Your technicians already work nights, and the French customer wants them to stay longer to finish an intervention. The proposed shift contains eight hours within the night-time period, but preparation before that period and work afterwards bring the total to ten. Before confirming the finish time, your company needs to check the daily limit for the employees concerned, the basis for exceeding it and the rest that must follow.
For an employee who qualifies as a night worker, the ordinary limit is eight hours of daily working time. It is not an allowance of eight night-time hours plus unrestricted work outside that period. A lawful arrangement for introducing night work does not, by itself, resolve an extension of the night worker’s daily hours. Labour Code, L.3122-6.
This guide concerns 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 protections apply to posted employees under L.1262-4.
Establish whether the employees are night workers
Working during the night-time period and having the legal status of a night worker are different questions. Under L.3122-5, an employee qualifies 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 of night-work hours over a reference period.
An extended collective agreement can set that minimum and reference period. Without the relevant collective provision, the threshold is 270 night-work hours over 12 consecutive months. Review the applicable provisions and the employee’s working pattern; do not decide solely from the label attached to one French assignment. L.3122-5, L.3122-16 and L.3122-23.
The night-time period must also be identified. In the general default case without a collective agreement it is 21:00–06:00; collective arrangements and specified activities can require a different analysis. L.3122-20.
An occasional night intervention therefore needs its own assessment. Absence of night-worker status does not mean that all working-time, rest or night-work requirements disappear. Conversely, once that status applies, count the employee’s whole daily working time when checking the eight-hour limit.
Identify the route that could cover the longer day
Check the collective agreement before preparing an individual application
An enterprise or establishment agreement, or failing that a branch collective agreement, can provide for exceeding the night worker’s daily limit within the regulatory conditions. A provision that merely introduces night work or specifies a night premium is not necessarily such a provision. Check its scope, the employees and activities covered, the permitted hours and the conditions attached. L.3122-17.
R.3122-7 identifies three activity categories for this route:
- activities characterised by distance between home and work, or between different workplaces;
- guarding, surveillance and attendance duties necessary to protect people and property;
- activities requiring continuity of service or production.
The category and the applicable agreement must fit the real work. Sending technicians a long distance does not, on its own, create permission for a longer shift. R.3122-7. L.3122-6 also refers to specific relief-shift arrangements, which require examination under their own provisions.
An administrative application needs the exceptional circumstances in the text
The labour inspector can authorise an exceedance where facts arise from circumstances beyond the employer’s control that are abnormal and unforeseeable, or from exceptional events whose consequences could not have been avoided. These are the grounds in R.3122-1.
A customer’s preferred completion time does not establish those grounds. The file should explain what happened, when it became known, why the additional hours are needed and what alternatives were considered. Distinguish the event from its commercial consequences: an approaching delivery deadline is not, by itself, evidence that an exceptional event occurred.
If no applicable basis supports the proposed extension, the operational response is to revise the team or timetable. An application should present the facts for assessment, not promise that describing the work as urgent will make it eligible.
Put the compensatory rest into the plan
R.3122-3 requires rest of at least the same duration as the hours worked beyond the daily maximum, taken as soon as possible after the working period. For ten hours of work against an eight-hour limit, the exceedance is two hours. Identify the corresponding rest in the proposed schedule. R.3122-3.
This must be considered alongside the ordinary daily rest, normally at least 11 consecutive hours, and the night-work compensatory arrangements. Night pay should not be treated as a substitute for the required rest. L.3131-1 and L.3122-8.
There is a narrowly defined collective route where, exceptionally, that compensatory rest cannot be provided for objective reasons: an equivalent arrangement providing appropriate protection must be set by collective agreement. This is not a general option for the employer to replace rest with a payment. R.3122-8.
Example: ten working hours across an eleven-hour shift
Assume an employee already qualifies as a night worker, night work has been lawfully organised, and a valid basis covers the particular extension. For this illustration, the applicable night-time period is 21:00–06:00.
| Planned period | Activity | Actual work |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 20:00–Tuesday 00:00 | Work | 4 hours |
| Tuesday 00:00–01:00 | Genuine non-working break | 0 hours |
| Tuesday 01:00–07:00 | Work | 6 hours |
| Entire shift, 20:00–07:00 | 11 hours from arrival to departure | 10 hours |
Only eight working hours fall within 21:00–06:00: three before the break and five afterwards. Nevertheless, the employee works ten hours in total. The daily exceedance is two hours, not zero. A break during which the employee remains at the employer’s disposal, follows its instructions and cannot freely attend to personal matters may itself count as work. L.3121-1 and L.3121-2.
