To qualify for personal training leave, the employee must:

• meet length of service conditions;
• allow an interim period to go by if he has already taken personal training leave;
• request leave authorisation from his employer;
• and submit an application to the sector's approved Training Insurance Fund, the temping FAF (FAF-TT).

Length of service

The conditions attached to length of service are more flexible than under common law.

The length of service required to qualify for PTL is set:

• either at 1014 hours in the profession, 507 hours of which must have been worked in the temping agency where the application has been filed. These hours include all placements over a 12 month reference period preceding this date;
• or, for temporary employees not meeting the length of service requirement in the company on the date on which the application is filed, at 2028 hours in the profession over the previous 24 months.

The hours used to assess the required thresholds are the hours actually worked during the reference period, within which are included on a limited basis and within the framework of placements worked:

• paid time off for public holidays, leave for family reasons, maternity and adoption leave, bad weather and lay-offs;
• time off as a result of ill-health or accident, whether paid or not;
• time still to be worked until planned completion, should the placement be stopped by the host company before the contract expires, where the temping company has been unable to propose a further placement according to Article L. 124-5 of the Employment Code;
• time corresponding to educational leave under the statutory and contractual conditions on continuing vocational training;
• time corresponding to trade union, economic and social training leave, conciliation training, and management and youth leadership training;
• time off work in order to act as trade union delegate, staff representative, trade union representative, or staff representative in the Work's Council, as well as for joint commissions and joint commissions for the profession.

Moreover, as a dispensatory measure, a 'time equivalent' to the paid leave compensatory allowance, equivalent to 10% of the hours paid, is used to assess length of service thresholds.

Any employee not on placement who meets these conditions may claim his right to PTL up to 3 months after the expiry of his last placement contract in the company where he acquired them. In this case, personal training leave must start within the 12 months following the date of the application. These rights lapse if, at the time of starting training, the beneficiary is employed by a company outside the profession.

A temporary employee having taken personal leave for training may not apply for further leave until an interim period equal to the length of the previously granted training leave has gone by, and at least 6 calendar months after the last day of training.

The duration of personal training leave is equivalent to the length of training. However, this may not exceed one year (calendar year) if training is full-time, or 1200 hours if it is part-time or involves a course of training made up of individual blocks.

During his personal training leave, the person is deemed to be a vocational trainee

Leave Authorisation

The temporary worker is required to submit a written application for leave to the temping agency which employs him, in respect of the deadlines laid down by the Employment Code: 120 days in advance for leave of at least 6 months, or 60 days in advance for less than 6 months' leave.

The temping agency may refuse leave authorisation if the conditions for access to training leave are not met. Contrary to common law provisions on the possibility of postponing leave authorisation, the temping agency may only postpone the starting date for personal training leave if the application for leave and the planned starting date of training fall within the same placement. Postponement is not possible, however, if this is:

• Personal training leave sanctioned by a professional diploma or official certificate, intended to enable the employee to upgrade his level of qualification or acquire a qualification in a different area of activity;
• Personal training leave lasting more than 1200 hours.

A temporary employee whose application for personal training leave has been accepted in one temping agency retains the benefit in another, even if he does not meet the length of service requirements for it. The temporary employee must have informed the second agency when he draws up his placement contract. This information is intended to enable the temping agency to seek a placement which is compatible with the dates of training.

The temporary employee contacts the approved joint organisation to obtain total or partial payment of his salary, and possibly the cost of training, during his personal training leave.

The joint organisation which is competent to receive applications for the funding of temporary workers is the Fonds d'assurance formation du travail temporaire - Training Insurance Fund for temping(FAF-TT).

Disputes relating to funding

When an application for funding is wholly or partly rejected, the employee in question is informed of the grounds for his application being rejected, and the possibility of appeal.

This appeal should be submitted to the body which turned down the application within 2 months starting from the date on which notification of the refusal was sent.

The appeal is examined by a joint appeals body set up within the OPACIF by its administrative board. The Board lays down the conditions under which it delegates power to this body to speak on appeals on its behalf. The employee is informed of the joint appeals body's reasoned decision under the responsibility of its Board.

Where the employee feels that the decision is not in accordance with the rules, at the request of the employee the financing organisation forwards the dossier to COPACIF, along with its opinion. Using this data, the COPACIF informs the organisation concerned of its conclusions, which are then forwarded at the earliest possible date to the employee.

Anyone employing temporary employees contributes to the financing of personal training leave. This requirement applies regardless of the size of the company and its position in terms of involvement in promoting vocational training.

The level of contribution is set by the branch at 0.3% of salaries paid over the year in question. The company must pay this contribution to the approved joint collecting organisation to which it belongs.

Salary Payments

The reference salary used corresponds to pay received for the placement during which the employee applied for leave. When this application is submitted during the 3 month period following the end of his last placement contract in the company where he acquired his rights, the salary to be used is the one he was paid during this placement. When the personal training leave comprises separate or part-time modules, it is only the periods of actual training which are entitled to payment according to the preceding provisions.

The conditions for part or total payment of related costs (training, transport, accommodation, etc.) are laid down by the FAF-TT.

In 1999 the FAF-TT collected FRF 177.7 million (EUR 27 million) for personal training leave. 3174 applications for training leave were submitted to the FAF-TT in 1999, of which 1302 were accepted.

The majority of beneficiaries were men (75%). Age distribution shows the greatest number of beneficiaries in the 25-29 years age range (34%), compared with 13% in the 19-24 range, 24% for 30-34 year olds, 15% for 35-39 year olds, 9% for 40-44 year olds, and 5% for 45-55 year olds.

Training was essentially at level V. In the meantime, 26% of cases of personal training leave have led to a State diploma, and 32% to the conferring of an official qualification.

18% of courses lasted between 78 and 300 hours, 65% between 301 and 1200 hours, 12% between 1201 and 1500 hours, and 6% more than 1500 hours.