Serious Sick Leave for Public Service Contractors

Verified 01 September 2026 - Public Service / (Prime Minister)

As a public service contractor, you may be placed on serious sick leave if you suffer from an illness that makes it impossible for you to carry out your activity, requires prolonged treatment and care and is of a disabling nature and confirmed severity. We present you the rules applicable to this leave according to your public service (State - FPE, territorial - FPT, hospital - FPH).

EPF

If you are in operation and justifyat least 4 months of service, you can apply to be placed on severe sick leave if you have an illness that puts you in the inability to carry out your activity, requiring a treatment and long-term care and having a disabling and confirmed severity.

You can be placed on critical illness leave regardless of your status in CDD or CDI.

You are not in operation when you are in one of the following situations:

  • Unpaid sick leave
  • Parental Leave
  • Unpaid leave to travel overseas or abroad for the adoption of one or more children
  • Unpaid leave to raise a child under 12 years of age
  • Unpaid leave to care for a dependent child, your spouse or partner Civil partnerships: titleContent or to a ascending as a result of an accident or serious illness or a disability requiring the presence of a third party
  • Unpaid leave to follow your spouse or partner Civil partnerships: titleContent forced to move for professional reasons
  • Leave without pay for personal convenience
  • Unpaid leave to create or resume a company.

The required 4-month period of service to be entitled to sick leave is calculated taking into account all public services you have performed in the public service (state, territorial or hospital).

In case of interruption of functions, services are taken into account if the interruption has not exceeded 4 months.

If you have to stop working for health reasons without having at least 4 months of seniority, you are placed on unpaid sick leave for a maximum period of one year.

You perceive daily allowance for sickness from the Social Security, if you meet the conditions to benefit from it.

First request for serious sick leave

You must send your employer's administration a request for sick leave, accompanied by a medical certificate from a doctor under confidential cover. Your administration may have a critical illness leave application form in place. Ask your HR manager.

Your discharge from serious illness is pronounced after opinion of medical advice.

Your attending physician will send a summary of his/her observations and any supporting documents directly to the medical council secretariat.

Consideration of the application by the medical board

During the examination of your file, the medical council can use the expertise of a licensed physician.

An approved doctor is a general practitioner or specialist appearing on a list drawn up, in each department, by the prefect, on a proposal from the French regional health authority, after consulting the Departmental Council of the Order of Doctors. The role of a certified physician is to carry out counter-visits and expert assessments.

At least 10 working days prior to the date of the meeting of the medical board, the secretariat of the medical council shall inform you of this meeting date.

The Medical Council Secretariat also informs you of your rights to:

  • Consult your file
  • Submit written submissions and provide medical certificates
  • Be accompanied or represented, if you wish, by a person of your choice at all stages of the procedure.

The medical council secretariat also informs you of the possible avenues of challenge before the superior medical council.

You and your employer can have the medical board hear the doctor of your choice.

If it deems it useful, the medical council may ask to hear you.

The occupational physician shall be informed of the meeting of the medical board. He can obtain, if he requests, disclosure of your file. He may make written submissions or attend the meeting without taking part in the vote.

The medical council will send you its opinion and also send it to your administration.

The opinion of the medical board is motivated with due respect for medical confidentiality.

If you request a critical illness leave during a sick leave, unlike public servants, you do not benefit from a reclassification of your sick leave as serious sick leave. Your critical illness leave begins on the date it was granted, with no retroactive effect.

Application for renewal of critical illness leave

The renewal of your sick leave is pronounced at your request without referral to the medical board.

To do so, you must submit an application for renewal of your critical illness leave accompanied by a medical certificate from your doctor stating that the leave initially granted must be extended and specifying the duration of this extension.

The maximum duration of sick leave is 3 years.

Severe sick leave is granted or renewed within the limit of 6 months.

After a 3-year sick leave, you can take another sick leave provided that you have resumed your duties for at least 1 year.

The various elements of remuneration are paid to you under the following conditions:

Tableau - Conditions of pay of State contractor on sick leave

Remuneration Elements

Conditions for payment

Index treatment

100% for 1 year, then 60% the next 2 years

Residence allowance

100% during the period of leave

Family Treatment Supplement (FTS)

100% during the period of leave

Premiums and allowances

33% for 1 year, then 60% the next 2 years

During your critical illness leave, you are entitled to Social Security daily sickness benefit (IJ).

