A first employee going on sick leave is a high-pressure event for a foreign founder. The employee may call from another country, send only the employer’s copy of the medical certificate, or ask whether the company will keep paying the usual salary. The founder must then coordinate the French payroll provider, the employee’s primary health-insurance fund, the occupational-health service and, sometimes, the company’s insurer. A mistake can delay daily social-security benefits, create an underpayment claim, expose confidential health information or turn a badly handled replacement into an unlawful dismissal.
This article answers the practical question: what must a French employer do when its first employee is absent because of illness? It focuses on an ordinary non-occupational illness, while identifying the points at which an accident at work or occupational disease changes the analysis. It explains the 48-hour evidence trail, the difference between daily benefits and employer salary continuation, the role of the DSN (Déclaration sociale nominative, or Nominative Social Declaration), the limits of medical questioning, the return-to-work process and the narrow conditions for a dismissal based on operational disruption. It is a practical supporting page for the French company formation and compliance guide. The legal provisions and two decisions of the French Cour de cassation cited below were checked against official sources during this run. The rules below are written for a foreign founder who wants a reliable first-response checklist, not a generic employee handbook.
I. What must a foreign founder do when the first French employee goes on sick leave?
A. Which notice, medical and payroll steps apply in the first 48 hours?
Begin by identifying the type of absence and the date on which it starts. An ordinary sick leave is an incapacity for work caused by a non-occupational illness or accident. An accident at work is connected with work or the workplace. An occupational disease is connected with the employee’s work over time. The three categories can trigger different benefits, reporting duties, job-protection rules and return-to-work thresholds. Do not let the employee’s casual description decide the legal category. Ask for the document that establishes the absence and send any question about an alleged work connection to the payroll provider or employment lawyer.
The employee must notify the company without delay and provide the employer’s part of the work-stoppage notice. The employee does not have to disclose the diagnosis. The employer needs the dates of incapacity and the information needed to administer the employment relationship, not the medical reason. The French avis d’arrêt de travail is the official notice of a work stoppage. Its third section is the employer’s section. A foreign founder should ask the employee to transmit it through the secure channel used by the company, record the time of receipt and preserve the original file without circulating it to the wider team.
For the social-security part, Article L. 321-2 of the Social Security Code states: « En cas d’interruption de travail, l’assuré doit envoyer à la caisse primaire d’assurance maladie, dans un délai déterminé et, sous les sanctions prévues par décret, un avis d’arrêt de travail au moyen d’un formulaire homologué, qui doit comporter la signature du prescripteur. » In practical terms, the employee sends the required sections to the CPAM, the Caisse primaire d’assurance maladie or Primary Health Insurance Fund, unless the doctor has transmitted them electronically. The employee sends the employer’s section to the company.
The current official employee guidance states that the notice must normally be sent to the health-insurance body and the employer within 48 hours. The Service Public procedure for an employee’s sick leave also explains that, where a collective agreement or company agreement does not set another rule, the employer is normally informed within 48 hours by established practice. For the company, the safe workflow is immediate notification, a same-day request for the employer’s section and a dated confirmation to the payroll provider. Do not wait for the next monthly payroll cut-off.
Next, create a short case file with five dates: the last day worked, the first day of the work stoppage, the date the employee notified the company, the date the employer’s section was received and the expected end date. Add the employee’s contract, the applicable collective agreement, the employee’s seniority date and the payroll contact. This file lets the founder answer the questions that control the first payslip: is the absence justified, does statutory salary continuation apply, is a more favourable collective rule in force, and will the CPAM pay the employee directly or the employer under subrogation?
The employer also needs to act for the employee’s income. The official Ameli employer guidance on work stoppages explains that, after receiving the employer’s section, the employer must prepare the salary certificate needed to trigger the daily benefits. The salary certificate contains the employment and pay information used by the health-insurance body. It is not a medical report. Transmit it through the prescribed electronic payroll route or the Ameli employer service, according to the company’s payroll setup. The employer’s first employee should not be the first time a founder discovers that no one has access to the employer account.
