Title III: Rest and public holidays

In mines, salt works and quarries, industrial establishments, building and civil engineering sites and shipyards, employees are given a rest period of : 1° Twenty-four hours for each Sunday or public holiday ; 2° Thirty-six hours for a consecutive Sunday and public holiday; 3° Forty-eight hours for Christmas, Easter and Whitsun. The rest period is calculated from midnight and, in the case of a consecutive Sunday and public holiday, extends…

In commercial operations, employees may not be employed on the first day of Christmas, Easter or Pentecost. On other Sundays and public holidays, they may not work for more than five hours. By means of legally binding statutes, adopted after consultation with employers and employees and published in the prescribed form, the départements or communes may reduce working hours or prohibit work altogether for all commercial operations or for certain…

The provisions of articles L. 3134-3 and L. 3134-4 do not apply: 1° To work which, in the case of serious necessity or in the public interest, must be carried out immediately ; 2° For a Sunday, to the completion of an inventory prescribed by law; 3° Supervision of the operation’s installations, cleaning and maintenance work necessary for the regular continuation of the operation itself or of another operation, as…

Derogations from the provisions of article L. 3134-3 may be granted by regulation for specific categories of activity, in particular for businesses where work is carried out which, by its nature, cannot be interrupted or postponed, as well as for activities which, by their nature, are limited to certain periods of the year or are subject to unusually intense activity at certain times of the year. The work authorised on…

Derogations from the provisions of articles L. 3134-3 and L. 3134-4 may be granted by the administrative authority for categories of activities whose full or partial operation is necessary on Sundays or public holidays in order to satisfy the needs of the population which are of a daily nature or which are particularly apparent on those days. The same applies to businesses that operate exclusively or predominantly with engines powered…

Temporary derogations from the provisions of article L. 3134-3 may be granted by the administrative authority, in accordance with procedures laid down by regulation, when the employment of employees on Sundays or public holidays is unforeseeably necessary to avoid disproportionate damage.

The ban on employing employees on Sundays or public holidays may be extended by regulation to other categories of activity. The provisions of articles L. 3134-5 to L. 3134-8 also apply to exceptions to this prohibition.

Articles L. 3134-2 to L. 3134-9 do not apply to restaurants, hotels and pubs, musical and theatrical performances, exhibitions or other entertainment, or to transport companies. In these sectors of activity, employers may only oblige employees to work on Sundays and public holidays if, due to the nature of the operation concerned, the work cannot be postponed or interrupted.

When it is forbidden, in application of articles L. 3134-4 to L. 3134-9, to employ employees in commercial operations, it is also forbidden during these days to carry out industrial, commercial or craft operations in places of sale to the public. This provision also applies to the commercial activities of consumer cooperatives or associations.

In the case of activities that are necessary, in whole or in part, to satisfy the needs of the population on a daily basis or which are particularly evident on Sundays and public holidays, the administrative authority may, for one or more municipalities with territorial continuity, prescribe, at the request of at least two thirds of the entrepreneurs, operation on Sundays and public holidays if the derogations to the provisions…