Donated overtime to care for child

New law would make it possible for employees to transfer lieu days to a colleague caring for ill or disabled child

WORKING parents with a disabled or seriously ill child could have their colleagues' time off donated to them, under a new proposal to be examined by French MPs.

The measures would make it legally possible for staff who have exceeded the 35-hour working week to give their time off in lieu to another worker.

Under the current system, overtime is saved up by each individual employee and can be converted into money or extra days off, but it cannot technically be transferred.

There have, however, been some examples of the practice being applied. Workers at drinks firm Badoit clubbed together to donate 170 lieu days for a colleague to spend with his terminally ill son in 2009.

UMP member of parliament for the Loire department, Paul Salen, has put forward a draft law that would formally recognise the gesture of solidarity.

It has the support of 136 MPs so far and is due to be examined in the National Assembly after the summer break.

The final decision in each case would remain with each individual worker - and the company would have to approve the transfer of days in lieu.

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