The amount of these daily allowances is deducted from the index salary amount which is owed to you.

In practice, your employer's administration pays you the full amount of index salary due to you and is reimbursed by the Social Security the amount of daily allowances when the amount of index salary due to you is at least equal to the amount of daily allowances.

FYI  

The fees and other medical expenses resulting from the examinations requested by your administration, the fees of a certified doctor and any transportation costs to get to these examinations are supported by your administration. The transport costs are covered on presentation of supporting documents to verify that they are necessary and in connection with the medical examinations carried out.

During your sick leave, your employer administration may submit you at any time to a inspection visit by a licensed physician.

In case of refusal on your part to submit to this examination, your remuneration is no longer paid.

If you or your employer's administration dispute the opinion of the registered physician, you may contact the medical advice.

During your work stoppage, you must comply with the following obligations:

  • Follow the doctor's prescriptions
  • Submit to the medical check-ups requested by the Social Security
  • Do not engage in unauthorized activity
  • Inform your CPAM: titleContent any resumption of activity before the end of the work stoppage
  • Inform your employer administration and your CPAM without delay of any change of domicile.

Your administration may also arrange for the administrative control of your work stoppage by any person authorized to do so.

This check concerns your presence at your home, or at your place of rest if different, when outings are not allowed or during the hours of mandatory presence indicated by your doctor on the work stoppage.

In case of unjustified absence or refusal to submit to this administrative control, the payment of your remuneration is interrupted until the end date of your work stoppage.

Periods during which pay is interrupted count towards the current leave period.

Serious sick leave is taken into account in the calculation of the length of service required to be able to apply for a part-time and benefit in particular from the following holidays:

Other leave shall not result in the loss of seniority acquired before its allocation.

If you are unable to take your annual leave because of a serious illness, part of your annual leave may be postponed, under certain conditions.

Periods during which you are on sick leave do not entitle you to RTT.

Serious illness leave is taken into account to calculate the length of service required for the review of your pay and to determine your training entitlements.

It is also taken into account to calculate the length of service required to enter internal competitions and when you are ranked in case of success in a competition for access to a a public service employment body or executive.

You can apply for or continue training or a skills assessment to promote your rehabilitation or professional retraining. Your request is subject to the favorable opinion of the medical advice. Your employer administration will decide on your request within 30 days.

Ability to resume previous duties

If you are fit to return to work at the end of your critical illness leave, you are re-employed about your previous job to the extent permitted by the service.

If you cannot be reassigned to your previous job, you are priority to be reused on a similar job with equivalent remuneration.

Temporary inability to resume previous duties

If you stay temporarily unfit to resume your duties at the end of your 3-year sick leave, you are placed in unpaid sick leave for a maximum duration of one year.

This one-year unpaid leave may be extended by 6 months if it is the result of medical advice that you are likely to resume your duties at the end of this additional period.

During your unpaid leave, you are entitled to unemployment benefits.

At the end of that unpaid sick leave, if you are fit upon resuming your duties, you are re-employed on your previous job to the extent permitted by the service.

If you cannot be reassigned to your previous job, you have a priority to be re-employed on a similar job with equivalent pay.

If the duration of your unpaid leave is equal to or greater than 1 year, you may only be re-used if you request it by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt at least 1 month before your unpaid sick leave ends. In the absence of such a request within the time limit, you are considered as resigned.

At the end of your unpaid sick leave, if it is medically ascertained by a licensed physician that you are definitively unfit to occupy your job, you can request to be reclassified.

Your application for reclassification is reviewed if you have been recruited for a permanent job in CDI or, in CDD, if your CDD is terminated after the date of your application for reclassification. reclassification. The reclassification job is then offered for the remaining period before the end of your CDD.

If your reclassification is not possible, you are licensed for physical incapacity.

Definitive inability to resume previous duties

At the end of your critical illness leave, if it is medically determined by a certified physician that you are permanently unfit for your job, you may apply to be reclassified.

