France will mark up to 19 public holidays in 2027 depending on where in the country a person lives, but only one of them, Labour Day on May 1st, is guaranteed by law as a non-working day for every employee.
The country's Labour Code sets 11 official public holidays that apply nationwide, according to the French government's Service-Public website. Communes in Alsace-Moselle and France's overseas territories observe additional holidays tied to local history and religious tradition, which pushes the total count as high as 19.
The 2027 Holiday Calendar
The 11 national public holidays for 2027 fall as follows: New Year's Day on Friday, January 1st; Easter Monday on Monday, March 29th; Labour Day on Saturday, May 1st; Ascension Day on Thursday, May 6th; Victory in Europe Day on Saturday, May 8th; Whit Monday on Monday, May 17th; Bastille Day, marking the 1789 storming of the Bastille, on Wednesday, July 14th; Assumption Day on Sunday, August 15th; All Saints' Day on Monday, November 1st; Armistice Day, marking the end of the First World War in 1918, on Thursday, October 11th; and Christmas Day on Saturday, December 25th.
Several territories add their own dates. Alsace-Moselle observes Good Friday on Friday, March 26th, and a second day of Christmas on Sunday, December 26th. Overseas territories mark the abolition of slavery on different dates: Mayotte on Tuesday, April 27th; Martinique on Saturday, May 22nd; Guadeloupe and Saint-Martin on Thursday, May 27th; French Guiana on Thursday, June 10th; Saint-Barthelemy on Saturday, October 9th; and La Reunion on Monday, December 20th.
Why May 1st Stands Apart
Under Article L. 3133-1 of the Labour Code, May 1st is the only public holiday that must be a non-working day for all employees. It is the one date an employer cannot require staff to work, with the exception of businesses whose activity cannot be interrupted, such as hospitals and public transport operators.
Employees who do work on May 1st are entitled to an allowance equal to their usual pay for that day, on top of their normal salary, amounting to a 100 percent pay increase.
The Other Ten Holidays Work Differently
The remaining ten public holidays are not automatically treated as days off. They become non-working days only if a company agreement or collective bargaining agreement provides for it, or if the employer decides to grant it.
If a public holiday falls on a day an employee would not normally work anyway, they are not entitled to any extra compensation or a make-up day off, unless their collective agreement states otherwise, according to the website of the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity.
Bridge Days, Paid Leave and the Solidarity Day
French workers often benefit from a "pont," or bridge day, when one or two extra working days between a public holiday and a weekend are also taken off. This is not automatic and is left to the employer's judgement, after consultation with the company's social and economic committee. Employers can also require that the hours missed be made up later, without any pay increase.
Specific rules also apply when a public holiday falls during an employee's paid leave, as set out by the Ministry of Labour. If the holiday is a non-working day at the company, it is not deducted from the employee's leave allowance. If it is a normal working day at the company, it counts as an ordinary day of leave, meaning the employee must use one of their leave days for it.
Public holidays also include the "journee de solidarite," or solidarity day, introduced in 2004 to help fund support for elderly and disabled people. It corresponds to one unpaid working day per year. In practice it is often scheduled on Whit Monday, but it can also take other forms depending on company agreements, such as being converted into a reduced working time (RTT) day.
