© - ATH all rights reserved - Edition 2024 38 EMPLOYER’S GUIDE 2024 THE PRINCIPLE OF WEEKLY TIME OFF Employees cannot work more than 6 days a week and are entitled to a minimum weekly time off of 24 consecutive hours, in principle on Sunday. The daily time off of 11 consecutive hours is added to this weekly time off. Weekly time off is therefore 35 hours in all companies. Failure to comply with the following conditions of the Employment Code relating to weekly time off and Sunday rest, is punishable by an administrative fine of € 4,000 maximum, or by a category 5 penal fine (amount page 85). AUTOMATIC EXEMPTIONS In establishments that need to operate or open on a Sunday due to production or business requirements or due to the needs of the public, there may be an exemption to the Sunday rest rule. The weekly time off is then allocated by rotation so some employees will have to work on Sunday. Unless stated by a collective agreement, employees do not receive specific considerations for working on a Sunday. Food stores can open on Sunday morning until 1 p.m. Employees are given a day off in lieu, by rotation and per two weeks. A 30 % increase in salary is provided for but only for employees working in stores with a surface area of over 400m2. A complete list of businesses concerned is given in article R. 3132-5 of the French employment code (e.g. healthcare facilities, hotels, restaurants, funeral directors, furniture retail…). EXCEPTIONS ACCORDING TO COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS In industrial companies, a company agreement or otherwise an extended sector agreement may, for economic reasons, provide for the possibility of organising work continuously and to allocate weekly time off by rotation. No specific statutory considerations are stipulated. In these same sectors, organising work with back-up teams for days off is also possible. The employees of the back-up team benefit from a pay increase of at least 50 %. SUNDAY WORKING 18 What you need to know : Sunday is in principle the weekly day off. However, there are many exceptions so employees may have to work on a Sunday. These exceptions can be permanent or temporary, subject to authorisation or not, applicable to the whole country or to certain precisely defined areas.
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