Your team can complete the next phase of a French project by working 48 hours each week. No single week exceeds that limit, and the customer is willing to pay for overtime. Yet the programme can still breach a different restriction: the average working week over 12 consecutive weeks.
For an employer sending technicians or construction workers to France, this is a staffing and delivery question. Earlier busy weeks can leave less room for the next intervention. Before committing the same employees to an extended programme, establish the applicable average, calculate the periods affected and decide whether to change the schedule or prepare an authorisation request.
This guide covers adult employees under the general private-sector working-time rules. Transport, agriculture, young workers and other special regimes require a separate assessment. Working time and compensatory rest are among the French protections applicable to posted employees under Article L.1262-4.
Check the average as well as each individual week
Article L.3121-22 sets the ordinary maximum at 44 hours per week averaged over any 12 consecutive weeks, subject to the specified exceptions. This is a rolling check, not simply a quarterly total or a calculation starting again with each customer order.
The 48-hour limit in one week remains a separate test. Exceptionally, that individual weekly ceiling can be increased up to 60 hours through its own administrative route. Permission for a long week should not be assumed to cover an excessive average, and permission for a higher average does not automatically allow a week above 48 hours. The 35-hour legal reference for overtime is different again. Service Public, working-time limits.
Use actual working time for each employee. A rota or customer invoice is not necessarily an accurate record of hours worked. Establish the treatment of breaks, travel, standby and absences under the applicable rules before relying on the totals. Do not average one employee’s long hours against another employee’s shorter week.
See how one additional week changes the result
Consider an illustrative employee whose relevant record contains six weeks at 40 hours, followed by six weeks at 48 hours. For this example, all weeks fall within the assessed French assignment and the hours are actual working time; it does not resolve how to treat earlier work abroad.
| Rolling period | Hours included | Total | Weekly average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–12 | Six weeks × 40 hours, then six weeks × 48 hours | 528 hours | 44 hours |
| Weeks 2–13, if week 13 is 48 hours | Five weeks × 40 hours, then seven weeks × 48 hours | 536 hours | 44 hours 40 minutes |
| Weeks 2–13, if week 13 is instead 40 hours | Five weeks × 40 hours, six weeks × 48 hours, then 40 hours | 528 hours | 44 hours |
In the second line, week 1’s 40 hours leave the calculation and week 13’s 48 hours enter it. Every individual week remains at or below 48 hours, but the average exceeds the ordinary 44-hour limit. A valid route allowing that average, or a different schedule, is needed.
The third line shows one possible adjustment for that window. It is not permission to repeat the same pattern indefinitely. Recalculate the next window as each week leaves and enters the record. The practical decision may be to shorten particular weeks, move work to another period or use an additional team whose own hours have been checked.
Establish whether an agreement already permits up to 46 hours
Under Article L.3121-23, a company or establishment collective agreement or, failing that, a sector agreement can permit an average above 44 hours, provided it does not exceed 46 hours over 12 weeks.
Identify the actual provision, its scope and its conditions. A clause about overtime payment, annual scheduling or the customer’s operating hours is not automatically a clause permitting this higher maximum. Check which employees, activities and periods it covers before building the project programme around it.
For a foreign employer, the applicable French sector provisions and any company agreement require examination in the employer’s real situation. Do not assume that the customer’s agreement governs a subcontractor’s workforce, or that a home-country agreement automatically supplies the French legal basis. Resolve the relevant provision before asking for an administrative exception that may be unnecessary.
Without that agreement, prepare the request for the proposed average
Article L.3121-24 provides an administrative route where the agreement described above is absent, with a maximum average of 46 hours. This is an application to assess, not an automatic entitlement to schedule 46 hours.
Article R.3121-11 refers to the conditions in R.3121-10: exceptional circumstances causing a temporary extraordinary workload, supporting reasons, a requested period and the opinion of the social and economic committee, the CSE, if one exists. The employer addresses the request to the labour inspector; the regional director decides on the inspector’s report.
Explain why the extra hours are required during the period concerned, using the technical sequence, site constraints and alternatives considered. A customer’s preferred completion date is project evidence, but does not by itself establish exceptional circumstances. Identify the relevant DREETS/DRIEETS and territorial contact early, especially where several employers or sites are involved.