Your request for reclassification is reviewed if you have been recruited for a permanent job in CDI or, in CDD, if your CDD is terminated after the date of your request for reclassification. The reclassification job is then offered for the remaining period before the end of your CDD.

If your reclassification is not possible, you are licensed for physical incapacity.

FPT

If you are in operation and justifyat least 3 years of service, you can apply to be placed on severe sick leave if you have an illness that puts you in ainability to carry out your activity, requiring a treatment and long-term care and having a disabling and confirmed severity.

You can be placed on critical illness leave whether you are in CDD or CDI.

You are not in operation when you are in one of the following situations:

  • Unpaid sick leave
  • Parental Leave
  • Unpaid leave to travel overseas or abroad for the adoption of one or more children
  • Unpaid leave to raise a child under 12 years of age
  • Unpaid leave to care for a dependent child, your spouse or partner Civil partnerships: titleContent or to a ascending as a result of an accident or serious illness or a disability requiring the presence of a third party
  • Unpaid leave to follow your husband or Civil partnership partner who has to move for work reasons
  • Leave without pay for personal convenience
  • Unpaid leave to create or resume a company.

The 3-year service requirement to qualify for critical illness leave is calculated by taking into account all the services you have provided to the community that recruited you.

In case of interruption of functions, services are taken into account if the interruption has not exceeded 4 months.

If you have not been in service for at least 3 years, you may be placed in sick leave paid or unpaid depending on your seniority.

First request for serious sick leave

You must send your employer community a request for serious sick leave, accompanied by a medical certificate from a doctor under confidential cover. Your employer community may have a serious illness leave application form in place. Ask your HR manager.

Your discharge from serious illness is pronounced after opinion of the medical council.

Your doctor will contact the secretariat of the medical advice a summary of his observations and any supporting documentation.

Consideration of the application by the medical board

The medical board will submit you to the examination of a qualified medical specialist competent for your condition.

An approved doctor is a general practitioner or specialist appearing on a list drawn up, in each department, by the prefect, on a proposal from the French regional health authority, after consulting the Departmental Council of the Order of Doctors. The role of a certified physician is to carry out counter-visits and expert assessments.

The Medical Council Secretariat will inform you of the date on which the Medical Council will review your file.

The medical council secretariat also informs you of your right to consult your file and of the possible avenues of challenge before the superior medical council.

You can make written submissions and provide medical certificates. You can be accompanied or represented by a person of your choice.

At least 10 days before the meeting of the Medical Council, you are invited to take note, personally or through your representative, of your file, the medical part of which can be communicated to you, at your request or through a doctor.

You and your employer can have the medical board hear the doctor of your choice.

If it deems it useful, the medical council may ask to hear you.

The occupational physician shall be informed of the meeting of the medical board. He can obtain, if he requests, disclosure of your file. He may make written submissions or attend the meeting without taking part in the vote.

The opinion of the medical council is notified to you, in accordance with medical confidentiality, by the secretariat of the medical council.

If you request a critical illness leave during a sick leave, unlike public servants, you do not benefit from a reclassification of your sick leave as serious sick leave. Your critical illness leave begins on the date it was granted, with no retroactive effect.

Application for renewal of critical illness leave

The renewal of your sick leave is pronounced at your request without referral to the medical board.

To do so, you must submit an application for renewal of your critical illness leave, accompanied by a medical certificate from your doctor stating that the leave initially granted must be extended and specifying the duration of this extension.

The maximum duration of sick leave is 3 years.

Severe sick leave is granted or renewed within the limit of 6 months.

After a 3-year sick leave, you can take another sick leave provided that you have resumed your duties for at least 1 year.

The various elements of remuneration are paid to you under the following conditions:

Tableau - Conditions of pay of territorial contractor on sick leave

Remuneration Elements

Condition of payment

Index treatment

100% for 1 year, then 50% the next 2 years

Residence allowance

100% for the duration of the leave

Family Treatment Supplement (FTS)

100% for the duration of the leave

Premiums and allowances

The conditions for suspending or maintaining premiums shall be determined by deliberation

During your critical illness leave, you are entitled to Social Security daily sickness benefit (IJ).

The amount of these daily allowances is deducted from your full or half treatment.

In practice, either your local authority or employer pays you, in addition to the daily allowances, the share of index pay due to you in the amount of full or half pay.