The DSN is the monthly payroll and social-reporting system used by French employers. A DSN event signal reports a change such as a sick leave or the end of a contract. Urssaf, the organisation that collects most French social-security contributions, explains on its official DSN page that employee-pay data and events such as illness and termination are reported through the DSN and that an event signal is due within five days. That reporting does not replace the need to transmit the salary information required to calculate daily benefits. Ask the payroll provider to confirm, in writing, which DSN event was sent, on what date and with what dates of absence.
For a foreign founder, the first operational risk is often a mismatch between systems. The employment contract may show a start date in London time, the payroll software may use French calendar dates, and the medical notice may use a date format that the parent-company team reads incorrectly. The employer should check the French social-security number, the employee’s civil-status details, the company’s SIRET establishment number and the salary period. A SIRET is the fourteen-digit identifier of a French establishment. A SIREN is the nine-digit identifier of the legal entity. Explaining these identifiers to the foreign parent prevents a certificate being filed for the wrong establishment.
Do not ask the employee to send the complete medical certificate to the founder, the line manager or the overseas parent. The health information is restricted. The official Service Public guidance on medical confidentiality at work explains that an employer cannot require health information and that the occupational physician cannot transmit medical information to the employer. Designate one payroll or human-resources contact, limit access to the dates and administrative information necessary for processing, and keep any medical section out of the general personnel folder.
The founder should also confirm whether the employee is covered by a collective agreement. A collective agreement can provide a salary guarantee more favourable than the statutory scheme, a shorter waiting period, an employer-subrogation mechanism, or additional obligations. The applicable agreement is usually identified by its IDCC number, the identification number assigned to a national collective agreement. The agreement may be referenced in the employment contract and on the payslip. If the contract, payslip and payroll provider identify different agreements, stop the calculation and reconcile the sources before issuing the payslip.
Finally, acknowledge the notice without promising a particular amount. A useful message in English would say that the company has recorded the dates, that payroll is processing the salary certificate and that the company will confirm the applicable salary treatment after checking seniority and the collective agreement. Do not promise “full pay” merely because the employee is the company’s first hire. Do not promise “no pay” merely because the founder has never dealt with French sickness benefits. The correct answer depends on the Social Security rules, seniority, the contract, the collective agreement and any provident-insurance plan.
B. Who pays the employee, and how should salary, IJ and DSN be reconciled?
French sick-leave income normally has two possible components. The first is the daily social-security allowance, commonly called IJ or IJSS when referring to the daily allowance paid by the French Social Security system. The second is a possible employer supplement, sometimes called salary continuation or maintien de salaire. The two amounts are not automatically equal to the employee’s normal net pay. The employer must calculate the correct absence deduction, social-security benefit, statutory or collectively agreed supplement, tax withholding and any insurance payment.
The statutory employer supplement begins with a threshold that matters greatly for a first employee. Article L. 1226-1 of the Labour Code provides: « Tout salarié ayant une année d’ancienneté dans l’entreprise bénéficie, en cas d’absence au travail justifiée par l’incapacité résultant de maladie ou d’accident constaté par certificat médical et contre-visite s’il y a lieu, d’une indemnité complémentaire à l’allocation journalière prévue à l’article L. 321-1 du code de la sécurité sociale ». The same article requires the incapacity to be justified within 48 hours, coverage by Social Security and treatment in France or in another European Union or European Economic Area state, subject to the statutory exceptions.
That means a newly hired first employee with less than one year of seniority may not qualify for the statutory employer supplement under Article L. 1226-1. This is not the end of the analysis. A collective agreement, employment contract, company practice or provident plan may grant a better guarantee. A founder must therefore check the seniority date, including any legally recognised prior service, and then read the collective agreement before concluding that only the CPAM payment is due.
Where the statutory scheme applies, Article D. 1226-1 of the Labour Code sets the reference levels: « 1° Pendant les trente premiers jours,90 % de la rémunération brute que le salarié aurait perçue s’il avait continué à travailler ; 2° Pendant les trente jours suivants, deux tiers de cette même rémunération. » The employee’s daily allowance is taken into account under the applicable calculation rules. The employer is not simply required to add 90% of gross salary on top of the IJ. The payroll calculation must avoid paying more than the guarantee and must respect a more favourable collective rule where one applies.
