Your technicians are working nights on a French project, and the customer wants the same team for another week. Each planned week stays below 48 hours. That does not settle whether the programme can continue: employees who qualify as night workers have a separate maximum average working week, normally 40 hours over 12 consecutive weeks.
The practical question is how much work those employees can still take on, and whether an applicable provision allows a higher average. Check this before confirming the next intervention. A night premium, an overtime budget or permission for a particular long day does not provide the answer.
This guide covers adult employees under the general private-sector rules, including employees posted to France. Transport, agriculture, young workers and other special regimes require separate examination. French working-time and compensatory-rest protections apply to posted employees under L.1262-4.
Establish whose working time needs this calculation
Under L.3122-5, an employee qualifies as a night worker if their usual schedule includes at least three hours of night work a day, at least twice a week, or if they reach the applicable minimum number of night-work hours over a reference period. An extended collective agreement can set that minimum and period; without the relevant provision, the threshold is 270 night-work hours over 12 consecutive months. L.3122-5, L.3122-16 and L.3122-23.
Identify the relevant night-time period as well. The general default without an agreement is 21:00–06:00, but collective provisions and specified activities can change the analysis. Do not assume that every employer uses the same period. L.3122-20.
An occasional late intervention does not automatically determine night-worker status. Conversely, a short French assignment does not establish that the employee has no relevant night-working history. Obtain the working pattern and applicable provisions before selecting the limit.
Once the night-worker rules apply, the average concerns the employee’s total working time, including relevant work outside the night-time period. It is not an allowance of 40 nocturnal hours plus unrestricted daytime work. Calculate separately for each employee; spare hours in one person’s record do not cancel another person’s excess.
Treat 40 hours as an average, not a fresh weekly allowance
L.3122-7 sets the ordinary weekly maximum calculated over 12 consecutive weeks at 40 hours. Review successive 12-week windows as the programme moves forward. A new customer order does not, by itself, provide a new calculation period.
For a straightforward record containing 12 complete worked weeks, total the relevant actual working hours and divide by 12. Forty hours corresponds to 480 hours in that window. This is a calculation check, not a bank of hours that can be spent without regard to daily limits, individual weeks or rest.
Establish what belongs in the record. Actual working time depends on whether the employee is at the employer’s disposal, follows its instructions and cannot freely attend to personal matters. A paid break or a line on an invoice does not alone settle that classification. Absences, travel and other disputed periods need their applicable treatment established before the spreadsheet is used. L.3121-1.
The weekly totals should reflect the employee’s work, rather than only the hours billed to the French customer. Keep the underlying daily records so that an additional handover, call-out or change in the intervention can be reflected in the calculation.
See why one more busy week changes the answer
Assume an employee already qualifies as a night worker and the relevant record consists of six weeks at 36 actual working hours followed by six weeks at 44 hours. All the weeks in this example belong to the assessed French assignment. There are no absences or unresolved counting issues. The example isolates the average; the organisation of each day, night work and rest still needs its own valid basis.
| Period examined | Hours included | Total | Weekly average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–12 | Six weeks × 36 hours, then six weeks × 44 hours | 480 hours | 40 hours |
| Weeks 2–13, with another 44-hour week | Five weeks × 36 hours, then seven weeks × 44 hours | 488 hours | 40 hours 40 minutes |
| Weeks 2–13, with week 13 reduced to 36 hours | Five weeks × 36 hours, six weeks × 44 hours, then 36 hours | 480 hours | 40 hours |
In the second line, 36 hours leave the window and 44 hours enter it. Every individual week stays below 48 hours, yet the average exceeds the ordinary night-worker maximum. A valid basis covering the higher average, or a revised programme, is needed.
The third line identifies an eight-hour reduction for that employee in week 13. One operational option is to allocate an eight-hour intervention to another suitably qualified employee whose own hours, rest and night-work arrangements have been checked. Another is to move the work to a later period after recalculating the windows affected. Replacing the name on the rota without checking the replacement worker’s record does not resolve the issue.
A 36-hour week could, for example, distribute actual work across four eight-hour days and one four-hour day. The breaks and start/finish times still need planning; this distribution is not a complete approved rota. Nor does fixing weeks 2–13 guarantee that weeks 3–14 will pass. Recalculate before assigning the next week.
Check the provision allowing an average above 40 hours
L.3122-18 allows an enterprise or establishment agreement or, failing that, a branch collective agreement to provide for a higher average where the particular characteristics of the sector’s activity justify it. The resulting average must not exceed 44 hours over 12 consecutive weeks.