Either your employer community pays you all of your full or half salary and is reimbursed the amount of daily allowances by the Social Security.

If you receive the daily allowances of your CPAM: titleContent, you must communicate the amount to your community so that it pays you your index treatment, in addition, up to your full or half-treatment. Your administration may suspend payment of your treatment until the transmission of this information.

FYI  

The fees and other medical expenses resulting from the examinations requested by your administration, the fees of a certified doctor and any transportation costs to get to these examinations are supported by your administration. The transport costs are covered on presentation of supporting documents to verify that they are necessary and in connection with the medical examinations carried out.

During your sick leave, your employer administration may submit you at any time to a inspection visit by a licensed physician.

In case of refusal on your part to submit to this examination, your remuneration is no longer paid.

If you or your employer's administration dispute the opinion of the registered physician, you may contact the medical advice.

During your work stoppage, you must comply with the following obligations:

  • Follow the doctor's prescriptions
  • Submit to the medical check-ups requested by the Social Security
  • Do not engage in unauthorized activity
  • Inform your CPAM: titleContent any resumption of activity before the end of the work stoppage
  • Inform your employer administration and your CPAM without delay of any change of domicile.

Your administration may also arrange for the administrative control of your work stoppage by any person authorized to do so.

This check concerns your presence at your home, or at your place of rest if different, when outings are not allowed or during the hours of mandatory presence indicated by your doctor on the work stoppage.

In case of unjustified absence or refusal to submit to this administrative control, the payment of your remuneration is interrupted until the end date of your work stoppage.

Periods during which pay is interrupted count towards the current leave period.

Serious sick leave is taken into account in the calculation of the length of service required to be able to apply for a part-time and benefit in particular from the following holidays:

Other leave shall not result in the loss of seniority acquired before its allocation.

If you are unable to take your annual leave because of a serious illness, part of your annual leave may be postponed, under certain conditions.

Periods during which you are on sick leave do not entitle you to RTT.

Serious illness leave is taken into account to calculate the length of service required for the review of your pay and to determine your training entitlements.

It is also taken into account to calculate the length of service required to enter internal competitions and when you are ranked in case of success in a competition for access to a a public service employment body or executive.

You can apply for or continue training or a skills assessment to promote your rehabilitation or professional retraining. Your request is subject to the favorable opinion of the medical advice. Your employer administration will decide on your request within 30 days.

Ability to resume previous duties

If you are fit to return to work at the end of your critical illness leave, you are re-employed about your previous job to the extent permitted by the service.

If you cannot be reassigned to your previous job, you are priority to be reused on a similar job with equivalent remuneration.

Temporary inability to resume previous duties

If you stay temporarily unfit to resume your duties at the end of your 3-year sick leave, you are placed in unpaid sick leave for a maximum duration of one year.

This one-year unpaid leave may be extended by 6 months if it is the result of medical advice that you are likely to resume your duties at the end of this additional period.

During your unpaid leave, you are entitled to unemployment benefits.

At the end of that unpaid sick leave, if you are fit upon resuming your duties, you are re-employed on your previous job to the extent permitted by the service.

If you cannot be reassigned to your previous job, you have a priority to be re-employed on a similar job with equivalent pay.

If the duration of your unpaid leave is equal to or greater than 1 year, you may only be re-used if you request it by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt at least 1 month before your unpaid sick leave ends. In the absence of such a request within the time limit, you are considered as resigned.

At the end of your unpaid sick leave, if it is medically ascertained by a licensed physician that you are definitively unfit to occupy your job, you can request to be reclassified.

Your application for reclassification is reviewed if you have been recruited for a permanent job in CDI or, in CDD, if your CDD is terminated after the date of your application for reclassification. reclassification. The reclassification job is then offered for the remaining period before the end of your CDD.

If your reclassification is not possible, you are licensed for physical incapacity.

Definitive inability to resume previous duties

At the end of your critical illness leave, if it is medically determined by a certified physician that you are permanently unfit for your job, you may apply to be reclassified.

Your request for reclassification is reviewed if you have been recruited for a permanent job in CDI or, in CDD, if your CDD is terminated after the date of your request for reclassification. The reclassification job is then offered for the remaining period before the end of your CDD.

