From 2027, daily compensation in the event of a work accident or occupational illness will be capped at 4 years. Employees affected before this date remain under the old regime.
From January 1, 2027, an employee who is the victim of a work accident or occupational disease will no longer be able to receive daily allowances without time limit. A decree now sets a ceiling of four years. A reform which profoundly changes the protection of employees arrested for long periods.
It’s a small administrative sentence that can have very big consequences for certain employees. Until now, when an employee was arrested following a work accident or an occupational disease, his daily allowances could be paid as long as his state of health did not allow him to resume: until recovery, consolidation or, in the most serious situations, death.
In other words, there was no automatic counter. An employee who is the victim of a serious accident, a fall, musculoskeletal disorder disability or a long-term occupational illness could remain compensated for several years, as long as their temporary incapacity was recognized.
This system will change.
A decree of June 12, 2026 now sets a maximum duration for payment of daily allowances in the event of a work accident or occupational illness. For claims occurring from January 1, 2027, this compensation can no longer be paid beyond four years.
Four years of maximum compensation: the new rule that will change long leave
The reform targets daily allowances paid by Health Insurance, CPAM, MSA or the relevant scheme, when an employee is off work following a work accident or occupational illness.
Today, these compensations are used to compensate for lost wages during the shutdown. They are more protective than those of traditional sick leave: they are paid without a waiting period, from the day after the leave, and their amount is in principle more favorable.
But from January 1, 2027, a new ceiling will apply: four years maximum per period of incapacity.
This is a significant break. Until now, the AT/MP plan was built around the employee’s state of health. Tomorrow, for new accidents and occupational illnesses, time will also become a limit.
Who is affected? Not everyone, and that’s the main point
Not all employees are immediately affected.
The new rule will only apply to work accidents occurring on or after January 1, 2027. For occupational diseases, the date used is in principle that of the first medical diagnosis of the disease.
Very concrete consequence: if your work accident has already occurred, or if it occurs before January 1, 2027, you remain subject to the old regime. The four-year ceiling cannot be used against you.
Same thing for an occupational illness whose first medical observation is prior to this date.
It is therefore the date of the loss that counts, not the date on which you hear about the reform, nor the date on which your shutdown continues.
No, that doesn’t mean everything stops abruptly after four years.
The word “ceiling” can be scary. But we must avoid confusion: the end of daily allowances does not necessarily mean the end of all compensation.
At the end of four years, if the employee is still not cured, his incapacity will be considered permanent. The file will then switch to another regime: that of permanent incapacity.
In this context, the health insurance fund assesses the employee’s after-effects and sets a permanent disability rate. Depending on this rate, the employee can receive capital compensation or an annuity.
The logic of the reform is therefore clear: beyond four years, the cessation is no longer treated as a temporary incapacity which continues, but as a lasting situation which must be assessed for permanent after-effects.
For the employee, the stakes are major: the level of protection can change, the amounts too, and company insurance can become decisive.
The counter can start from zero, but on one condition
The decree also provides for a mechanism for “reloading” rights.
If an employee returns to work after having benefited from daily allowances for a work accident or an occupational illness, he or she may again benefit from a maximum period of four years in the event of another compensable stoppage.
But this new period is not automatic. The employee must have resumed activity for at least one year.
This precision is important. A very short recovery will not be enough to open a new four-year counter. There will need to be a real and sufficiently long recovery.
How much does an employee receive on leave due to a work accident?
Daily AT/MP allowances follow a specific regime.
During the first 28 days of leave, they correspond in principle to 60% of the daily reference salary. From the 29th day, they increase to 80%, within the limit of the net salary.
In 2026, the daily ceilings are 240.49 euros for the first 28 days, then 320.66 euros from the 29th day.
Above all, these allowances are paid without a waiting day. The employee is compensated the day after the work stoppage, unlike traditional sick leave.
It is precisely because the AT/MP regime is more protective that this four-year limitation deserves the attention of employees exposed to significant professional risks.
The reform should not be confused with the capping of sick leave
Be careful not to mix two topics that are circulating at the same time.
On the one hand, there is the reform of work leave requirements, with new limits applicable from September 1, 2026 for traditional sick leave.
On the other hand, there is the reform of daily allowances in the event of a work accident or occupational illness, applicable to claims occurring from January 1, 2027.
The two measures do not target exactly the same situations. An employee who is the victim of a work accident should therefore not think as if it were a simple sick leave.
What employees need to check now
For employees, this reform imposes a reflex: not only look at Social Security.
In the event of a long break, you must also check what the company’s collective insurance contract provides. Certain guarantees can supplement daily allowances, take over in certain situations or provide benefits in the event of incapacity or disability.
The problem is that many employees do not know the content of their pension plan. They discover the limits of the contract when they are already sick, injured or have been off work for a long time.
However, it is one of the most important documents to request in the event of a physical profession, exposure to risks, possible occupational illness or a history of accident.
Why this reform may worry the most vulnerable employees
On paper, four years may seem like a long time. In real life, certain work accidents or occupational illnesses go well beyond this deadline.
A complicated operation, a relapse, a serious pathology, a lasting handicap, an inability to return to the initial position: certain situations cannot be resolved in a few months.
The reform does not remove all protection, but it changes the moment when the employee leaves the compensated sick leave regime to enter that of permanent incapacity. And this shift can be decisive.
It will therefore be necessary to be particularly vigilant on three points: the exact date of the accident or of the first medical observation, the consolidation date retained by the fund and the rate of permanent incapacity proposed.
The real takeaway message
If your work accident occurred before January 1, 2027, the new four-year limit does not concern you.
If your accident occurs from January 1, 2027, your AT/MP daily allowances can no longer be paid indefinitely. They will be limited to a maximum of four years, unless a new period opens after returning to work for at least one year.
This is therefore not the end of all compensation, but it is the end of a system with no time limit for new claims.
For employees, the reflex must be simple: keep all medical documents, promptly report the accident or occupational illness, check company insurance and never let a consolidation or incapacity rate decision pass without understanding it.
Because from 2027, in work-related downtime, time will no longer be just medical. It will also become legal.
