Section 1: Protection of pregnancy and maternity

The employee benefits from a leave of absence to attend the compulsory medical examinations provided for by article L. 2122-1 of the Public Health Code as part of the medical supervision of pregnancy and the aftermath of childbirth. An employee benefiting from medically assisted procreation under the conditions provided for in Chapter I of Title IV of Book I of Part Two of the Public Health Code is entitled to…

The employee is entitled to maternity leave for a period starting six weeks before the presumed date of childbirth and ending ten weeks after the date of childbirth. At the request of the employee and subject to a favourable opinion from the health professional monitoring the pregnancy, the period of suspension of the employment contract that begins before the presumed date of childbirth may be reduced by a maximum of…

Where multiple births are expected, the period of maternity leave varies as follows: 1° For the birth of two children, this period begins twelve weeks before the presumed date of delivery and ends twenty-two weeks after the date of delivery. The suspension period prior to the presumed date of childbirth may be increased by a maximum of four weeks. The period of twenty-two weeks following childbirth is then reduced by…

Where, prior to childbirth, the employee herself or the household is already responsible for at least two children or where the employee has already given birth to at least two viable children, maternity leave begins eight weeks before the presumed date of childbirth and ends eighteen weeks after the date of childbirth. At the request of the employee and subject to a favourable opinion from the health professional monitoring the…

Where childbirth occurs before the presumed date, maternity leave may be extended until the end of the sixteen, twenty-six, thirty-four or forty-six weeks of suspension of contract to which the employee is entitled, as applicable, in application of articles L. 1225-17 to L. 1225-19.

Where a medical condition is certified as resulting from pregnancy or childbirth, maternity leave is increased by the duration of the condition, up to a maximum of two weeks before the presumed date of childbirth and four weeks after the date of childbirth.

If the child remains hospitalised until the end of the sixth week following the birth, the employee may postpone all or part of the leave to which she is still entitled until the date on which the hospitalisation ends.

When childbirth occurs more than six weeks before the expected date and requires postnatal hospitalisation of the child, maternity leave is extended by the number of days running from the actual date of childbirth to the start of the maternity leave periods mentioned in articles L. 1225-17 to L. 1225-19.

Maternity leave results in the suspension of the employment contract. The employee shall notify the employer of the reason for her absence and the date on which she intends to end it. The duration of this leave is treated as a period of actual work for the purposes of determining the employee’s seniority rights.

At the end of her maternity leave, the employee returns to her previous job or to a similar job with at least equivalent pay.