Employment law
Permissions for family events
An employee marries, loses a parent, or welcomes a child. These events open entitlement to exceptional permissions, under a protective regime: they are not deducted from accrued leave and entail no deduction from pay.
The Labour Code sets the principle and the ceiling; the collective agreement sets the list of events and their durations. That is why two Malian companies can apply different durations without either being wrong. Labour Code, Article L.146 (French).
1. The principle set by the Code
The Code is brief, but its wording is decisive: within a limit of ten days, exceptional permissions granted on the occasion of family events directly affecting the employee's own household may not be deducted from accrued leave.
Three elements to retain from that sentence:
- "May not be deducted": this is a prohibition on the employer, not an option.
- "Within a limit of ten days": this is the statutory ceiling on non-deduction. An agreement may provide more, and several do.
- "Directly affecting their own household": this is the connecting test. It guides how the contractual lists are read.
2. What the collective agreements set out
The Code lists neither the events nor their durations: each agreement does so in its own way. Two examples illustrating the gap:
An agreement setting a fifteen-day annual ceiling, the permissions being neither deducted from statutory leave nor subject to pay deduction:
| Event | Duration |
|---|---|
| Employee's marriage | 3 working days |
| Birth of a child | 3 working days |
| Death of the spouse | 3 working days |
| Death of a direct descendant | 3 working days |
| Death of an ascendant or collateral relative | 2 working days |
| Marriage of a child | 1 working day |
| Marriage of a brother or sister | 1 working day |
An agreement applying the statutory ten-day ceiling, with tighter durations: two days for the employee's marriage or the death of the spouse and their direct parents, one day for the marriage of a child or sibling or the death of a collateral relative, three days for a child's baptism. See Special leave.
The practical conclusion is simple: no duration should be recalled from memory. The agreement applicable to the company governs, and it alone.
3. The procedure
Permissions require prior written authorisation from the employer, save in cases of force majeure, which covers most bereavements, where a prior request is materially impossible.
In that case, supporting evidence must be provided at the latest three days after the event. It is a short deadline, better recalled in the internal rules than discovered during a dispute.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| Request | In writing, before the absence where the event is foreseeable |
| Force majeure | Immediate notification, regularised afterwards |
| Supporting document | Marriage, birth or death certificate, within three days of the event |
| Formalisation | A certificate stating the event, the duration and the return date |
| Payroll | No deduction, no charge against annual leave, within the contractual limit |
4. Three mistakes to avoid
- Deducting the permission from annual leave. This is precisely what the Code prohibits, within the stated limit.
- Making a pay deduction. The permission carries no deduction: it is not unpaid absence.
- Applying a duration found elsewhere. Durations from another sector, or another country, do not apply; only the company's agreement governs.
A fourth, subtler one: exceeding the contractual ceiling without saying so. Beyond the limit, the additional absence is no longer a protected permission, it falls under ordinary authorised absence, with the corresponding treatment. See Authorised absence.
5. What to write into the internal rules
- the contractual list of events and their durations, reproduced as they stand;
- the annual ceiling applicable in the company;
- the deadline for supporting documents, and to whom they should be sent;
- the rule applying beyond the ceiling, to avoid case-by-case decisions.
Key takeaways
| The rule | What it implies |
|---|---|
| Permissions are not deducted from accrued leave | Within the ten-day limit set by the Code |
| No deduction from pay | The permission is a paid absence |
| The agreement sets the events and durations | No duration should be recalled from memory |
| Prior written authorisation, save force majeure | Bereavement usually falls within the exception |
| Supporting document within three days of the event | A short deadline, to recall in the internal rules |
| Beyond the ceiling, the regime changes | The absence becomes an ordinary authorisation |