Month after month, purchasing power remains a major concern of the French. The executive power, with the help of the legislator, tries to somehow provide an answer in a delicate economic context.
The development of the new mechanism for the buyback of RTT days by the company is part of this equally delicate exercise.
While this initiative deserves to be accepted, the interest of the provision is in any case limited.
Work harder to earn more
The monetization rest days must allow the worker (if his employer agrees) to earn purchasing powerby forgoing taking some days off, which will eventually be worked in exchange for a wage increase at least equal to the rate of increase in overtime.
In order to make this system economically attractive and to encourage agreement between the parties, these monetized days of rest benefit, up to a limit of 7,500 euros, from a reduction of social security contributions is one income tax exemption. It should also be noted that these monetized hours will not be taken into consideration in the overtime quota.
In practice, the device therefore does not consist of:
- nor monetize days off something that would not have existed before, given that when they are exercised by the worker for what they are, i.e. rest, they are in principle subject to monetization through the salary maintenance mechanism. The rest is then compensated similarly to what is practiced for paid leave: RTT and paid leave, same struggle;
- nor to exchange rest for purchasing power. In fact, one could have imagined that an employee who was too “rich” at the time of the RTT would have had the possibility of having them settled in hard and hard euros. Unfortunately for him, no.
In fact, it is up to the interested party to “work more to earn more”, according to the expression that became famous during the 2007 presidential campaign.
A ransom, yes, but for whom?
At first glance, the device looks largely mobilized since it applies regardless of the size of the company, without the need to enter into a company agreement, without limit to the number of days that can be cashed in and retroactively to the days of rest acquired from the 1stand January 2022.
It is also an easily accessible device for the worker as the law does not impose any formalism to be respected in order to benefit from it.
But in fact, the device monetization presents a field oflimited application and may not apply to all private sector employees.
In fact, only two categories of rest days are affected by monetization:
- the recovery days working hours still in force in some collective texts, deriving from the reduction of the legal working hours from 39 to 35 hours;
- They rest days inconstituted by agreements for the organization of specific working hours, in relation to activities subject to significant variations (e.g. personal services, industry).
The days of rest following the application of the art package-daysor even those that replace overtime pay.
The other significant limitation is that this monetization must be accepted by the employer, who assumes in particular that his activity requires it.
The relevance of the device in question
The benefit of RTT’s daily buy-back program is all the more limited as similar programs already exist that allow employees to convert their days off into cash.
However, these schemes are permanent, unlike the monetization of rest days, which expires on 31 December 2025.
Therefore, employees on flat rate days are legally allowed to do so redeem their RTT days in exchange for a salary increase of at least 10% (article L. 3121-59 of the Labor Code); this also explains their exclusion from the exceptional regime.
More generally, the monetization of days off is often implemented in companies through the “time savings account” or “CET”, which allows employees to save them for future use or monetization not increased (but also “unworked”).
Restricted public, obligation to work more, competition with mechanisms specific to companies deriving from collective bargaining, it is not certain that the mechanism for monetizing rest days will be fully implemented in the coming months, moreover some trade union voices have been raised to denounce an “attack on 35 hours“.
Where do we go back to talking about the delicacy of the exercise…
For further :
Marion Locuratololawyer at the Greenwich cabinet accompanies its customers on all social, collective and individual aspects, which concern the life of the company or the employment contract. He assists and advises them in the implementation of their social policy, in day-to-day matters of the employment relationship and in the management of their disputes.
But also
Alessandro Barbotin and co-founded Greenwich in 2020 with Stéphane Laubeuf. Alexandre accompanies his clients on all social, collective and individual aspects, which concern the life of the company or the employment contract. He assists and advises them in the implementation of their social policy, in the daily problems of the employment relationship, in the search for adequate solutions and in the management of their disputes.
