In a decision published on 3 June 2026 (French Supreme Court, 3 June 2026, No. 25-13.970), the French Supreme Court ruled that the mere invalidity of an annual days-based working time arrangement (forfait annuel en jours) does not automatically entitle the employer to recover the additional rest days (RTT days) granted to the employee.
Unless the applicable collective bargaining agreement expressly provides that such additional rest days constitute a paid benefit granted in consideration for the annual days-based working time arrangement, the employer cannot seek reimbursement of those days on the basis of undue payment.
Background
An employee subject to an annual days-based working time arrangement brought proceedings before the Labour Court following her dismissal. Among other claims, she sought overtime back-payments, arguing that her forfait-jours arrangement was invalid because the employer had failed to comply with the workload monitoring and review obligations required under the applicable collective bargaining agreement.
In response, the employer argued that, should the arrangement be declared invalid, the employee should reimburse the additional rest days she had benefited from, on the grounds that those days had been granted without legal basis.
The Court of Appeal held that the forfait-jours arrangement was deprived of legal effect and awarded the employee overtime back-payments. However, it rejected the employer’s alternative claim seeking reimbursement of the additional rest days.
French Supreme Court decision
The French Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision. It noted that the applicable collective bargaining agreement did not provide that the additional rest days were granted as consideration for the higher remuneration associated with a forfait-jours arrangement.
As a result, the employer could not rely on the rules governing undue payment to recover the additional rest days previously granted to the employee.
Practical implications
This decision has significant practical implications:
- First, where an employee successfully challenges the validity of a forfait-jours arrangement and obtains overtime back-payments and/or damages, the employer cannot systematically seek reimbursement of the additional rest days granted under that arrangement.
- Secondly, the decision reinforces the importance for employers of strictly complying with the requirements of the applicable collective bargaining agreement, particularly those relating to workload monitoring, in order to ensure that a forfait-jours arrangement remains valid and enforceable.
French Supreme Court, 3 June 2026, No. 25-13.970
