At the start of 2026, many changes and new developments are coming into force in the field of work and employment: the traditional revaluations of 1is January, the special finance law, the social security financing law for 2026, the new fixed-term contract for retraining, the measures which are extended, those which end.
We asked 3,000 employees if work damaged them. 87% said yes. (Wellpass x YouGov 2025 study)
Table of Contents
- Revaluations from 1is January 2026
- Special finance law of December 26, 2025
- Social security financing law for 2026
- The suspension of the 2023 pension reform
- The overhaul of the employment-pension combination system
- Limiting work stoppages
- The creation of additional birth leave
- The increase in the rate of employer contribution on conventional termination and retirement compensation
- The increase in the rates of increase in social security contributions in the event of hidden work
- Extension to all companies of the flat-rate deduction of employer contributions on overtime
- The fixed-term “retraining” contract
- General reduction in employer contributions
- Extension of the tax exemption for tips in 2026
- Maintaining coverage at 75% of home-work transport costs
- Extension of the deadline for compliance with the ban on any seniority condition for access to CSE services
- Extension of the CSP until December 31, 2026
- Obligation to inform the employee in a Professional Transition Project of the possibility of returning to the company
- End of exceptional apprenticeship aid on December 31, 2025
- End of bridging contracts
The companies that will win tomorrow are those that capitalize on the human factor today. However, 55% think that you do nothing, 57% say that their performance is already suffering, for 64% it is a loyalty criterion.
Webinar on January 19: Alexandre Dana and Maud Grenier share the 10 transformations to make in order not to endure 2030. This event is brought to you by our partner EGYM Wellpass.
I register
We break down everything you need to know.
Happy reading!
Revaluations from 1is January 2026
SMIC: + 1.18%
The gross hourly minimum wage increases to €12.12 (€11.88 in 2025).
The gross monthly minimum wage for full-time work increases to €1,823.03 (€1,801.80 in 2025).
Au 1is January 2026, the PASS amounts to €48,060 (€47,100 in 2025) and the monthly ceiling to €4,005 (€3,925 in 2025).
Internship allowance
As of 1is January 2026, the minimum bonus for any internship lasting more than 2 months, consecutive or not, carried out in a professional environment is set at 15% of the Social Security ceiling, or €4.50 per hour.
Restaurant title 2026
The exemption ceiling for restaurant vouchers is revalued and set at 7.32 euros.
Special finance law of December 26, 2025
As the 2026 budget cannot be adopted before December 31, 2025, a special finance law aimed at ensuring the continuity of national life and the regular operation of public services in 2026 was definitively adopted in Parliament on December 23, 2025 and promulgated on December 26, 2025, pending the adoption of the initial finance law for 2026.
The special finance law contains the provisions essential for the regular functioning of the State and local authorities until the adoption of a finance law for 2026.
It contains three types of authorizations:
- An authorization to collect existing taxes, to guarantee the continuity of state financing.
- The renewal of levies on State revenue for the benefit of local authorities and the European Union.
- Authorization of State borrowing, debt management and treasury operations.
The Social Security Financing Law, definitively adopted on December 16, 2025 and published in the Official Journal on December 30, 2025, provides for a certain number of impactful provisions for both employers and employees:
The suspension of the 2023 pension reform
The social security financing law for 2026 suspends until January 2028 the timetable for increasing the retirement age and the duration of insurance, included in the law of April 14, 2023 on pension reform.
The legal retirement age is therefore lowered for the 1961-1968 generations and long careers.
The overhaul of the employment-pension combination system
As of 1is January 2027, the use of combined employment and retirement will be made easier for people retiring after this date:
- Before the legal age of 64, the pension will be reduced by the amount of earned income, from the first euro, to enhance progressive retirement.
- From 64 to 67 years old, partial employment-retirement combination is introduced. The pension will be reduced by 50% of earned income which exceeds a threshold of approximately 7,000 euros per year.
- After age 67, combining employment and retirement will be free, without limit with the creation of the right to a second pension.
Limiting work stoppages
The duration of work stoppages will be limited to a maximum of one month for a first prescription (in town and in hospital) and a maximum of two months for each renewal.
The creation of additional birth leave
This new leave, compensated by Social Security, and not substitutable for parental leave, will be open to parents of children born or adopted from 1is January 2026, including when the birth was initially planned from that date, but the child was born in 2025.
Accessible to each of the two parents, simultaneously or alternating with the other, this leave can last up to two months, thus making it possible to add up to four months of parental care time for a couple. Compensation for this leave will be 70% of net salary on 1is month, 60% on the 2ndth.
As the system requires an implementing decree to come into force, it will only be accessible from 1is July 2026. Parents of children born or adopted in the first five months of 2026 will have until the end of the year to take the leave.
The increase in the rate of employer contribution on conventional termination and retirement compensation
Since 1is January 2026, the specific employer contribution applicable to contractual termination and retirement compensation increased from 30 to 40%.
The new law provides for a strengthening of the sanctions applicable in the event of hidden work and an increase in the recovery increase rates from 1is June 2026:
- Rate of increase in social security contributions increased to 35% in the event of hidden work.
- Increase to 50% of this same rate in the event of concealed work with aggravating circumstances (concealed work of a minor).
Extension to all companies of the flat-rate deduction of employer contributions on overtime
This deduction from employer contributions on overtime has been extended to companies with more than 250 employees.
