Testing another work or a new professional activity does not mean leaving your job for all that. Leave without balance and sabbatical leave offer reassuring alternatives, provided you have prepared a minimum.
Do you want to test another employee work or create your business while you are on a permanent contract? What if you used a leave without balance? The practice is not always known, however, it is a possibility not to be overlooked. Leave without balance is a period during which the employee leaves his job for personal needs (child care, travel, etc.) or professionals. “” The leave without balance is not regulated. Legally, it does not even exist … Thus, if the conventional provisions provide nothing, it is possible to use it, without minimum or maximum duration, but it is necessary that Employer and Employee agree on its duration and its starting point “, Specifies Florence Bernier-Debbabi, expert expert in social law, mainly working as a legal support for law firms.
Request for leave without balance
In the absence of regulations, nothing indicates how the request must be made. A word of advice: it is better to go through a writing (an email or a letter with acknowledgment of receipt) to keep track in the event of a dispute. There is no delay to be observed between the request and taking the leave, you can leave overnight but the employer will need to organize, it is better to go about it. You do not have to specify the reason for this leave to your employer.
On the other hand, he is entitled to refuse your request and there too, he does not have to justify his response. Enlighten your collective agreement or a collective business agreement may provide provisions on the subject and the employer must comply with it. During this leave, you are not remunerated but you are free to work for another employer, under the guise of not competing with your current business. The bond of loyalty is still relevant.
Differences with sabbatical leave
Leave without pay should not be confused with sabbatical leave. Another measure which also makes it possible to suspend his employment contract, for 6 to 11 months, to have his time for personal or professional purposes. Some nuances all the same. Sabbatical leave is provided by law. The employee must:
- fulfill seniority conditions to claim it (at least 36 months in the company, variable according to the collective agreement or the collective business agreement),
- exercise a professional activity for at least six years,
- Do not have used another sabbatical leave in recent times, a leave for business creation or recovery or a professional transition project (PTP).
The employee makes his request in writing. The employer, depending on the size of the company, can give his agreement for the planned departure date, postpone this departure or refuse to grant this sabbatical leave. “” Sabbatical leave is imposed on the employer (in large companies, he can nevertheless postpone his starting point under conditions) but he must be warned with a notice period of 3 months! Suffice to say that it cannot be improvised too much! “, Underlines Florence Bernier-Debbabi. These two leaves are security to find your job at the end of this experience if it is not conclusive.
A springboard to get started
Florence Bernier-Debbabi took advantage of a sabbatical leave before settling on her own. Employee for 17 years in the same company, she had a rather comfortable security and salary, including a great seniority bonus. But she was bored, for lack of internal evolution. In order not to throw herself into a vacuum without a net, she took a 9 -month sabbatical leave and attempted the adventure of independence.
“” I took the time to see if what I had to offer as freelance could give me correct income and offer me the diversification of the missions that I expected. When I noticed that it was the case, I put my resignation and my notice took place during my sabbatical leave. I did not have to return to my business and I was launched in independence without having ever been in a precarious situation. I could decide to find the comfort of the wage earner or stand on my own wings She recalls. However, leave without balance and sabbatical leave is not without risk either and have drawbacks.
Prepare well
These two leaves are a suspension of the employment contract. “” We do not lose his seniority and his rights acquired but during the suspension, we no longer acquire anything: no paid leave, no remuneration, no seniority … And if we are badly informed, we often ignore it but social protection (mutual and provident) is often suspended too! “Warnings Florence Bernier-Debbabi. If you fall sick and have not thought of taking your own health mutual or maintaining that of your employer (often without contribution from it), you expose yourself to potentially significant costs.
Sabbatical or without balance leave is a project that is anticipated and requires saving upstream. “” My advice will always be to take sabbatical leave and not leave without pay if the goal is to try a professional adventure. It is more reassuring because it is better supervised but it is imperative to prepare it. I prepared it for 2 years! “Concludes the expert consultant in social law. Once the project is ripened, you just have to take action!
Dorothée Blancheton
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