Above 46 hours requires a different exceptional basis
Article L.3121-25 allows exceptional arrangements in certain sectors, regions or companies for specified periods. It does not turn 46 hours into an unrestricted average available on request.
Under R.3121-12, the authorisation can permit an average above 46 hours over 12 weeks, distribute that average over a period longer than 12 weeks, or combine the two. The decision specifies the method, extent and other conditions. An employer cannot choose a longer averaging period simply because that makes its spreadsheet pass.
There are several application routes. A national sector request is made by the relevant employers’ organisation to the minister under R.3121-13. A local, departmental or interdepartmental sector request goes to the regional director under R.3121-14. A company covered by such a decision must still obtain the inspector’s decision on its application, after the CSE opinion where a CSE exists, under R.3121-15.
An employer outside those sector decisions can seek an individual authorisation for exceptional circumstances specific to its company. R.3121-16 requires a reasoned request with the CSE opinion if applicable, sent to the inspector for transmission to the regional director, who decides on the inspector’s report. Establish which route fits before preparing the file.
Allow time for the right decision
Since 16 August 2026, R.3121-8 expressly provides a 30-day response period from receipt for requests under L.3121-21 and L.3121-25. Its wording does not expressly cite L.3121-24. Service Public’s individual average-hours derogation entry separately lists a 30-day silence-means-acceptance period for L.3121-24; its exceptional average-hours entry also lists 30 days for the L.3121-25/R.3121-16 route.
Build preparation, consultation and any missing information into the programme before that administrative period. Do not treat silence after an informal email as sufficient evidence to start. Establish the applicable procedure, competent recipient, receipt, completeness and scope of any implied decision before relying on it. Keep a schedule that can be used if permission is not established in time.
An authorisation may also carry compensation affecting later staffing. R.3121-9 allows conditions such as a lower subsequent average, additional rest or a temporarily reduced maximum. Read those conditions before allocating the team to its next customer. R.3121-8 also provides for revocation if the reasons supporting the authorisation disappear.
Prepare the calculation around the employees’ real history
For a posted team, obtain the working-time information needed to identify the relevant record, including earlier assignments where they may affect the assessment. Do not automatically enter zero for every week before arrival in France, or assume that a new SIPSI declaration resets the calculation.
The treatment of periods worked outside France must be established for the actual posting situation and applicable rules. This guide does not prescribe a universal method for including or excluding those hours. Where that point changes whether the proposed schedule is permissible, resolve it with the appropriate labour-law advice or competent authority before using the result. Missing records are a gap to resolve, not spare capacity.
Prepare a clear file around the decision needed:
- Employer and scope: legal employer, authorised signatory, sites, activities, employees and requested dates.
- Hours and calculation: relevant recorded weeks, proposed hours, rolling totals, breaks and rest, with assumptions identified.
- Legal route: applicable agreement or administrative basis, including the scope of any existing authorisation.
- Supporting circumstances: reasons for the workload, period affected, technical constraints and alternatives considered.
- Consultation and decision trail: required CSE opinion where applicable, submission, receipt, correspondence and the decision relied upon.
This is a practical preparation framework, adapted to the route. It is not a universal official application form. For a foreign employer, clarify the actual employee-representation arrangements rather than replacing the required consultation with the customer’s approval.
Keep the average in step with the rest of the project
Check daily limits and rest, the maximum in each week, and any Sunday or night-work requirements alongside the average. Night workers have their own average-hours rules: the general 44-to-46-hour route should not be used as a substitute. See night work in France and Sunday work on a French worksite where those arrangements are planned.
During delivery, compare actual hours with the authorised or agreed programme. Recalculate when a shutdown extends, an employee works extra hours or a new assignment is added. Preserve the evidence behind the calculation; changing the future schedule does not erase a breach in an earlier completed period.
Discuss the programme before committing the same team
Tell ALTALEO where the work will take place, the planned dates and the hours proposed. We can help organise the administrative preparation, assemble the relevant timetable and supporting file, and coordinate follow-up in French. The scope and quotation depend on the employer, sites, periods and procedures concerned; any specialist legal assessment or separate working-time request is identified before the assignment is agreed.
You do not need a complete application pack for the first conversation. The next useful step may be a schedule adjustment, clarification of an existing agreement or preparation of a specific request.
Discuss your French assignment and working-time requirements with ALTALEO.