To show both rest requirements separately, this example reserves 07:00–09:00 for the two compensatory hours and 09:00–20:00 for eleven consecutive hours of daily rest. The proposed restart is Tuesday at 20:00, after 13 uninterrupted hours without work. This is an illustrative allocation, not a universal restart formula: check the applicable agreement, decision, other compensatory entitlements and the whole schedule.
The example does not establish that a particular event qualifies for an exception. It shows why the employer must check actual work, the applicable limit and the period after the shift together, rather than counting only the hours labelled “night work”.
Prepare the employer’s application and consultation evidence
The employer submits the request to the labour inspector. Under R.3122-2 it includes useful supporting reasons, the CSE’s opinion if a CSE exists, and the record of consultation of union delegates if there are any. Where neither union delegates nor a CSE exists, the application includes a document establishing that employees were informed beforehand. R.3122-2.
For a foreign employer, establish the competent inspection contact for the French work and the consultation arrangements applicable to the company. A French customer’s internal approval is not a replacement for the employer’s required consultation. The application remains the employer’s; any assistance with preparation, translation or submission needs an agreed scope and mandate.
Alongside the expressly required consultation documents and reasons, a useful preparation file brings together:
- Employee status and existing arrangements: relevant working patterns, applicable agreements and the basis on which night work is already organised.
- The exceptional event: a dated account, supporting technical information, the affected work and alternatives examined.
- The exact request: employer, French site, employees, dates, actual daily hours and the extension sought.
- The rest plan: breaks, compensatory rest, daily rest and the proposed next shift.
- Related constraints: other daily or weekly limits, night-worker averages and any additional permissions affecting the same schedule.
This is a practical preparation framework, not a claim that every item is a mandatory attachment in every case. A clear schedule helps the inspector assess the request and gives the project team something concrete to revise if the proposed hours cannot be used.
Allow for the 15-day response period
The inspector communicates the decision to the employer and, where appropriate, employee representatives within 15 days from receipt of the request. This is the period in R.3122-6 for the daily exceedance procedure, not the period for introducing night work. Preparation and consultation take additional time. R.3122-6.
The official silence-means-acceptance directory lists a 15-day period for this specific derogation, referring to L.3122-6 and Decree No. 2014-1290. Before relying on a tacit decision, establish receipt by the competent administration, completion of information required by the applicable texts and the exact request covered. Do not count from any initial email regardless of its recipient or contents. Service Public, procedure 622 and rules on incomplete applications, L.114-5.
Keep the receipt, correspondence and decision evidence with the final schedule. If the decision is disputed, R.3122-4 provides a hierarchical appeal to the regional director within one month of notification; obtain advice promptly rather than assuming an appeal permits the extended hours. R.3122-4.
Keep the emergency procedure for the emergencies it actually covers
R.3122-5 allows the employer to act under its own responsibility where the circumstances in R.3122-1 involve urgent rescue measures, prevention of imminent accidents, or repair of accidents affecting equipment, installations or buildings. Routine pressure to catch up a delayed project is not that description.
If no request has been submitted, the employer must immediately apply to the inspector for regularisation, with the supporting reasons, applicable CSE and union-consultation documents, and explanations for acting without prior permission. If a request is already pending, the employer must immediately inform the inspector that it had to anticipate the decision and explain why. R.3122-5.
Check what this daily derogation leaves to be resolved
The night worker’s weekly average is a different control: normally 40 hours over 12 consecutive weeks, with an applicable agreement able to allow up to 44 hours where the statutory sector conditions are met. A daily exceedance does not settle that calculation. L.3122-7 and L.3122-18.
Also check the general daily and weekly limits, weekly rest and any Sunday work. If the project raises the separate question of a week beyond 48 hours, see our guide to the exceptional weekly authorisation up to 60 hours. For the prior decision on organising night work itself, use our night-work preparation guide.
Discuss the extended shift before confirming it to your customer
Send ALTALEO a brief description of the French intervention and the proposed shift, including the finish time and planned return to work. We can assess the administrative preparation needed, help assemble the employer’s reasons and consultation evidence, and coordinate follow-up in French. The scope and quotation reflect the actual assignment, including any distinct night-work, daily-limit or weekly-hours questions that need attention.
You do not need a complete application file for the first discussion. The next useful step is to establish the basis to examine and the information needed to make a decision about the schedule. The competent authority decides the application; our assistance does not guarantee its acceptance.
