What is individual training leave?
It is a right of absence from work, under certain conditions, enabling you to
follow a training course of your choice:
- at your initiative and individually;
- regardless of your possible participation in training courses forming part
of your undertaking’s training plan.
The training shall be conducted during all or part of your working hours.
The training should enable you to gain access to a higher level of
qualification, change jobs or professions, perfect your skills in the cultural
or social domains, or prepare for or sit an examination. Your employment
contract is not terminated but suspended.
You can benefit from this type of leave if you are an employee in an
undertaking in the industrial, commercial, crafts, agricultural or association
sectors, regardless of the size of the undertaking and of its legal status
(public limited company, limited liability company, cooperative, mutual interest
undertaking or association).
Seniority
You must be able to prove salaried employment of twenty-four months,
consecutive or not, of which twelve must have been spent in the undertaking,
regardless of the nature of the successive employment contracts.
This condition rises to thirty-six months for workers in crafts companies
with under ten employees, with twelve months being spent in the undertaking.
The seniority condition is not required if you have changed jobs as a result of
redundancy and you have not taken a training course between the time of being
made redundant and re-employment.
The training must consist of a course to acquire, maintain and perfect
skills, a course that will permit the obtaining of higher qualifications, or a
course to reduce the risk of qualifications not being in line with technological
developments.
Training can also involve a pretraining course, adaptation course, recycling
course or skills review. You are not obliged to choose a course that relates to
your work or to that of the undertaking.
Your training may be professional or cultural.
Duration of leave
The duration of the leave corresponds to that of the training course, which
may be full-time or part-time but cannot exceed: one year for a full-time
course, or 1 200 hours if the course consists of irregular classes or is
part-time.
Branch agreements or agreements concluded with the Government or regions may
provide for longer periods of leave.
Training fees
Training fees (registration, accommodation and transport) may be fully or
partly paid by the employer or by the body financing training leave.
Employees rights
Since the time spent on training leave is regarded as similar to working
time, paid holidays and bonuses are owed in full to employees. You can continue
to benefit from all social security services.
Applying for training leave
The request for authorisation from the employer to be absent from work must
be in writing and must indicate precisely the start of the training course and
the title, duration and name of the body responsible.
In the event of leave to sit an examination, you must enclose a registration
certification with your application.
Deadline for submitting the application to your employer
Four months before the beginning of the course if it lasts six months or
more, and if it will cover one continuous period or is full-time;
two months before the beginning of the course if it lasts less than six months,
is part-time, takes place during several different periods of time or if the
application concerns leave for an examination.
Employer’s reply
The employer must reply within 30 days following receipt of your application.
He/she can either give his/her agreement, or give reasons for rejecting or
postponing the leave (to limit the number of people absent simultaneously or
reasons relating to workload).
Your employer may not refuse training leave if you fulfil the conditions for
benefiting from it.
Whom should you approach?
In undertakings of over ten employees, you must approach the body to which
your undertaking contributes for the financing of individual training leave. In
undertakings of under ten employees, contact the joint body for the sector or
branch in which your undertaking operates. If there is no such body, contact the
regional “Fonds de gestion des congés individuels de formation” (FONGECIF
– management fund for individual training leave).
Application for payment of salary and fees
The application for the payment of your salary and training fees
(registration, transport and accommodation) must be submitted as soon as
possible. The deadline for a reply by the body in question is an average of two
months.
The body will decide to grant payment only if the employer authorises your
absence (two to four months before the start of the training course).
For further information, contact:
- the staff representatives in the undertaking;
- the management fund for individual training leave (FONGECIF) in your
region.
Source: www.Service-Public.fr
Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2006
Reproduction is authorised.
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