An employee who falls ill during their vacation should be able to postpone their vacation, the Court of Cassation rules.

Getting sick while on vacation is a common occurrence, and it's a real pain. Many employees have wondered at least once if there was a way to make up for the three days they spent bedridden after returning from vacation. And for the unsuspecting who ventured to ask their company's HR department, the answer was almost invariably: "No." Meaning: so what?

Employers, it's true, have the right on their side. French law does not provide for this scenario. And yet, it's wrong. An employee who falls ill during their paid leave can postpone it, the Court of Cassation ruled this Wednesday, September 10.

This decision comes as France was ordered in June by the European Commission to comply with EU case law, which is based on a 2003 directive to which it is a signatory.

The case is reminiscent of another one, which caused panic among employers in the fall of 2023. At the time, the Court of Cassation had already ruled in a series of decisions that an employee on long-term sick leave continued, during this period, to accumulate paid leave which he should be able to benefit from upon his return. And the government found itself required to bring French law into line with European case law, two decades after the famous 2003 directive.

He fulfilled this in the spring of 2024, limiting the inconvenience for employers as much as possible: it was impossible to accumulate more than four weeks of leave in a year (French law normally provides for five, but the EU requires a minimum of four), the employee was required to assert his rights within fifteen months of returning to work, and retroactivity was limited to three years for claims against former employers.