Paid leave is calculated either in working days or in working days. What is the difference between both? Here are some answers.
The notion of working day is different from that of working day. Companies often choose working days for counting paid leave days , but some collective agreements take working days into account. However, this in no way changes the effective duration of leave, which remains at 5 full weeks for leave acquired in one year.
How to define working days?
These are the days of the week that can potentially be worked, or during which the business can open. Generally, they go from Monday to Saturday. Sunday, the legal weekly day of rest , as well as public holidays , are excluded. A week generally has 6 working days. If a public holiday falls between Monday and Saturday, the week counts in this case 5 working days.
These are the days of the week that are actually worked, or during which the business is actually open. They go Monday to Friday. Thus, a week has 5 working days . Saturday is generally counted as a working day, but very often non-working day since many companies stop their activities on Saturday. Nevertheless, some employees may have different working hours which cover working days ranging from Tuesday to Saturday for example. This is generally the case for employees of businesses.
Why is it necessary to distinguish between the two notions of working and working days?
Companies have the choice between working days and working days for the calculation of paid leave. Indeed, the Labor Code guarantees the right of the employee to take days of annual leave when they are acquired. In all cases, the actual duration of paid leave is the same, regardless of the method of calculation chosen.
When an employee’s days of paid leave are calculated in working days, he benefits from a total of 30 annual days spread over 5 weeks, ie 6 working days per week. This is why contracts often provide for 2.5 days of paid leave per full month worked, ie 30/12 months.
If leave is calculated on the basis of 5 working days per week, the employee is entitled to 25 days of leave in working days after one year, ie 2.08 days per month. This leave is also spread over 5 weeks.
It should be noted that part- time workers benefit from the same number of days off as those working full-time .
Non -working days are non-working days. By extension, paid holidays are also non-working days.
As a general rule, Sunday is the day off and therefore not worked.
May 1st is the only day off and paid for all employees , except for exceptions such as the personnel of certain services (emergency services for example). Article L3133-6 of the labor code even provides that employees who work in a sector where work cannot be interrupted are paid double on May 1.
Note: public holidays are not necessarily non-working days. In certain professions or in certain sectors of activity, employees may therefore be required to work (in public transport, for example). It is important to find out about public holidays in the employment contract or the collective agreement.
