave if you are a contractor.
Leave related to parental or family responsibilities eligible for deferral is as follows:
- Leave of absence maternity or of adoption
- 3 days leave for birth or adoption
- Paternity and childcare leave
- Supplementary Birth Leave
- Parental Attendance Leave
- Caregiver Leave
- Family solidarity leave
- Parental Leave.
The annual leave that may be carried forward is leave earned before leave for reasons of health or related to parental or family responsibilities and leave earned during leave for health reasons or related to parental or family responsibilities.
For the vacation leave earned before on leave for health reasons or related to parental or family responsibilities, the 15-month period begins from the date of resumption of duties.
For the annual leave earned during leave for reasons of health or related to parental or family responsibilities, the 15-month period shall begin, at the latest, at the end of the year for which the annual leave is due.
The 15-month period may be extended with the exceptional authorization of your head of department.
Where the carry-over of annual leave occurs because of leave for health reasons, the duration of annual leave which may be carried over shall be a maximum of 4 weeks.
Where the carry-over of annual leave occurs because of leave related to parental or family responsibilities, all unused leave remaining due fromcalendar year may be postponed.
If you do not take the leave carried over in the allotted period, it is lost and does not give rise to any compensatory allowance, except in the case of permanent departure from the public service.
If you are absent for several consecutive years, leave not taken at the end of each 15-month carry-over period shall be forfeited.
When you leave the public service, for whatever reason (retirement, resignation, termination of contract,...) and not being able to take all your annual leave before you leave due to service requirements, such leave shall give rise to a compensatory allowance.
Where leave has been carried over due to medical leave, the duration of untaken annual leave for which an allowance is payable shall be a maximum of 4 weeks.
Where the leave has been postponed due to parental or family leave, any unused leave still due shall be compensated.
Compensation for one day of annual leave not taken is calculated as follows: (Gross monthly remuneration x 12) / 250.
The number 250 is the average number of working days in a year.
The annual leave allowance is subject to the same contributions as your remuneration.
The gross monthly remuneration taken into account for the calculation of the annual leave allowance is equal to the last remuneration paid during your last full month of effective performance of your duties.
This remuneration may take into account any changes in your statutory or compensation situation that occurred between the last date of effective performance of your duties and the date of termination of the employment relationship.
It includes the index treatment, the residence allowance, the family treatment supplement (FTS) and bonuses and allowances.
However, the following elements of remuneration shall not be taken into account:
- Exceptional or occasional payments, in particular related to the individual or collective assessment of how to serve
- Reimbursement of expenses
- Participation in the financing of supplementary social protection guarantees
- Exceptional or occasional payments related to allowances for first-time assignments, mobility and reorganization and other similar allowances
- Allowances paid for ancillary activity and other allowances not directly related to employment
- Exceptional or occasional payments of premiums and allowances corresponding to a single operative event
- Allowances related to the organization of work and actual exceeding of the work cycle.
The days of recovery of working time (RTT) you are granted, in the event of exceeding the legal working time, according to the organization of the working time in your assignment department (working cycles, variable hours, fixed-days scheme).
FPH
General rule for calculating annual leave
You are entitled to one year of service of 1er january to december 31, paid annual leave of a duration equal to 5 times the number of days worked per week.
This applies whether you are a civil servant (trainee or full-time) or a contract worker and whether you work full-time, part-time or on a contract basis. non-full time employment.
This also applies if you are a seconded official.
Example :
You work full time 5 days a week, you are entitled to 25 working days annual leave.
You work part-time at 80% 4 days a week, you are entitled to 20 days of annual leave.
You work part-time at 80% 5 days a week (so as to reduce your daily working time), you are entitled to 25 days of annual leave.
If you don't work the calendar year complete, you are entitled to annual leave equal to 2 working days per month or fraction of month greater than 15 days.
Example :
You work full-time from April 10 to December 31, you are entitled to 18 days of leave (9 x 2).
You work full-time from April 20 to December 31, you are entitled to 16 days of leave (8 x 2).
Some leave is considered to be completed service and do not reduce your annual leave entitlements.
These include:
- Leave of absence illness, of long-term illness (CLM), of long-term (CLD), leave for temporary invalidity attributable to service (Citis) if you are a civil servant
- Leave of absence severe illness, leave for accident at work or occupational disease if you are a contractor
- Leave of absence maternity or of adoption, 3 days leave for birth or adoption, additional birth leave, paternity and childcare leave
- Vocational training leave, for validation of experience acquired, for skills assessment
- Volunteer Association Leave
- Family solidarity leave
- Citizenship Leave
- Parental Attendance Leave
- Caregiver Leave.
Additional days off
If you take a certain number of days of annual leave outside period 1er may - 31 october, you have extra days off (called split days).
Number of days of leave taken outside period 1er may - 31 october | Number of additional days of leave |
|---|---|
3, 4 or 5 | 1 |
6 and more | 2 |
You are also entitled to 1 additional day off if you take your annual leave in at least 3 periods of at least 5 working days each.
