France: 2026, Looking Ahead

The continuing unstable political situation in France and upcoming local elections makes it difficult to anticipate future legislative changes in 2026. Following the fall of the government formed under former Prime Minister François Bayrou in September 2025 and the nomination of the new government under Sébastien Lecornu, the new government still does not hold a majority in Parliament. Whether it will be able to survive will depend on its capacity to pass a new budget through Parliament in the next few weeks.

International companies operating in France should therefore ensure regularly check for new developments.

1. Labour measures to be implemented in 2026

• increase of the hourly minimum salary to 12.02€ per hour on 1^st January 2026;
• increase of the minimum compensation for trainees to 4.50€ per hour on 1^st January 2026;
• increase of the reference salary to be used for social security contribution calculations to 4.005 € per month/ 48.060 € per year;
• new “smoking area” notices to be put up by 22^nd January 2026;
• requirement to have 30% women in management positions to be met by 1^st March 2026;
• new reporting requirements with regards to health and safety training from 16^th March 2026;
• existing company agreements with regards to professional meetings which now take place every 4 years (instead of every 2 years) will need to be updated by 1^st October 2026;
• possible updating of company agreements on employee’s right to disconnect in line with recently published guidance by the Ministry of Labour.

2. Possible labour measures currently being examined by the Parliament

• employer social security contributions due on mutual termination indemnities and employer-imposed retirement indemnities may rise from 30 to 40%;
• possibility for employees to benefit from up to 4 extra months’ time off to look after their newborn children;
• penalties for companies with at least 300 employees who do not negotiate a company agreement on the employment of employees aged over;
• increased controls and penalties in case of undeclared work;
• doctors will only be able to issue sick leave medical certificates for an initial period of 1 month which can only be renewed for a maximum duration of 2 months at a time;
• all companies (and no longer only companies with less than 250 employees) would be able to benefit from a reduction of social security contributions on overtime hours.

3. EU directives implementation calendar

• Platform workers: France has until December 2^nd 2026 to transpose Directive 2024/2831 of 23 October 2024 on platform workers into French law. No draft transposition text has been announced to date.
• Pay transparency: France has until June 7^th 2026 to transpose Directive 2023/970 of 10 May 2023 on pay transparency. A draft transposition text is expected in the coming weeks.
• CSRD: following the European Parliament’s vote at the end of December, the updated Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive should be published in early 2026 and may be transposed in French law during 2026.