Find the actual clause and check its scope, conditions and effective dates. A provision about night pay, annual scheduling or introducing night work does not necessarily permit a higher maximum average. If the applicable provision sets a lower limit than 44 hours, that is the limit to assess; the statutory upper boundary is not an automatic entitlement.
For a foreign employer, establish which French collective provisions apply to the activity and employees concerned. The customer’s agreement should not simply be treated as the subcontractor’s agreement, and a home-country agreement should not be assumed to supply the required French basis. Resolve that question before promising the customer that the same team can remain on the proposed hours.
Where a valid 44-hour provision applies, 12 complete weeks averaging 44 hours total 528 hours. It does not follow that every week or every day may be arranged freely, or that a programme exceeding that average can be approved through the same clause.
Without an agreement, identify an applicable sector rule
L.3122-24 provides that, in the absence of an agreement, a decree may establish the sectors in which the maximum weekly duration is set between 40 and 44 hours. It does not itself place every employer at 44 hours. A company relying on this route needs the applicable regulatory text and evidence that its activity and employees fall within its scope.
Sector rules must be read as a whole. The Labour Ministry cites the railway working-time decree as an example in its night-work guidance. That example does not establish a general exception for installation, maintenance or construction work. A technical intervention at a transport site is not, by that fact alone, proof that the employer’s staff fall within a transport working-time regime.
The night-worker average provisions do not create a general individual application to the labour inspector for permission to move from 40 to 44 hours. The general administrative route to a 46-hour average in L.3121-24 concerns a different maximum and is not a substitute for the night-worker rules. If no applicable basis supports the higher night-worker average, plan against 40 hours and adjust the programme.
There are administrative procedures for other night-work questions. L.3122-21 concerns assigning employees to night posts without a collective agreement after serious, good-faith negotiations; L.3122-6 provides an exceptional route for exceeding the night worker’s daily limit. Neither should be presented as a general weekly-average permit. Establish the precise request before attaching a deadline or consultation procedure to it.
Keep the daily, weekly and rest checks alongside the average
For a night worker, the ordinary daily maximum is eight hours, subject to its own exceptions. An agreement allowing a 44-hour average does not by itself authorise a ten-hour day. The general 48-hour maximum in one week is another separate control. If an exceptional longer week is envisaged, our guide to the 48–60-hour authorisation explains that distinct question. L.3122-6 and L.3121-20.
Plan breaks and rest at the same time: the general rules include a minimum 20-minute consecutive break when daily work reaches six hours, normally 11 consecutive hours of daily rest, and weekly rest of at least 24 consecutive hours plus the daily rest. Apply the relevant exceptions and any stronger requirements where they exist; a passing average does not displace them. L.3121-16, L.3131-1 and L.3132-2.
Night-work compensatory rest and, where applicable, pay also remain relevant. Reducing a later week to control an average does not automatically establish that every compensatory entitlement has been granted. For the prior decision about organising nights, see our night-work preparation guide. L.3122-8.
Prepare the employee history and the decision file
For posted employees, gather the relevant earlier assignments and night-working history. Do not automatically enter zero for every week before arrival in France or assume that a new SIPSI declaration resets the record. The treatment of work outside France and changes in status must be established for the actual situation; this guide does not prescribe a universal inclusion or exclusion rule. Where the answer changes the proposed schedule, obtain the necessary labour-law assessment before relying on the calculation.
A useful preparation file brings together:
- Employer, activity and employees: the French work, sites, dates, actual employer and employees concerned.
- Status and applicable provisions: night-worker assessment, night-time period, collective clause or sector text relied on, with its scope and conditions.
- Hours and forecast: relevant daily records, weekly totals, successive averages, proposed work and the treatment of uncertain periods.
- Alternatives and remaining requirements: staffing options, reduced weeks, breaks, rest and any distinct authorisation that may be necessary.
This is a practical decision file, not a standard application for a weekly-average permit. Keep the evidence behind the chosen schedule and update it when work changes. A future reduction cannot erase an excessive average in a completed period.
Discuss the programme before extending the team’s assignment
Tell ALTALEO where your team will work, the proposed dates and the working pattern you need. We can help organise the administrative preparation, assemble the timetable and supporting documents, and coordinate clarification or follow-up in French. The scope and quotation reflect the actual mission, including any specialist legal assessment or separate application required.
You do not need a complete file for the first conversation. The next step may be to clarify an agreement, adjust staffing or prepare a distinct request. Our assistance does not guarantee that the proposed hours will be permitted.