Furthermore, certain measures have been abandoned:
- The creation of an employer contribution on certain benefits paid to employees such as holiday vouchers or restaurant vouchers.
- The total elimination of the exemption from social security contributions for apprentices.
- The measure providing for the optional post-maternity leave return visit.
Also read:
The fixed-term “retraining” contract
As of 1is January 2026, a new reason for a fixed-term contract (CDD) appears in the Labor Code, for the period of professional retraining of an employee. (Article L. 1242-3, 5° of the Labor Code in force on 1is January 2026)
From this date, an employee employed in a company (on a fixed-term or permanent contract) can enter into a fixed-term retraining contract, for a minimum period of 6 months (and up to 12 months, except for the acquisition of a base of knowledge or skills, or a specific sector or company agreement providing for a longer duration, up to 36 months), to acquire professional qualifications certifying or giving the right to certification.
The contract linking the initial employer to the employee is only suspended, so that the latter can return to his position, or an equivalent position, within the first company, at the end of the trial period linked to his retraining fixed-term contract, if this does not prove conclusive.
The rest after the ad
This new system leads to the elimination of the retraining or work-study promotion system (Pro-A).
General reduction in employer contributions
As of 1is January 2026, a unique system for reducing employer contributions is put in place.
A new formula for the single general degressive reduction (RGDU) is set.
A minimum exemption threshold, equal to 2%, is introduced.
The reduction is:
- Maximum at the minimum wage level.
- Decreasing up to its exit point (remuneration less than 3 SMIC) between the maximum exemption amount (39.73 % or 40.13 %) and the minimum exemption threshold (2 %).
- Zero from 3 SMIC.
Extension of the tax exemption for tips in 2026
The exemption from tax and social charges on tips paid will remain applicable from 1is January 2026, until the vote on the 2026 budget.
On December 29, 2025, in the absence of agreement on a 2026 finance bill, the government extended, on an exceptional and derogatory basis, the tax exemption for tips given by customers, via the publication of an instruction in the Official Public Finance Bulletin.
In force since 2022, this tax exemption for voluntary tips was supposed to end on December 31, 2025. It concerns employees in contact with customers, whose salary does not exceed 1.6 SMIC and for companies which pay all tips to employees in contact with customers.
Maintaining coverage at 75% of home-work transport costs
Employers who cover their employees’ public transport costs (annual, monthly or weekly subscription cards) up to 75% (i.e. beyond the mandatory 50% coverage) will continue to be exempt from social security contributions and income tax on this coverage for the year 2026.
The system applies to:
- Public transport subscription tickets.
- Public bicycle rental services.
Extension of the deadline for compliance with the ban on any seniority condition for access to CSE services
The benefits provided to employees by the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) and by the employer in the absence of a CSE, in connection with social and cultural activities (ASC), are exempt from contributions and social security contributions under certain conditions.
One of these conditions is the absence of discrimination in the allocation of benefits.
Until 2024, Urssaf admitted that the benefit of Social and Cultural Activities could be reserved for employees with a certain seniority, within the limit of 6 months, without this calling into question the exemption from contributions and social security contributions.
However, in 2024, the Court of Cassation ruled that the right of employees and trainees to benefit from ASC cannot be subordinated to a condition of seniority (Cass. soc. 3-4-2024 n° 22-16.812).
In application of this decision, Urssaf reversed its position, but granted the CSEs, and employers, in the absence of a CSE, a period until December 31, 2025 to comply and implement the end of the seniority criterion in the allocation of their benefits.
The compliance deadline of December 31, 2025 was further extended until December 31, 2026, to modify the criteria for payment of these benefits and to comply.
Extension of the CSP until December 31, 2026
In force since 1is February 2015, the professional security contract (CSP) is a path for the employee to return to employment, with reinforced and personalized support measures and periods of training and work with a view to retraining or even creating or taking over a business. The employer must offer it to employees dismissed for economic reasons, if the company has:
- Or is part of a judicial recovery or liquidation process.
On December 24, 2025, the professional security contract was extended until December 31, 2026 by two amendments dated November 25, 2025 which were approved by ministerial decrees of December 24, 2025.
Obligation to inform the employee in a Professional Transition Project of the possibility of returning to the company
Law No. 2025-989 transposing national inter-professional agreements requires the employer to inform the employee of the possibility of rejoining the company at the end of their training as part of a professional transition project.
End of exceptional apprenticeship aid on December 31, 2025
In the absence of adoption of the finance law for the year 2026, the exceptional apprenticeship assistance ends on December 31, 2025.
As of January 1, 2026, only the measures provided for by the Labor Code remain applicable.
Thus, for apprenticeship contracts concluded from this date, only companies with fewer than 250 employees can benefit from the single apprenticeship aid.
Its amount is set at €5,000 for the hiring of an apprentice preparing for a diploma or professional qualification at level 3 or 4, and up to level 5 in overseas territories. The aid is increased to €6,000 when the apprentice is disabled.
As soon as the finance law for 2026 is adopted, a decree will be issued to provide for the new aid parameters based on the approved appropriations. These new settings will not be retroactive.
End of bridging contracts
Experimenting with the “bridge contract” system » provided for in article 5 of the inclusion law of December 14, 2020 and extended by two years by the finance law for 2024, ended on December 14, 2025. It is therefore no longer possible to conclude bridging contracts from this date.
Also read:
