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

Verified 01 June 2026 - Entreprendre Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister), Ministry of Labor

Partial activity is a system that allows the employer 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: 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 establishment in France
  • Paid by stamp
  • Temporary employee on assignment 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 complete closure the company or part of it (closing a workshop or a company department, for example)
  • Paid-for-the-job homeworker
  • Freelance journalist.

Excluded employees

The following employees do not short-time work:

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

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

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General case

The compensated hours are those unemployed persons within the limit of legal working hours 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 duration of work is provided for by the employment contract or by a collective agreement.

Duration of the employment contract (fixed-rate agreement)

The compensated hours are those that are not working 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 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 conventional working time is 39 hours per week.

Overtime not provided for in the employment contract or collective agreement

Overtime not covered by 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 72% net hourly wage.

Such compensation shall not or be inferior à €9.74, nor be superior to a ceiling of €33.24 per non-working hour.

The allowance is paid by the employer on the usual date of payment of the 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 agreement and a unilateral decision by the employer may provide for additional compensation.

FYI  

In the event of proceedings for backup, of turnaround 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 the treaty provisions applicable to them.