Remote Work in Apprenticeships 2026: Your Rights as an Apprentice

"Two days of remote work per week": the phrase now appears in a growing share of apprenticeship listings in services, tech, communications and management. For a 20-year-old candidate living 45 minutes from the office, the argument carries real weight. For their apprenticeship, it can also come at a high cost.

In short: no legal text prohibits remote work for an apprentice, but none guarantees it either. Remote work falls under articles L. 1222-9 to L. 1222-11 of the French Labour Code: it is set up through a collective agreement, a company charter, or a simple agreement between employee and employer — and since an apprentice is a full-fledged employee, these rules apply to them. Three points to remember: the employer cannot require you to bear the costs of working remotely on your own, they remain responsible for your health and safety at home, and a refusal of a remote-work request must be justified where an agreement or charter provides for it. For an apprentice under 18, caution is essential: the regulations on working hours for young people under 18 (art. L. 3162-1) and the mandatory supervision by an apprenticeship supervisor make remote work hard to reconcile with quality training. Our advice: 1 day maximum in the first year, and never on a day when your apprenticeship supervisor is themselves away.

Is an apprentice allowed to work remotely?

Yes. And this is the first thing many apprentices don't realise: an apprentice is an employee of the company. An apprenticeship contract is an employment contract (article L. 6221-1 of the Labour Code), which means that all provisions relating to working conditions — including remote work — apply to them, unless expressly stated otherwise.

The Labour Code defines remote work in article L. 1222-9 as "any form of work organisation in which work that could also have been carried out on the employer's premises is performed by an employee outside those premises on a voluntary basis, using information and communication technologies." Three phrases matter in that sentence:

• "could also have been": if the task requires being on site (workshop, laboratory, customer reception, building site), remote work is materially ruled out;
• "voluntary": the employer cannot impose remote work on you outside exceptional circumstances (pollution episode, epidemic threat, force majeure — art. L. 1222-11);
• "outside those premises": your home, but also a coworking space or third place.

In practice, remote work is formalised in three ways: a company-level or industry-level collective agreement, a charter drawn up by the employer after consulting the works council (CSE), or, failing that, a one-to-one agreement between you and your employer, formalised "by any means" — an email is legally sufficient, but a written contract amendment is always better.

Worth noting: remote work is not mentioned on the Cerfa form no. 10103 for the apprenticeship contract. This is neither an oversight nor a prohibition: it is simply a work organisation arrangement, negotiated alongside the contract.

What if the employer refuses?

Where a collective agreement or charter provides for remote work in an eligible role, article L. 1222-9 requires an employer who refuses an employee's request to give reasons for their answer. A vague justification ("it's not part of our culture") is weak; a justification tied to the nature of the role or the need for enhanced educational support is entirely admissible — and often warranted in an apprenticeship.

Which costs must the employer cover?

This is the least well understood point, including among employers. The principle is long-standing and consistent in employment law: professional expenses are the employer's responsibility. The Cour de cassation regularly reaffirms this — expenses incurred by an employee for the purposes of their professional activity must be reimbursed, and cannot be deducted from their pay.

In concrete terms, for an apprentice working remotely:

URSSAF allows a flat-rate remote-work allowance exempt from social contributions within certain limits (a daily or monthly scale, revised each year). Many companies pay €2.50 to €3 per day worked remotely, or a monthly lump sum. This is not a standalone legal obligation — the obligation to cover expenses is — but it is the most common form it takes. Check the company agreement: it is usually on the HR intranet, and the works council can provide you with a copy.

Beware of a classic pitfall: some companies refuse the allowance to apprentices on the grounds that they "aren't employees like the others." That is legally incorrect. If the collective agreement does not explicitly exclude apprentices — and such an exclusion would be shaky in light of the principle of equal treatment — you are entitled to it.

Does remote work really harm the apprenticeship?

Let's be blunt: yes, when the dose is wrong.

Apprenticeship rests on a transmission mechanism that runs largely through the informal: overhearing a colleague handle an unhappy client on the phone, seeing how a meeting is prepared, catching a remark as you walk past a desk. Work-based training — what training centres (CFA) call AFEST in its formalised version — assumes observation and immediate feedback, both of which dissolve over video calls.

Feedback from the ground at CFAs converges: apprentices working mostly remotely more often report a sense of isolation, more repetitive assignments (tasks that are easy to describe remotely are handed out, rarely the most instructive ones) and slower integration into the team. Conversely, one day of remote work per week is almost unanimously described as a gain: less commuting fatigue, a block of focused time for the dissertation, a lighter transport budget.

Our recommendation, easy to remember:

• First year: 0 to 1 day per week. You are building your bearings, your internal network and your credibility.
• Second year: 1 to 2 days, once you have gained autonomy on your recurring assignments.
• Never on the day your apprenticeship supervisor is away. You lose both the benefit of remote work (quiet) and that of being present (support).
• Never the day after a week at the CFA: that is the day you need to pick up the thread, retrieve your files and take stock.