The waiting periods also need to be separated. Under Article R. 323-1 of the Social Security Code, « le point de départ de l’indemnité journalière … est le quatrième jour de l’incapacité de travail », subject to the same-affection rule and other statutory conditions. The article also sets a maximum three-year benefit period and a maximum of 360 daily allowances in a three-year period. The employer’s supplement may have a separate waiting period, and the collective agreement may remove or shorten it. A payroll file should show which waiting period belongs to which payer.
The daily allowance itself is not calculated from the employee’s headline annual salary without limits. The health-insurance calculation uses the legally defined salary basis and caps. The official Ameli employer page on sickness daily allowances explains that ordinary sickness IJ are generally calculated at 50% of the reference daily salary and that the reference salary is capped. It also confirms the three-day waiting period and describes subrogation. The salary certificate must therefore use the correct pay periods, bonuses and absences rather than a figure copied from the employment offer.
Subrogation changes the payment flow, not the employee’s underlying entitlement. With subrogation, the employer continues to pay the employee all or part of the guaranteed amount and receives the IJ directly from the CPAM. Without subrogation, the CPAM pays the employee and the employer pays only the amount, if any, required under the contract or collective agreement. The payslip should identify the absence, the employer supplement and the IJ treatment so that the employee can understand why the net payment differs from the usual amount. Ask the payroll provider whether the company has valid subrogation instructions and whether the period of subrogation matches the period of salary continuation.
A practical calculation example shows the issue. Assume the employee has 18 months of seniority, an ordinary medical notice begins on a Monday and the applicable collective agreement follows the statutory minimum. The payroll team must identify the three waiting days for IJ, determine the employer’s waiting period, calculate the gross salary that would have been earned, calculate the IJ entitlement, deduct the absence and add the lawful supplement. If the employee’s agreement provides immediate salary continuation, the result will differ. If the employee has only three months of seniority and no more favourable agreement applies, the statutory employer supplement may be unavailable even though the CPAM claim exists.
The company should never solve a payroll uncertainty by paying the normal salary indefinitely and “sorting it out later.” An overpayment can create a recovery dispute and an incorrect DSN. Conversely, a premature zero payment can cause hardship and a wage claim. The foreign founder should ask for a written payroll calculation showing: the employee’s seniority date, the applicable agreement, the IJ estimate, the waiting days, the employer supplement, the subrogation status, the deductions and the DSN event. Keep the calculation with the case file.
Social-security coverage can also be affected by the employee’s location. Article L. 1226-1 refers to treatment in France, another European Union state or another European Economic Area state for the statutory employer supplement. An employee who travels outside that area while ill may have a different administrative situation. The employer should not decide the effect of travel from a map or a casual email. Ask the CPAM or payroll provider for the applicable certificate and preserve the answer. The employee’s private travel plans and medical diagnosis remain separate from the payroll question.
The foreign parent may also have a private disability or income-protection policy. A provident plan can supplement statutory and collective payments, but it does not necessarily replace the employer’s first-response duties. Check the policy’s waiting period, claim notification procedure, medical-data rules and authorised contact. A provider may ask for information directly from the employee or a doctor. The founder should not copy the medical file into a group email to accelerate the claim.
Payroll must also account for paid leave. The rules on paid-leave accrual during illness have changed following European-law developments and French legislation. They can affect the employee’s balance and the company’s future liability, even though they do not decide the first sick-leave payment. The founder should ask the payroll provider to update the leave counter and to record the relevant periods. Do not use the sick-leave period as a reason to remove accrued leave from the payroll system without a legal calculation.
For a company with one employee, the cleanest control is a two-person approval. The payroll provider prepares the calculation and DSN. The founder or an authorised finance contact checks the dates, salary, seniority and collective agreement. The company then sends one written confirmation to the employee explaining the expected payment channel and timing. This simple record is valuable if the CPAM rejects a certificate, if an employer supplement is challenged or if the company later needs to show that it treated the employee consistently.
