Whit Monday: France’s most confusing bank holiday

It is difficult to think of a day in the French calendar that is more confusing and ambiguous than the lundi de Pentecôte.

Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday in Anglophone countries, this year falls on June 9, but as it is related to Easter most often falls in May.

In France, it used to be an ordinary jour férié (bank holiday), where workers got the day off.

Officially it is still in the calendar as a public holiday, but now there is a grey area over whether or not workers actually get the day off still.

It is now also often referred to as a 'Journée de solidarité', after it was changed by a 2004 law.

“It is a day like any other,” Laurent Gastineau, a 59-year-old early retiree, told The Connexion on the streets of Paris.

But further down the street, we heard a different perspective.

“It is like a forced paid-leave day,” said Gabrielle Holchaker, 31, an employee at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

These responses illustrate the crux of the issue: Pentecost Monday is a bank holiday unlike any other where the likelihood of a worker getting a day off is dependent on who he or she works for and whether the employer is in the private or public sector.

How Pentecost Monday in France works

The status of the day changed in 2004 as a result of a deadly drought and heatwave in the summer of the previous year.

In 2003 more than 15,000, mainly elderly, people died as temperatures soared to 42C across large parts of France.

The heat started just after most government departments, including health and social services, had shut or slowed down for the summer holidays.

Some of the victims' bodies were only found when neighbours returned from holiday.

Then health minister Jean-François Mattei did not help matters by appearing on national media from his holiday home in the Var, wearing a polo shirt, assuring the nation that there was no crisis. 

He was sacked from the government in March 2004, along with other ministers after the government suffered heavy defeats in regional elections.

The resulting scandal also led to the formation of a new government which voted through a new law designating Whit Monday as a Journée de solidarité.

This meant that instead of getting a paid day off as before, people in France were supposed to work 'for free' - that is to say without receiving a salary in return. 

They would work one day more, but not receive a higher salary for the month. 

In exchange for this, their employers were to pay a contribution to the state (the amount workers would have earned) that would go to a specific fund set up to assist elderly and disabled people in France.

In recent times, the removal of a second bank holiday in the French calendar to form another such day has been informally suggested by several politicians.

Many still get day off

In reality many workers still get Pentecost Monday off, but this has to be negotiated between workers and bosses in each business.

A 2008 law stated that the 'Journée de solidarité' itself could be moved, either allowing workers to take Whit Monday off but work another day (with the exception of May 1, and in parts of eastern France Easter Friday, Christmas and St Stephen's Day on December 26).

Several negotiations are common, including workers being forced to take the day as part of their annual paid-leave (so the office remains closed), or keeping the day as a public holiday but having employees working extra hours throughout the month or year to 'make-up' the payment for the solidarity hours.  

This can include giving up part of your RTT (time off in lieu) if you receive it as part of your contract.

Civil servants must all work as the government is keen to set an example for the day. However in all cases where someone is working on Whit Monday their working day cannot surpass seven hours.