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Same question as In Germany, is lunch included in an 8 hour shift? but for France.

In my German work, I work 8 hours and must make a 45' lunch break, totalling in a cumbersome 8.45 hours spend in site! I would like to know if something similar exists in France.

gsamaras
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There is actually no mandatory lunch break in France at all. If you work more than 6 hours in a day, your employer has to give you a 20-minutes break (for lunch or otherwise), which is not counted as part of your working time. A collective bargaining agreement can provide for other rules and most employees take much longer lunch breaks.

Legally, you do not have to spend your break on site and people occasionally run errands, practice sports or go to a restaurant during this time. In smaller towns, it's not uncommon to go back home for lunch. But if you live further away and that's not practical for you, an 8-hour working day will indeed force you to stay at or near your workplace for 9+ hours.

Finally, if your job involves clocking in and out, there will be more specific rules that are probably more relevant to you than what the law says.

See https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F34555

Relaxed
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  • So, assuming a 20 minutes break, if I work 8 hours, then I will have to stay at work for 8.20 hours in total every day, right? – gsamaras Mar 01 '19 at 20:40
  • @gsamaras No, you're free for those 20 minutes, that's the point. In particular, you do not have to be at your workplace, if your employer wants you to take breaks at the workplace, other rules apply. As I said, in small towns some people actually go back home. In large cities, that's not very realistic for most people but it's not unheard of for people to run errands during their lunch break, which can be much longer than 20 minutes. But assuming a 20 minutes break and a regular office job, you will indeed leave work 8 hours and 20 minutes after the time you arrived in the morning. – Relaxed Mar 01 '19 at 23:41
  • Thanks! Ridiculous IMHO, we will end up spending half of the day commuting to work and staying there, if we continue like this.. – gsamaras Mar 02 '19 at 09:12
  • Interesting - is it guaranteed to leave 8 hours and 20 minutes after the time of arrival? Does the concept / practice of ’voluntary’ unpaid overtime exist in France? – Traveller Mar 02 '19 at 09:25
  • @gsamaras If you want to work less hours, you could seek part time work… – gerrit Mar 07 '19 at 14:49
  • Or just choose a "better" country. Thanks for the tip gerrit. – gsamaras Mar 07 '19 at 17:20
  • I think the answer should be edited to be more clear; by reading the comments I understand that the break time does NOT count to total hour count and therefore it works like in Germany: employee leaves 8 hours PLUS break time after start time (example: come in at 8, leave at 17 for a total of 9 hours including a one hour break)... right? . . . (I think people are confusing this due to the fact that break is not working and can be spent outside of work etc, but the question is related to total hours as in "difference between arrival and leaving time") – LFLFM May 10 '19 at 16:02
  • @LFLFM Yes that's right... but what's unclear about “which is not counted as part of your working time”? – Relaxed May 12 '19 at 20:02
  • @Relaxed the fact that gsamaras had to ask "then I will have to stay at work for 8.20 hours in total every day, right?"... :) what's worse is that you then answered "no" no him, which made it even more confusing... after reading the comments twice, I understood that you mean that you can go anywhere in the world during those 20 minutes; but that's kind of a "given", it's not a "break" if you can't leave work... The real question was pertaining to the "final go home time"... – LFLFM May 13 '19 at 13:45
  • @LFLFM If you read the question and comments carefully, you should notice that it wasn't a given for gsamaras, hence the need to clarify. That's where the confusion lay and my answer covered it, along with the purported “real question”. – Relaxed May 14 '19 at 22:47
  • "if you read ... carefully ... it wasn't a given ... hence the need to clarify" is exactly why I suggested that the answer be edited to be clear, avoiding the need to read everything carefully :) a simple example in the answer should make things clear enough that reading the comments may not be required to fully understand. – LFLFM May 15 '19 at 07:28
  • @LFLFM “It wasn't a given ... hence the need to clarify” did not refer to my answer but to your assumption (that everybody knows you can leave your work place during mandatory breaks). You're asking to muddy this point to “answer” a question that wasn't the question asked. It makes no sense to quote this part of my comment to justify your demand. – Relaxed May 15 '19 at 17:02
  • I think we lost track of my original intention here; my only concern is the fact that the original question said "totaling in a cumbersome 8.45 hours spend in site" and nowhere in the answer (which is a perfectly fine answer) do you mention the total amount of hours spent in site; you want the reader to understand that the 20 minutes add up to the total by using the wording "not counted", which is understandable.... but I don't feel that it's clear enough that everyone who reads it will instantly say "oh, ok so it adds up". – LFLFM May 17 '19 at 08:07
  • @LFLFM I tried to add even more details and examples. – Relaxed May 22 '19 at 21:55