General rule
The provisional leave schedule shall be established by your Head of Department, after consultation with all staff and taking into account the service requirements.
It shall be made available to the staff no later than 31 march of each year.
On the basis of this table, your head of department organizes the taking of annual leave days during certain periods of the year or, possibly, within work cycles.
You can benefit from 3 consecutive weeks of annual leave during the summer period, unless the service is required to operate.
You cannot be absent more than 31 calendar days consecutive.
However, if you are a civil servant from Corsica, you can ask to accumulate your annual leave over 2 years to go to your home community.
The duration of the leave is calculated as 1er on the last day, less weekly rest periods and public holidays.
If your annual leave ends the day before your weekly rest, you can take your weekly rest.
If you are a caregiver, you have priority in the choice of your annual leave periods.
Reminder
You can work during your holidays only in certain special cases.
Deferral and compensation of leave
Annual leave must be taken between 1er January and December 31.
Leave not taken as at 31 December may be paid on a time savings account (CET)under certain conditions.
They can also be carried over to the following year on exceptional authorization from your employer administration.
Leave not taken shall not give rise to any compensatory allowance.
If you permanently leave your institution, you must take your annual leave before the date scheduled for your termination of employment.
However, when you have not been able to take all or part of your annual leave due to leave for health reasons or leave related to parental or family responsibilities, you are entitled to the automatic carry-over of your leave remaining due on a 15-month period.
Health absences eligible for deferral are as follows:
- Leave of absence illness, of long-term illness (CLM) or long-term (CLD), leave for temporary invalidity attributable to service (Citis), if you are a civil servant
- Leave of absence illness or severe illness, leave for accident at work or occupational disease, unpaid sick leave if you are a contractor.
Leave related to parental or family responsibilities eligible for deferral is as follows:
- Leave of absence maternity or of adoption
- 3 days leave for birth or adoption
- Paternity and childcare leave
- Supplementary Birth Leave
- Parental Attendance Leave
- Caregiver Leave
- Family solidarity leave
- Parental Leave.
The annual leave that may be carried forward is leave earned before leave for reasons of health or related to parental or family responsibilities and leave earned during leave for health reasons or related to parental or family responsibilities.
For the vacation leave earned before on leave for health reasons or related to parental or family responsibilities, the 15-month period begins from the date of resumption of duties.
For the annual leave earned during leave for reasons of health or related to parental or family responsibilities, the 15-month period shall begin, at the latest, at the end of the year for which the annual leave is due.
The 15-month period may be extended with the exceptional authorization of your head of department.
Where the carry-over of annual leave occurs because of leave for health reasons, the duration of annual leave which may be carried over shall be a maximum of 4 weeks.
Where the carry-over of annual leave occurs because of leave related to parental or family responsibilities, all unused leave remaining due fromcalendar year may be postponed.
If you do not take the leave carried over in the allotted period, it is lost and does not give rise to any compensatory allowance, except in the case of permanent departure from the public service.
If you are absent for several consecutive years, leave not taken at the end of each 15-month carry-over period shall be forfeited.
When you leave the public service, for whatever reason (retirement, resignation, termination of contract,...) and not being able to take all your annual leave before you leave due to service requirements, such leave shall give rise to a compensatory allowance.
Where leave has been carried over due to medical leave, the duration of untaken annual leave for which an allowance is payable shall be a maximum of 4 weeks.
Where the leave has been postponed due to parental or family-related leave, any unused leave still due shall be compensated.
Compensation for one day of annual leave not taken is calculated as follows: (Gross monthly remuneration x 12) / 250.
The number 250 is the average number of working days in a year.
The annual leave allowance is subject to the same contributions as your remuneration.
The gross monthly remuneration taken into account for the calculation of the annual leave allowance is equal to the last remuneration paid during your last full month of effective performance of your duties.
This remuneration may take into account any changes in your statutory or compensation situation that occurred between the last date of effective performance of your duties and the date of termination of the employment relationship.
It includes the index treatment, the residence allowance, the family treatment supplement (FTS) and bonuses and allowances.
However, the following elements of remuneration shall not be taken into account:
- Exceptional or occasional payments, in particular related to the individual or collective assessment of how to serve
- Reimbursement of expenses
- Participation in the financing of supplementary social protection guarantees
- Exceptional or occasional payments related to allowances for first-time assignments, mobility and reorganization and other similar allowances
- Overseas increases and indexing, where payment is interrupted before the end of the employment relationship
- Allowances paid for ancillary activity and other allowances not directly related to employment
- Exceptional or occasional payments of premiums and allowances corresponding to a single operative event
- Allowances related to the organization of work and actual exceeding of the work cycle.
The days of recovery of working time (RTT) you are granted, in the event of exceeding the legal working time, according to the organization of the working time in your assignment department (working cycles, variable hours, fixed-days scheme).