Notice of parental leave or the additional birth leave (France)
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This document is in French
The PDF you download is in French — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A letter for an employed parent in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte, telling the employer that they are taking parental leave (congé parental d'éducation), full-time or as part-time work (articles L. 1225-47 and L. 1225-50 of the French Labour Code), or the additional birth leave available since 1 July 2026 (congé supplémentaire de naissance, articles L. 1225-46-2 et seq.; decree no. 2026-419 of 30 May 2026). These leaves are a right once the conditions are met: the letter sets the dates, and the law calls for registered post with proof of receipt or hand delivery against a receipt. In French.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- After your baby’s birth in France you want to stop working for a while to look after the child.
- You want to go part-time to bring up your child and must tell your employer.
- You want to take the new additional birth leave and need to give your employer the dates.
- You need a letter telling your employer that you are taking parental leave.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Employee
- Employee's address
- How the letter is delivered
- Employer
- Employer's postal address (department if any, street, postcode and town)
- City
- Date
- Leave taken
- Period from
- Period to
- Child's name
- Child's date of birth
- Weekly hours during part-time parental leave (16 at least)
- The two periods of the additional birth leave, if split (dates)
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- What are the rules of parental leave (congé parental d'éducation) in France?
- It is open to an employee with at least one year's service with the company, after a birth or the adoption of a child under sixteen. It lasts at most one year, can be extended twice and ends at the latest on the child's third birthday (for an adoption, the limit depends on the child's age); it can take the form of part-time work of at least sixteen hours a week (article L. 1225-47 of the Labour Code). The employer pays no salary; the shared childcare benefit (PreParE) is claimed free of charge from the CAF, on caf.fr.
- How does the additional birth leave work in France since 1 July 2026?
- Each employed parent can take one or two months, in one go or, for two months, in two periods of one month, within nine months of the child's birth or arrival in the home (articles L. 1225-46-2 et seq. of the Labour Code), on top of maternity, paternity or adoption leave. It applies to children born or arriving from 1 January 2026; for those born or arriving before 1 July 2026, the nine months run from that date. The employer does not pay it: the national health insurance (Assurance maladie) pays daily allowances of 70 % of net pay in the first month and 60 % in the second, up to a ceiling.
- How much notice must a French employer get of parental or birth leave?
- Parental leave: one month before the end of maternity or adoption leave if it follows straight on, otherwise two months before it starts (article L. 1225-50 of the Labour Code). Additional birth leave: one month before it starts, or fifteen days if it follows straight on from paternity or adoption leave and starts in the month after the birth or arrival. The letter goes by registered post with proof of receipt or is handed over against a receipt; for parental leave, the notice is a matter of proof and not a condition of the right itself (Cour de cassation, 25 January 2012).
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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