If your reclassification is not possible, you are licensed for physical incapacity.

FPH

If you are in operation and justifyat least 3 years of service, you can apply to be placed on severe sick leave if you have an illness that puts you in ainability to carry out your activity, requiring a treatment and long-term care and having a disabling and confirmed severity.

You can be placed on critical illness leave whether you are in CDD or CDI.

You are not in operation when you are in one of the following situations:

  • Unpaid sick leave
  • Parental Leave
  • Unpaid leave to travel overseas or abroad for the adoption of one or more children
  • Unpaid leave to raise a child under 12 years of age
  • Unpaid leave to care for a dependent child, your spouse or partner Civil partnerships: titleContent or to a ascending as a result of an accident or serious illness or a disability requiring the presence of a third party
  • Unpaid leave to follow your spouse or partner Civil partnerships: titleContent forced to move for professional reasons
  • Leave without pay for personal convenience
  • Unpaid leave to create or resume a company.

The required 3-year period of service to qualify for critical illness leave is calculated from the date of 1er recruitment in your employer institution.

In case of interruption of functions, services shall be taken into account if the interruption did not exceed 1 year when it was involuntary and 4 months when it was voluntary.

Services performed prior to termination for disciplinary reasons are never considered.

If you have not been in service for at least 3 years, you may be placed in sick leave paid or unpaid depending on your seniority.

First request for serious sick leave

You must send your employer institution a request for sick leave, accompanied by a medical certificate from a doctor under confidential cover. Your employer institution may have a serious illness leave application form in place. Ask your HR manager.

Your discharge from serious illness is pronounced on opinion of the medical council.

Your doctor will contact the secretariat of the medical advice a summary of his observations and any supporting documentation.

Consideration of the application by the medical board

The medical board will submit you to the examination of a qualified medical specialist competent for your condition.

An approved doctor is a general practitioner or specialist appearing on a list drawn up, in each department, by the prefect, on a proposal from the French regional health authority, after consulting the Departmental Council of the Order of Doctors. The role of a certified physician is to carry out counter-visits and expert assessments.

At least 10 working days before the date of the meeting of the medical board, the secretariat of the medical council shall inform you of this meeting date.

The Medical Council Secretariat also informs you of your rights to:

  • Consult your file
  • Submit written submissions and provide medical certificates
  • Be accompanied or represented, if you wish, by a person of your choice at all stages of the procedure.

The medical council secretariat also informs you of the possible avenues of challenge before the superior medical council.

You and your employer can have the medical board hear the doctor of your choice.

If it deems it useful, the medical council may ask to hear you.

The occupational physician shall be informed of the meeting of the medical board. He can obtain, if he requests, disclosure of your file. He may make written submissions or attend the meeting without taking part in the vote.

The medical council will send you its opinion and also send it to your administration.

The opinion of the medical board is motivated with due respect for medical confidentiality.

If you request a critical illness leave during a sick leave, unlike public servants, you do not benefit from a reclassification of your sick leave as serious sick leave. Your critical illness leave begins on the date it was granted, with no retroactive effect.

Application for renewal of critical illness leave

The renewal of your sick leave is pronounced at your request without referral to the medical board.

To do so, you must submit an application for renewal of your critical illness leave, accompanied by a medical certificate from your doctor stating that the leave initially granted must be extended and specifying the duration of this extension.

The maximum duration of sick leave is 3 years.

Severe sick leave is granted or renewed within the limit of 6 months.

After a 3-year sick leave, you can take another sick leave provided that you have resumed your duties for at least 1 year.

The various elements of remuneration are paid to you under the following conditions:

Tableau - Conditions of pay of hospital contractor on sick leave

Remuneration Elements

Condition of payment

Index treatment

100% for 1 year, then 50% the next 2 years

Residence allowance

100% for the duration of the leave

Family Treatment Supplement (FTS)

100% for the duration of the leave

Special hardship allowance

100% for 1 year, then 50% the next 2 years

During your critical illness leave, you are entitled to Social Security daily sickness benefit (IJ).

The amount of these daily allowances is deducted from your full or half treatment.

