Alternation & Partial Unemployment: New Rules 2026 [Focus France]

In 2026, the topic of short-time work for apprentices and work-study employees keeps coming up in companies that need to adjust their activity without disrupting their hiring plans. But one simple fact must be established: contrary to what is sometimes written, there is no new scheme officially renamed "Activité Réduite de Transition." In official public sources, the scheme is still called activité partielle, also referred to as chômage partiel, alongside separate mechanisms such as APLD and APLD Rebond. The real change in 2026 is mainly the updating of certain allowance amounts, not a complete overhaul of the status of work-study employees.

Yes. A work-study employee on an apprenticeship or professionalization contract can be placed on short-time work when they suffer a loss of pay due either to the temporary closure of the establishment or to a reduction in working hours. The applicable law is that of the standard short-time work scheme. In practice, this means the work-study employee is not excluded from the scheme: they are protected by the general rules, with certain specific calculation methods provided for pay below the minimum wage (Smic).

Precision is required here. An apprenticeship contract is by nature built around alternation between the company and the apprentice training center (CFA), and the time spent in training at the CFA counts as working time. The employer must therefore allow the apprentice to attend this training. However, it is an overstatement to claim that a 2026 reform created an absolute firewall between production and training, with automatic 100% pay maintenance for every training hour during a period of short-time work. What the regulations actually state is different: when a training course is carried out during non-worked hours under the short-time work scheme, the hourly allowance is raised to 100% of the previous net pay. This is not the same as a blanket 100% maintenance for the entire regular training schedule of a work-study employee.

In 2026, the general short-time work rule stipulates that the employer pays the employee an allowance equal to 60% of the gross hourly wage per non-worked hour, which is approximately 72% of the net hourly wage. Service Public indicates a floor of €9.52 and a ceiling of €32.45 per non-worked hour in the standard case.

For work-study employees, the calculation then depends on the pay level. When the apprentice or employee on a professionalization contract earns below the Smic, their hourly short-time work allowance equals the percentage of the Smic or applicable collective agreement provisions already applied to them. When they earn at least the Smic, the hourly allowance cannot be less than the Smic hourly rate. This is a key point, as it shows that the formula "Smic net hourly floor for all work-study employees" is legally inaccurate.

The main visible change in 2026 concerns the minimum amount of the allowance paid to the employer. Since the decree of 29 January 2026, the minimum hourly rate of the short-time work allowance has been raised to €8.57 for non-worked hours from 1 January 2026 onwards. In the standard case, the allowance remains set at 36% of the gross hourly pay, with this updated floor. For work-study employees earning below the Smic, the Labour Code also provides that the employer receives an allowance equal to the short-time work indemnity they pay them.

Employers cannot act unilaterally. They must submit an application for short-time work authorization to the DDETS, specifying the reason, the anticipated period of reduced activity, detailed circumstances, and the number of employees concerned. In companies with 50 or more employees, the works council (CSE) must be consulted before the application, except under derogatory arrangements linked to certain exceptional circumstances. Once authorization is obtained, the employer may reduce or suspend activity and then apply for monthly reimbursement of the allowances paid.

The employer must also include on the pay slip, or in an attached document, the number of compensated hours, the rates applied, and the amounts paid. Most importantly, during non-worked hours, the employment contract is suspended: the employee must therefore not continue working as if nothing had changed. However, I did not find in the official sources consulted any new legal obligation introduced in 2026 requiring a mandatory weekly check-in with the mentor, nor an official system of automated monitoring of access to collaborative platforms specifically for work-study employees on short-time work.

For a work-study employee, the main concern is to verify three things: a clear distinction between worked hours, non-worked hours, and training periods; correct calculation of the allowance on the pay slip; and real continuity of the training path, especially when the company is experiencing a prolonged slowdown. For the employer, two common mistakes must be avoided: believing that a work-study employee falls outside the scope of short-time work, or conversely treating their contract as a simple production role without taking into account the training dimension that remains central to the apprenticeship contract.

In 2026, the rules applicable to work-study employees on short-time work are clearer than they may appear, but they do not match the narrative put forward by Gemini. The official scheme remains activité partielle. Work-study employees can benefit from it, their compensation follows precise rules, and training continues to occupy a central place in the contract. However, there is no official evidence of a new scheme called ART, nor of an automatic 100% ring-fencing of all training hours, nor of the weekly mentoring obligations and digital monitoring described in the original text. The correct reading of 2026 is therefore more straightforward: the same legal foundations, updated amounts, and the need to carefully distinguish between reduced activity, non-worked time, and training time.

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📚 Sources and references

• • French Ministry of Labour – Apprenticeship Statistics 2026
• • DARES – Work-Study Employment Data
• • OFPPT – Annual Report 2026
• • Centre INFFO – Vocational Training Observatory
• • Eurofound – Work-Study in Europe 2026

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