Donation of leave (private sector): Sovereign Order No. 11.492 of 29 September 025 implementing Law No. 1.547 of 22 June 2023

Sovereign Order No. 11.492 of 29 September 2025 (JDM No. 8768 of 10 October 2025) implements Law No. 1.547 of 22 June 2023 on the donation of leave for employees in the private sector.

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SYNTHESE

Contents of Sovereign Order (OS) No. 11.492:

• Definition of the "relative" (suffering from a particularly serious loss of autonomy or presenting a disability) of the employee benefiting from the donation;
• Formalities relating to the written request by the employee who would be the beneficiary of the donation, submitted to the employer;
• Formalities relating to the written request by the employee donor to waive days of annual leave, submitted to the employer;
• Employer's obligation to inform staff;
• Procedures for taking leave.

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IN DETAIL

→ Definition of the "relative" (suffering from a particularly serious loss of autonomy or presenting a disability) of the employee benefiting from the donation (Article 1 OS No. 11.492)

Is a close relative of employee benefiting from the donation of leave within the meaning of Law No. 1.547 of 22 June 2023:

• spouse;
• person with whom the employee live in a marital relationship;
• partner bound by a cohabitation agreement;
• ascendant, descendant or collateral relative, up to the second degree;
• child for whom the employee is responsible within the meaning of Law No. 595 of 15 July 1954 establishing the family benefits system, as amended. Article 7(1) of Law No. 595 defines a ‘dependent child’ as ‘a child for whom the employee is effectively and habitually responsible for the upbringing and maintenance’;
• cohabiting partner bound by a cohabitation agreement.

→ Formalities relating to the written request by the employee who would be the beneficiary of the donation, submitted to the employer (Article 2 and 3, para. 1 OS No. 11.492)

Employees wishing to take leave must submit a written request to their employer, accompanied by any documents proving that the legal and regulatory conditions for taking leave are met.

Except in the event of death, the employee must provide a medical certificate dated within the last three months certifying that the child or relative for whom the employee is requesting leave meets the medical conditions set out in Law No. 1.547, without, however, disclosing any medical information. The medical conditions referred to in Article 1, paragraph 1 of Law No. 1.547 are as follows: a child suffering from an illness, disability or particularly serious accident requiring constant care and treatment; a relative suffering from a particularly serious loss of autonomy or disability.

From a personal data protection perspective, it should be noted that the Personal Data Protection Authority (APDP) considered the solution of a medical certificate without any medical data being communicated to the employer to be "protective and satisfactory in terms of respect for privacy and preservation of medical confidentiality." (Deliberation No. 2025-007 of 9 April 2025 giving an opinion on the draft Sovereign Order).

In the event of death, the employee must provide a death certificate for the person concerned. In the event of the death of a child under the age of twenty-five of the employee's spouse or civil partner, the employee must also provide any document proving that they lived under the same roof.

The employer's agreement is notified to the beneficiary employee.

→ Employer's obligation to inform staff (Article 3, para.2 OS No. 11.492)

The employer must:

• inform its staff, by any means, of the possibility of donating leave to an employee of the company, without specifying their identity (unless expressly agreed by the person concerned) or the reasons for the donation,
• and specify the terms and conditions.

→ Formalities relating to the written request by the employee donor to waive days of annual leave, submitted to the employer (Articles 4 and 5 OS No. 11.492)

The donor employee must also submit a written request to the employer, which must include the number of days of annual leave to which they are giving up.

The waiver is made in whole days, regardless of the beneficiary's working hours.

The employer's agreement is notified and results in the definitive waiver of the donor's annual leave days.

If, after the request for waiver has been made, it appears that the beneficiary employee does not meet the legal and regulatory conditions to benefit from the donation of leave, the procedure is interrupted and the days waived by the donor employee are neither granted nor deducted from their annual leave. The employer notifies it to the donor and beneficiary.

→ Procedures for taking leave (Articles 6 and 7 OS No. 11.492)

The leave, which may last up to 60 working days, may be taken by the beneficiary, either continuously or in separate periods, with the agreement of the employer.

Employees who have already benefited from donated leave may benefit from it again, including in the same calendar year, without having to observe a waiting period.

Leave may be granted simultaneously to several employees for the same child or relative.

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