Nouvelle traducrtion
Published on June 3, 2025 – Department of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Solidarity Day was established in 2004 to fund initiatives to support the independence of elderly and disabled people. How does it apply to private sector employees and public sector employees? Find answers with Service-Public.fr.
Private sector
The terms and conditions for carrying out the solidarity day are set by company (or establishment) agreement or convention or by branch agreement. In the absence of a collective agreement, they are defined by the employer after consultation with the staff representative body.

Generally, the solidarity day in the private sector takes the form of an additional working day during the year, this day being unpaid. This may involve working:

either during a public holiday which was previously a holiday other than May 1 (such as Whit Monday);
either during a RTT day;
or by any other means allowing the work of 7 hours previously not worked (such as working on a Saturday, for example).
Hours worked during the solidarity day are not considered overtime (or additional hours).

Public sector
The public service solidarity day takes the form of an additional day of unpaid work. It can be completed in one of the following ways:

work on Whit Monday or another previously non-working holiday (other than May 1);
elimination of a day of RTT;
any other arrangement allowing the work of 7 hours previously not worked, excluding the removal of a day of annual leave (for example, working an additional day, outside school hours for teachers).
Namely

If the solidarity day is set on a public holiday, it will not apply to underage workers since, with rare exceptions, the work of employees under 18 is prohibited on public holidays. If a collective agreement sets a non-public holiday as a solidarity day, it is up to the social partners to decide on the conditions under which these young employees will work this day.
For part-time employees, the 7-hour limit is reduced proportionally to the working hours stipulated in their employment contract (for example, for a part-time employee, the limit will be set at 3.5 hours). Hours worked beyond this will be paid as normal.

Please note

Provisions are made so that employees changing employers during the year do not have to work this day several times a year.