Section 1: Exceeding maximum daily working hours

The maximum daily working time of eight hours may be exceeded, with the authorisation of the Labour Inspector, in the event of : 1° Circumstances beyond the employer’s control, which are abnormal and unforeseeable; 2° Exceptional events whose consequences could not have been avoided.

The request for authorisation to exceed the maximum daily working time, accompanied by the relevant supporting documents, the opinion of the social and economic committee, if any, and the minutes of the consultation of the trade union delegates, if any, is sent by the employer to the labour inspector. If there is no trade union delegate or social and economic committee, the request must be accompanied by a document attesting…

The excess hours provided for in article L. 3122-6 may be applied on condition that rest periods of a duration at least equivalent to the number of hours worked in excess of the maximum daily working time are allocated to the employees concerned. This rest is taken as soon as possible after the period worked.

Any appeal against the Labour Inspector’s decision must be submitted to the Regional Director for Business, Competition, Consumer Affairs, Labour and Employment within one month of the date on which the parties concerned were notified of the decision.

The employer may decide to exceed, on his own responsibility, the maximum daily working time of eight hours when the circumstances mentioned in article R. 3122-1 involve : 1° The performance of urgent work with a view to organising rescue measures ; 2° The prevention of imminent accidents; 3° Repairing accidents to equipment, installations or buildings. If the employer has not yet submitted a request for the daily working time…

The Labour Inspector who receives a request to exceed the time limit, in application of this paragraph, shall make his decision known to the employer and, where applicable, to the staff representatives, within fifteen days of the date of receipt of the request.