II. How should the employer manage return, replacement and termination risk?
A. What can the founder ask during sick leave, and when is a return examination required?
The employment contract is suspended during the medical absence. The employee is not available for ordinary work, and the founder should not ask the employee to answer customer emails, attend a board call or complete a handover from the sick-leave period unless a lawful medical arrangement allows a return to work. A remote employee is still an employee. Working from another country does not turn sick leave into unpaid annual leave and does not give the foreign parent a right to receive the diagnosis.
The employer may ask for the administrative notice, the expected end date where known and information needed for payroll or a lawful absence-management process. It may ask the employee to keep the company informed about an extension through the normal channel. It should not ask “what exactly is wrong?”, request a scan of the medical findings or ask the manager to investigate the employee’s health through colleagues. The occupational physician assesses fitness, restrictions and workplace adjustments; the physician does not give the employer the diagnosis.
The employee also has obligations during the absence. Under Article R. 323-11-1 of the Social Security Code, the doctor indicates on the notice whether outings are prohibited or allowed. The text provides: « soit que les sorties ne sont pas autorisées ; – soit qu’elles le sont. Dans ce cas, l’assuré doit rester présent à son domicile de 9 h à 11 h et de 14 h à 16 h, sauf en cas de soins ou d’examens médicaux. » The doctor may authorise free outings and may indicate whether certain activities outside the home are authorised. This is a rule administered by Social Security and medical controls, not an invitation for the employer to monitor the employee’s private life.
If the company pays an employer supplement, it may in certain circumstances organise a counter-visit through a doctor. The official Service Public guidance on employer checks explains the relationship between an employer-paid supplement and a medical control. The founder should use the prescribed process, appoint a legitimate provider, protect the employee’s medical confidentiality and record the result without asking the visiting doctor for the diagnosis. A founder’s suspicion, a social-media post or an employee’s failure to answer a work message is not itself a medical control.
For a longer absence, consider a pre-return visit. Article R. 4624-29 of the Labour Code states: « En vue de favoriser le maintien dans l’emploi, les travailleurs en arrêt de travail d’une durée de plus de trente jours peuvent bénéficier d’une visite de préreprise. » The pre-return visit can help identify an adjustment, a training need or a gradual return before the effective return date. It is not the same as the return examination, and the occupational physician’s medical conclusions are communicated to the parties only within the legal limits.
The return examination thresholds changed in 2026. Article R. 4624-31 of the Labour Code, in force from 15 June 2026, requires a return examination after maternity leave, occupational disease, at least 30 days of work accident, or at least 60 days of non-occupational illness or accident. The official wording includes: « 4° Après une absence d’au moins soixante jours pour cause de maladie ou d’accident non professionnel. » Once the employer knows the end date, it must contact the occupational-health service, which organises the examination on the effective return date and no later than eight days after that return.
The same Article R. 4624-31 contains a limited exception where the employee had a pre-return visit in the previous 30 days and the occupational physician concluded that no individual adjustment or working-time measure was necessary, unless the employee, employer or physician requests the return examination. The foreign founder should not apply this exception without the occupational-health service confirming that its conditions are met. A calendar entry in the parent company’s HR system is not a substitute for the French occupational-health process.
The return date must be coordinated with payroll. If the notice ends on a Monday, the employee is expected to return according to the contract and schedule, subject to any medical process or agreed adjustment. If the return examination is required, contact the occupational-health service as soon as the end date is known. If the employee says that returning to the existing job is impossible, do not make an immediate termination decision. Ask the occupational physician to assess fitness and possible adjustments. The legal route for incapacity is different from the route for an ordinary sick-leave absence.
A gradual return or therapeutic part-time work requires medical and administrative coordination. The founder should obtain the relevant prescription and confirm the CPAM position, the occupational-health recommendation and the payroll treatment. Do not create an informal arrangement where the employee works a few hours but remains recorded as fully absent. That can produce conflicting evidence about the contract suspension, daily allowances and salary. Put the agreed schedule, dates, duties and review point in writing.