Can apprentices under 18 work remotely?

Nothing formally prohibits it, but three obstacles make the practice very tricky.

First, working hours: young people under 18 are subject to strict rules (art. L. 3162-1 of the Labour Code), with a general cap of 8 hours per day and 35 hours per week, mandatory breaks and a ban on night work. At home, effectively monitoring these limits is considerably harder.

Second, supervision: article L. 6223-5 requires the employer to appoint an apprenticeship supervisor responsible for guiding the apprentice. For a minor, that close guidance is hard to imagine on an asynchronous basis.

Finally, health and safety: the employer remains responsible for your safety, including at home — an accident occurring during remote working hours is presumed to be an occupational accident (art. L. 1222-9). INRS stresses the importance of workstation set-up: screen height, seating, lighting. An improvised workstation on a bed or sofa is not harmless: musculoskeletal disorders and eye strain set in quickly. An adjustable laptop stand, paired with an external keyboard, fixes most of the problem for a modest outlay — and some employers reimburse it on presentation of a receipt.

If you are under 18 and the company offers you remote work, ask that it remain exceptional and occasional, and always with a check-in scheduled during the day.

How to negotiate remote-work days without looking like a slacker

Timing matters as much as the argument. Don't raise the question in the first interview if the listing says nothing about it: you shift the conversation from "what I bring" to "what I'm asking for." Wait either for the stage where terms are discussed (once the employer wants to hire you) or, better still, the first few weeks of the contract.

A few phrasings that work:

• "What's the team's remote-work rhythm? I'd like to fit in with how it operates." — you're not asking for a favour, you're adapting.
• "For writing my dissertation and for production tasks, one focused day working remotely would improve my output. Would that be possible from January?" — you tie remote work to a deliverable.
• "I'd rather be on site for the first few months to really understand the processes. Shall we revisit this in December?" — you take the initiative on the timetable.

And prepare the practical side, because an employer who hesitates often hesitates over technical reliability: a stable connection, a dedicated workspace, genuine availability. A headset with a noise-cancelling microphone will change how your video calls are perceived far more reliably than a lengthy argument — people hear you clearly, and you stop being "the one nobody can understand."

What to put in writing

Even under a one-to-one agreement, set out these five points by email:

1. The number of days and, if possible, which fixed days (regularity is reassuring).
2. Availability windows — and the right to disconnect, mandatory in remote-work agreements.
3. The declared location (your home; tell them if you move, as your insurance depends on it).
4. The equipment provided and the expenses covered.
5. The reversibility clause: either party can return to on-site work, with a notice period.

Also inform your home insurer: most multi-risk policies cover salaried remote work at no extra premium, but your employer may sometimes ask for a certificate.

Remote work and the CFA: don't confuse the two

Be sure to distinguish two things apprentices often mix up:

• remote work, which concerns time spent with the company;
• distance learning (FOAD), which concerns time spent at the CFA.

The latter is governed by vocational training rules: the CFA must provide support, technical and educational assistance, and assessment of learning outcomes. FOAD hours count towards the total training hours. If your CFA shifts heavily to distance learning without real follow-up, that is an issue to raise with the institution's improvement council (conseil de perfectionnement), where apprentice representatives sit.

One practical point: weeks of remote classes require some domestic organisation. An A5 notebook kept by hand for company/CFA check-ins remains, in our experience, more effective than a notes app for preparing reviews with your apprenticeship supervisor — because you actually reread it. And if your home is shared or noisy, a desk lamp with adjustable brightness noticeably improves comfort during long screen sessions at the end of the day.

Key takeaways

Remote work is neither an acquired right nor a taboo in apprenticeships: it is an organisational arrangement to be negotiated, formalised and carefully dosed. Well calibrated — one day in the first year, two at most thereafter — it eases fatigue and your budget without cutting into what you learn. Badly calibrated, it turns an apprenticeship into a remote internship: thin assignments, no network, a lukewarm reference at the end of the contract.

Before signing, ask about the team's actual rhythm, not just the line advertised in the listing. And remember the rule that sums it all up: you're there to learn first, produce second. To fine-tune the rest of your package, our pay calculator gives you your expected net salary, the financial support page lists transport and housing assistance, and if you are still searching, apprenticeship listings can be filtered by geographic area. Also worth reading: Your first days as an apprentice: making your onboarding count, which deals precisely with the weeks when being on site makes all the difference.

Sources: French Labour Code (art. L. 1222-9 to L. 1222-11, L. 3162-1, L. 6221-1, L. 6223-5), URSSAF (professional expenses and flat-rate remote-work allowance), INRS (display screen workstation set-up), Ministry of Labour.