Strasbourg. Justice cancels the menstrual leave established by the City and the Eurometropolis, a first in France

In a decision rendered this Tuesday morning June 24. Similarly, the administrative court of Strasbourg, seized by the prefecture of Bas-Rhin, considers that the gynecological health holidays set up by the merged administration of the city and the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg in September 2024 have no legal basis. Therefore, This is the first decision on the merits in France. Similarly, several other measures having so far been judged in the context of summary proceedings.

“Without deciding on the advisability of such an menstrual leave. In addition, the court judged that this system was the general status of civil servants and could therefore not be instituted by a local community,” said a press release from the jurisdiction.

A decision in accordance with the requisitions – Strasbourg. justice cancels menstrual leave

The magistrates followed the requisitions of the public prosecutor who. on June 3 in hearing, had considered that communities could strasbourg. justice cancels menstrual leave not add gynecological reasons to the regime of special absence authorizations (ASA), provided by law. The two Strasbourg communities. by the voice of their lawyer, had argued on the contrary, that “the gynecological leave is not a special authorization of absence, but of article L622-2 of the general public service code which allows local authorities to develop the working conditions of its agents”.

But according to the court. “the prefect is justified in maintaining that the deliberation attacked is devoid of legal basis, as it establishes, within the framework of the system for improving the management of gynecological health at work that it puts in place, a gynecological health leave, in the form of a special authorization of absence when the pathology of the agent is incapacitating”.

118 certificates issued by occupational medicine

The elected officials of the city. the Eurometropolis, two communities which had a merged administration, had adopted in strasbourg. justice cancels menstrual leave May 2024, as an experiment, a device which grants agents suffering from painful rules or incapacitating gynecological pathologies, up to “13 days of exceptional holidays on presentation of a medical certificate after favorable opinion of labor medicine”. Between September 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025, 118 certificates were issued by occupational medicine and 67 agents were placed in gynecological leave. These two deliberations are therefore canceled.

Alternative measures proposed

The city of Strasbourg. the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg are not isolated cases and the gynecological leave that appeared several years ago already, are set up by more and more communities. The State services. responsible for controlling the legality of the acts of the communities, first reacted in dispersed order, certain prefects referring to administrative justice, others not.

To put an end to these divergent legal analyzes. ensure a minimum of coherence of the action of the State at the scale of the strasbourg. justice cancels menstrual leave country, the General Directorate of Local Communities, of the Ministry of the Interior sent in May a circular which affirms the illegality of such measures and which asks the prefects to systematically defer the deliberations establishing special authorizations of absence for painful rules.

At the same time. the circular, as reported La Gazette des Communes invites municipalities to favor other devices such as telework or sick leave.