The current rules also require calendar vigilance. Official guidance reports that, from 1 September 2026, an initial medical notice will generally be limited to 31 days and an extension to 62 days, subject to the statutory exceptions and the applicable prescription rules. The Service Public Entreprendre notice on the new sick-leave prescription limits should be checked by the payroll provider when the rule becomes applicable. It does not change the founder’s immediate duties after the first notice, but it may affect how extensions are reviewed and how the expected return date is updated.
The employee’s absence may create a genuine business emergency, especially when the first hire is the only person serving French customers. The lawful response is to plan continuity without treating the absent employee as available. Reallocate work to the founder, a properly instructed contractor or a temporary replacement where the conditions for that contract are met. Remove access only for legitimate security or continuity reasons and preserve evidence that the decision was unrelated to the employee’s health. Do not send a message saying that the company is “replacing you because you are sick.” That wording can become evidence in a discrimination claim.
B. Can the employer replace or dismiss the employee because the company is disrupted?
An ordinary sick leave does not automatically authorise dismissal. The central protection is the prohibition on discrimination based on health. Article L. 1132-1 of the Labour Code provides that « aucun salarié ne peut être sanctionné, licencié ou faire l’objet d’une mesure discriminatoire … en raison de son état de santé ». The company may make a decision for a lawful reason, but it must be able to show that the reason is not the employee’s illness or the fact that the employee exercised sickness rights.
French case law recognises a narrow route where prolonged or repeated absences objectively disrupt the company and make a permanent replacement necessary. In its decision of 14 June 2016, social chamber, appeal no. 15-12.522, the Cour de cassation stated that the disruption must lead to « la nécessité pour l’employeur de procéder à son remplacement définitif par l’engagement d’un autre salarié ». The official Légifrance decision, no. 15-12.522, also shows that a temporary replacement and the employee’s central role do not automatically prove that a permanent replacement was necessary.
The same decision confirms the two questions that the employer must prove: an objective disruption in the company’s operation and the necessity of a definitive replacement. A foreign founder cannot simply write “we are a small company, so we cannot wait.” Evidence should identify the employee’s duties, the operational impact of each absence, the work that could not be covered, the attempts at temporary cover, the customer or regulatory consequences and the date on which a permanent hire actually became necessary. The evidence must be gathered without relying on the employee’s medical diagnosis.
The letter of dismissal must also be precise. In its decision of 16 September 2015, social chamber, appeal no. 14-10.844, the Cour de cassation held: « la lettre de licenciement doit énoncer expressément la perturbation dans le fonctionnement de l’entreprise et la nécessité de pourvoir au remplacement du salarié absent, dont le caractère définitif doit être vérifié par les juges du fond ». The official Légifrance decision, no. 14-10.844, is a warning against describing only “repeated replacement” or “absence causing inconvenience.” Those expressions may not establish a definitive replacement required for the future.
The ordinary dismissal procedure still applies. Article L. 1232-6 of the Labour Code requires the dismissal letter to state its reasons. The founder must plan the invitation to the preliminary meeting, the meeting, the notification period and any notice consequences. The employee’s sick leave does not remove the employee’s procedural rights. The parent company’s English template should not be sent without a French-law review, particularly if it refers to health, incapacity, performance or “availability.”
A permanent replacement means more than hiring someone for a few days. It usually requires a new employee to occupy the absent employee’s role on a lasting basis, while the employer’s evidence must connect the hire to the objective disruption. A temporary fixed-term replacement may help the company operate, but it may also undermine an assertion that a definitive replacement was immediately necessary if the company can continue with temporary cover. The effect depends on the facts and on the collective agreement. Do not sign a permanent replacement contract first and create the justification later.
The first employee’s probationary period does not create a shortcut. A company may end a probationary period for a lawful reason, subject to the applicable rules and notice period, but the timing and reason must not reveal that the real motive is the employee’s illness. A founder who ends probation immediately after receiving a medical notice should assume that the chronology will be scrutinised. Obtain employment advice before sending the decision, especially if the employee has raised a work-related health issue, discrimination complaint or request for adjustment.
