France

Impact date: 14 June 2026 A new law strengthens employment protections and workplace rights for employees caring for a child with cancer, another serious illness, a disability, or a serious accident. The reforms are intended to make it easier for parents to balance work and caring responsibilities during periods when a child requires substantial treatment, supervision or care.

Key changes include:

• shorter notice period for parental presence leave: employees are now required to notify their employer ten days in advance, reduced from 15 days previously
• extended protection against dismissal: an employee taking parental presence leave cannot be dismissed except for serious misconduct or a reason entirely unrelated to the leave. This protection now continues for ten weeks after the employee returns from leave, aligning it more closely with the protection available after maternity leave. Previously, the protection applied only while the employee was actually on leave
• enhanced leave in the event of the death of a child: the law increases the amount of statutory bereavement leave available to affected parents from five to 12 days under ordinary law, and from seven to 14 working days where the child is aged under 25
• working-time arrangements: the right to individualized working-time arrangements is extended to parents of a child whose health condition requires a significant level of parental presence and demanding care
• penalty for breach: a dismissal in breach of the statutory protection is null and void. The employee may seek reinstatement or minimum compensation equal to six months’ salary

Impact date: 15 June 2026 (applies to sick leave certificates issued on or after this date) The rules governing pre-return medical examinations and return-to-work medical examinations for employees returning from a period of sick leave have been amended. The changes are intended to help employers and occupational health services prepare for an employee's return to work earlier and to avoid unnecessary duplication of medical examinations where the employee's fitness to return has already been assessed shortly before their return.

The key changes are:

• employer notification of pre-return examinations: where a pre-return examination is organized during an employee's sick leave, the occupational health service must now inform the employer that the examination is taking place. The employee can object to this notification, in which case the employer will not be informed. The employer is informed only that the examination has been organized and does not receive confidential medical information
• possible waiver of the return-to-work examination: a return-to-work medical examination is no longer mandatory where all of the following conditions are met:
• a pre-return examination took place within the 30 days preceding the employee's actual return to work
• the occupational physician concluded that no individual workplace adaptations, adjustments, job modifications or working-time arrangements were necessary and
• neither the occupational physician, the employer nor the employee requests a return-to-work examination

Impact date: 1 July 2026 (additional birth leave provision); 1 September 2026 (shorter maximum benefit period following an individual mutual termination) Changes have been approved to the national unemployment insurance scheme that affect employees whose employment ends through a rupture conventionnelle individuelle (RCI), a mutually agreed termination between the employer and employee. The reforms primarily reduce the maximum period for which unemployment benefits can be received following an RCI and make a technical adjustment to the way unemployment benefits are calculated for employees who have taken certain family-related leave.

Under the new rules, employees whose employment ends through an RCI will generally be entitled to unemployment benefits for a shorter maximum period than before. From 1 September 2026, the maximum benefit duration will be:

• 15 months for claimants under age 55 (previously 18 months) and
• 20.5 months for claimants aged 55 and over (previously between 22.5 and 27 months, depending on age)

The amendment also introduces a change to the calculation of the employee's reference salary, which is used to determine the amount of unemployment benefits payable. From 1 July 2026, periods of additional birth leave are included in the list of recognized suspension periods that are neutralized when calculating the reference salary. In practical terms, employees who take this leave should be less likely to see their unemployment benefits reduced because they were absent from work during the relevant reference period.

Impact date: 1 July 2026. The measure applies to children born or adopted from 1 January 2026 onwards. The French Government has confirmed the creation of birth leave which does not replace the current parental leave but is added to existing maternity, paternity and adoption leaves.

The details have now been finalized as follows:

• a duration of one or two months per parent, which can be taken at the same time or successively, either in a single block or split into two separate one‑month periods
• the leave must be taken within nine months after birth or adoption, and only after maternity, paternity or adoption leave has ended
• compensation by Social Security at 70% of net salary for the first month and 60% for the second, within the Social Security ceiling; employer top‑up remains optional
• no employer approval is required. Employees must give one month’s notice (reduced to 15 days if taken immediately after paternity or adoption leave)

Impact date: 22 July 2026 New measures have been introduced to strengthen the prevention, detection and enforcement of social security and tax fraud. The legislation is aimed at tackling fraudulent sickness absence claims, undeclared work, social security contribution fraud and the misuse of subcontracting arrangements. It also gives enforcement authorities stronger powers to act quickly where fraud is suspected.

Key measures include:

• restrictions on teleconsultation sick notes: a sick leave certificate may generally be renewed only once following a teleconsultation. Further renewals must normally be supported by an in-person consultation, unless the renewal is issued by the employee's usual treating physician or an in-person consultation is not possible. The measure is designed to reduce abuse of remote medical consultations for prolonged sickness absence
• new "flagrance sociale" procedure: where serious social security fraud is suspected, URSSAF may use an expedited procedure enabling it to take immediate protective measures, including securing or freezing assets, while investigations are ongoing. The objective is to prevent companies from transferring or dissipating assets before recovery action can be taken
• stronger liability in subcontracting chains: the law strengthens the financial responsibility of companies that use subcontractors. Businesses can face greater exposure where a subcontractor fails to comply with social security obligations, particularly if appropriate due diligence and monitoring have not been carried out
• supplementary sick-pay exemption in cases of fraud: where employee fraud relating to sickness absence is established, employers may be relieved of the obligation to pay the employer-funded supplement that normally tops up statutory daily sickness benefits

Impact date: To 31 December 2026 A discretionary power has been given to the préfets until 31 December 2026 to regularize illegal workers working in jobs and geographical areas where there is a recruitment shortage. In practice, this involves granting a one year’s residence permit, applicable if the individual has:

• worked as a salaried employee in a job included in the list of jobs and geographical areas that have experienced recruitment difficulties for at least 12 consecutive or non-consecutive months over the last 24 months
• held a job in one of these jobs or areas
• proven uninterrupted residence in France for at least three years and
• a clean criminal record (“bulletin n°2”) with no convictions, inabilities or disqualifications

There is discretion to refuse regularization even if the above conditions are met. Préfets will have to take into account the social and family integration of the illegal workers, whether they comply with public order, whether they are integrated into French society and whether they embrace the way of life and values of French society and the principles of the Republic.

Other changes include training for foreign non-French speaking employees, and social security benefits for foreign nationals who are not EU nationals.