In practice, either your employer institution pays you, in addition to the daily allowances, the share of index salary that is due to you up to the full or half-salary.

Either your employer institution pays you all of your full or half salary and is reimbursed the amount of daily allowances by the Social Security.

If you receive the daily allowances of your CPAM: titleContent, you must communicate the amount to your institution so that it pays you your index treatment, in addition, up to your full or half-treatment. Your institution can suspend payment of your treatment until the transmission of this information.

FYI  

The fees and other medical expenses resulting from the examinations requested by your administration, the fees of a certified doctor and any transportation costs to get to these examinations are supported by your administration. The transport costs are covered on presentation of supporting documents to verify that they are necessary and in connection with the medical examinations carried out.

During your sick leave, your employer administration may submit you at any time to a inspection visit by a licensed physician.

In case of refusal on your part to submit to this examination, your remuneration is no longer paid.

If you or your employer's administration dispute the opinion of the registered physician, you may contact the medical advice.

During your work stoppage, you must comply with the following obligations:

  • Follow the doctor's prescriptions
  • Submit to the medical check-ups requested by the Social Security
  • Do not engage in unauthorized activity
  • Inform your CPAM: titleContent any resumption of activity before the end of the work stoppage
  • Inform your employer administration and your CPAM without delay of any change of domicile.

Your administration may also arrange for the administrative control of your work stoppage by any person authorized to do so.

This check concerns your presence at your home, or at your place of rest if different, when outings are not allowed or during the hours of mandatory presence indicated by your doctor on the work stoppage.

In case of unjustified absence or refusal to submit to this administrative control, the payment of your remuneration is interrupted until the end date of your work stoppage.

Periods during which pay is interrupted count towards the current leave period.

Serious sick leave is taken into account in the calculation of the length of service required to be able to apply for a part-time and benefit in particular from the following holidays:

Other leave shall not result in the loss of seniority acquired before its allocation.

If you are unable to take your annual leave because of a serious illness, part of your annual leave may be postponed, under certain conditions.

Periods during which you are on sick leave do not entitle you to RTT.

Serious illness leave is taken into account to calculate the length of service required for the review of your pay and to determine your training entitlements.

It is also taken into account to calculate the length of service required to enter internal competitions and when you are ranked in case of success in a competition for access to a a public service employment body or executive.

You can apply for or continue training or a skills assessment to promote your rehabilitation or professional retraining. Your request is subject to the favorable opinion of the medical advice. Your employer administration will decide on your request within 30 days.

Ability to resume previous duties

If you are fit to return to work at the end of your critical illness leave, you are re-employed about your previous job to the extent permitted by the service.

If you cannot be reassigned to your previous job, you are laid off and have a priority of re-use in your institution to perform similar duties with equivalent remuneration.

Temporary inability to resume previous duties

If you stay temporarily unfit to resume your duties at the end of your 3-year sick leave, you are placed in unpaid sick leave for a maximum duration of one year.

This one-year unpaid leave may be extended by 6 months if it is the result of medical advice that you are likely to resume your duties at the end of this additional period.

During your unpaid leave, you are entitled to unemployment benefits.

At the end of that unpaid sick leave, if you are fit upon resuming your duties, you are re-employed on your previous job to the extent permitted by the service.

If you cannot be reassigned to your previous job, you are dismissed and have priority for re-employment at your institution to perform similar duties with equivalent remuneration

At the end of your unpaid sick leave, if it is medically ascertained by a licensed physician that you are definitively unfit to occupy your job, you can request to be reclassified.

Your application for reclassification is reviewed if you have been recruited for a permanent job in CDI or, in CDD, if your CDD is terminated after the date of your application for reclassification. reclassification. The reclassification job is then offered for the remaining period before the end of your CDD.

If your reclassification is not possible, you are licensed for physical incapacity.

Definitive inability to resume previous duties

At the end of your critical illness leave, if it is medically determined by a certified physician that you are permanently unfit for your job, you may apply to be reclassified.

Your request for reclassification is reviewed if you have been recruited for a permanent job in CDI or, in CDD, if your CDD is terminated after the date of your request for reclassification. The reclassification job is then offered for the remaining period before the end of your CDD.

If your reclassification is not possible, you are licensed for physical incapacity.

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