Rights of Cross-Border Caregivers in France

This leave allows an employee to temporarily suspend their professional activity in order to care for a person who is disabled, incapacitated, elderly, or dependent.

Important: This leave is unpaid, but it is possible to receive the daily caregiver allowance paid by the CAF. As of January 1, 2025, the amount of this allowance is €65.80 per day.

The employee can also choose to split their working time or switch to part-time work.

Eligibility conditions
The employee may provide support to:

• A person they live with: spouse, partner, PACS partner
• Their ascendants or descendants, dependent children
• Collateral relatives up to the fourth degree
• Any elderly or disabled person (without family ties) living with the employee or with whom they maintain close and stable ties, to whom they provide regular and frequent non-professional assistance to carry out all or part of daily life activities.

Note: The person being assisted must reside in France on a stable and regular basis.

Duration
As a general rule, the leave is limited to a maximum duration of 3 months renewable, but it may not exceed a total of one year over the employee’s entire career. However, a collective agreement or sectoral agreement may provide for a longer duration.

Procedures
The employee wishing to take caregiver leave must inform their employer according to the procedures provided by the collective agreement, company, or sectoral agreement. Otherwise, the request can be submitted by any means that allows proof of the date (registered letter or email).

The request must specify the intention to suspend the employment contract, the start date of the leave, and, if desired, the option to split it or work part-time. It must be submitted at least one month in advance, except in emergencies.

The list of documents to be submitted with your request is directly available in the French Labor Code at this link: Article D3142-8 – Code du travail – Légifrance

If the procedures and deadlines are properly followed, your employer cannot refuse your request.

This leave allows an employee to be absent to assist a relative who is suffering from a life-threatening condition or who is in an advanced or terminal stage of a serious and incurable illness, regardless of its cause.

Eligible relatives include:

• An ascendant or descendant
• A brother or sister
• A person living with you (spouse, partner, PACS partner)
• A person who has designated you as a trusted person

This family solidarity leave is granted for a duration of 3 months, renewable once.

This leave cannot be refused by the employer, but it may be converted into part-time work.

It is generally unpaid by the employer, but the French Health Insurance (Assurance Maladie) may pay a daily end-of-life care allowance for 21 days during this leave.

An employee may take leave to care for a sick child or a child who has had an accident, under the age of 16, for whom they are responsible.

They may be entitled to unpaid leave, usually as follows:

• 3 days per year
• 5 days per year if the child is under one year old or if the employee is responsible for at least three children under 16

The applicable collective agreement in the company may provide more favorable conditions.

To qualify, it is sufficient to provide the employer with a medical certificate confirming the child’s health condition.

Parental presence leave is available to any employee whose dependent child has a serious illness, disability, or has been in an accident requiring sustained presence and demanding care.

The leave may be split or converted into part-time work, with a minimum period of half a day.

During this leave, the employment contract is suspended. The employee is protected from dismissal, except in cases of gross misconduct or inability to maintain the contract independent of the child’s health.

Pay is generally not maintained, except if more favorable provisions exist in your collective agreement or sectoral agreement. However, the employee may receive the Parental Presence Daily Allowance (AJPP) paid by the CAF.

Duration
The maximum duration is 310 working days over a 3-year period for the same child and the same condition. In the event of a relapse or if the severity of the condition requires prolonged presence, an exceptional renewal is possible, bringing the total duration up to 620 days.

Procedures
To benefit, the employee must inform their employer at least 15 days before the leave begins, by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt or hand delivery, attaching a medical certificate confirming the severity of the situation and the need for sustained presence. For each leave period, the employee must inform the employer 48 hours in advance, except in cases of medical emergency.