The rules are stricter for an accident at work or occupational disease. Article L. 1226-9 of the Labour Code provides: « Au cours des périodes de suspension du contrat de travail, l’employeur ne peut rompre ce dernier que s’il justifie soit d’une faute grave de l’intéressé, soit de son impossibilité de maintenir ce contrat pour un motif étranger à l’accident ou à la maladie. » This special protection is not the general rule for every ordinary illness, but the employer must first classify the absence carefully. A work accident reported after the first notice can change the protection and reporting analysis.
Incapacity after the return process is a different legal situation again. If the occupational physician declares the employee unfit, the employer must examine redeployment and follow the applicable procedure. For non-occupational illness, Article L. 1226-4 of the Labour Code states: « Lorsque, à l’issue d’un délai d’un mois à compter de la date de l’examen médical de reprise du travail, le salarié déclaré inapte n’est pas reclassé dans l’entreprise ou s’il n’est pas licencié, l’employeur lui verse … le salaire correspondant à l’emploi que celui-ci occupait avant la suspension de son contrat de travail. » The founder must not confuse an employee who is still on sick leave with an employee whom the occupational physician has declared unfit after a return examination.
The company should also account for paid leave acquired during illness. In its decision of 21 January 2026, social chamber, appeal no. 24-22.228, the Cour de cassation addressed the accrual of paid leave during ordinary illness after the legislative changes. The official Cour de cassation decision, no. 24-22.228, should be read with the current Labour Code and the transitional rules before a payroll balance is corrected. This recent authority is a reminder that a sick-leave file is not limited to the one payslip: it may affect leave balances, termination calculations and the company’s records for later years.
The most reliable replacement decision follows a sequence. First, confirm that the absence is properly documented and that payroll is functioning. Secondly, establish the operational impact using work records, customer deadlines, service coverage and financial evidence, not health assumptions. Thirdly, use temporary continuity measures where lawful. Fourthly, obtain the employee’s return and occupational-health position where applicable. Fifthly, if a permanent replacement becomes necessary, document the date, role and reason before considering dismissal. Sixthly, have the French dismissal letter and procedure reviewed before any notification. A company that follows this sequence can protect continuity while reducing the risk that a genuine business problem is recharacterised as health discrimination.
For a foreign founder, communication discipline is part of the legal evidence. Keep the employee’s health information with the restricted payroll contact. Keep business-continuity messages factual. Use English for the parent company if needed, but keep the French documents, filing receipts and formal letters intact. Do not ask the employee to sign a resignation, mutual termination or “voluntary leave” document while the employee is ill simply to make the first payroll simpler. A termination agreement may have a separate approval process and can be challenged if consent was not free and informed.
Conclusion
When a first French employee goes on sick leave, the founder’s first objective is a complete, dated administrative record. Record the notice, obtain the employer’s section, protect medical confidentiality, send the salary certificate and DSN event through the correct channel, and calculate IJ and any salary continuation only after checking seniority and the collective agreement. Then plan the return with the occupational-health service where a pre-return or return examination is required. Manage the work without asking the employee to work during the suspension.
The second objective is to keep separate legal situations that are often confused: ordinary illness, an accident at work, occupational disease, occupational-health incapacity and operational disruption. Ordinary illness does not automatically justify dismissal. A dismissal based on prolonged or repeated absence requires objective disruption, a genuine need for permanent replacement and a letter that states both elements. A work-related absence has stronger protection. An incapacity declaration follows a medical process. Treating all four situations as “the employee is unavailable” is the fastest route to an avoidable dispute.
Before closing the first payroll cycle, the founder should have a written answer to seven questions: What is the exact absence category? When was the employer notified? Was the salary certificate transmitted? Which DSN event was sent? Does the employee have one year of seniority or a better collective guarantee? Is subrogation active? Who owns the return and continuity calendar? For a single-employee French company, these controls are small but decisive. They give the foreign parent a defensible record and give the employee a clear explanation of payment and return arrangements.
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