Your rights as an employee in France: contract, pay, hours, leave and leaving a job

Permanent contract (contrat à durée indéterminée, CDI): the standard form of employment. A full-time CDI does not legally have to be in writing, but a part-time CDI does, and in practice most employers issue a signed written contract. A written contract must be in French; as a foreign employee you can ask for a translation into your own language.

Fixed-term contract (contrat à durée déterminée, CDD): allowed only in cases listed by law, for example to replace an absent employee, to cover a temporary increase in activity or for seasonal work. A CDD must always be in writing and handed to you no later than two working days after you start. Its maximum length is generally 18 months, with shorter or longer limits in specific cases.

Written information: since November 2023 employers must give every new employee key information in writing. By the 7th calendar day after hiring: the identity of both parties, place of work, job title and category, start date, probation period, the components of pay and working hours. Within one month: training rights, paid leave, the procedure for ending the contract, the applicable collective agreement and the social protection schemes (pension, complementary health and provident cover). The information can be given on paper or electronically.

The national minimum wage (salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance, SMIC) is revised every 1 January, and earlier if consumer prices rise by 2 % or more. In 2026 it was raised twice:

• From 1 January 2026: €12.02 gross per hour (€1,823.03 gross per month for 35 hours a week).
• From 1 June 2026: €12.31 gross per hour, which is €1,867.02 gross per month for a full-time 35-hour week. Service-Public gives an indicative net monthly amount of about €1,478.

Reduced rates apply to employees under 18 with less than six months' experience in the sector: €11.08 per hour at 17 and €9.85 per hour under 17 (rates from 1 June 2026).

Many collective agreements set minimum salaries by job grade that are higher than the SMIC. Your pay slip (bulletin de paie) shows your gross pay, social contributions, income tax withheld at source and your net pay; read it each month and keep it.

The legal working week is 35 hours for full-time employees (151.67 hours per month). Hours worked beyond 35 hours a week are overtime (heures supplémentaires) and must be paid with a premium or compensated with rest, as set by your collective agreement or company agreement.

Maximum limits for employees aged 18 and over:

• 10 hours of actual work per day (up to 12 hours where an agreement allows it).
• 48 hours in any single week, and 44 hours on average over 12 consecutive weeks.
• A break of at least 20 minutes once you have worked 6 hours in a row.

Collective agreements can adapt some of these rules, and senior executives (cadres dirigeants) are outside the working-time limits. Check your contract and agreement to see which arrangement applies to you.

You earn 2.5 working days of paid leave per month worked, which adds up to 30 working days (five weeks) per year. In French leave rules, "working days" (jours ouvrables) means every day from Monday to Saturday except public holidays, so a week off usually counts as six days. Part-time employees earn the same entitlement.

• Reference period: leave is generally earned from 1 June to 31 May, unless your collective agreement sets another period.
• Main leave: between 1 May and 31 October you must be able to take at least 12 consecutive working days. More than 24 consecutive working days (four weeks) at once requires your employer's agreement.
• Sick leave: since a 2024 reform, periods of non-work-related sick leave also earn paid leave, at 2 working days per month (up to 24 days a year).
• Under 21: younger employees may take up to 30 days even if they have earned fewer, with extra rules for parents.

Your employer sets the order of departures within the rules of your collective agreement. Public holidays are covered in a separate guide.

If you are ill and cannot work, see a doctor, who issues a sick note (arrêt de travail). You must send it to your health insurance fund and your employer within 48 hours. Doctors usually transmit the part for the health insurance fund electronically; you still give your employer their copy.

Daily allowances (indemnités journalières): the health insurance fund pays you after a three-day waiting period (délai de carence). The allowance is 50 % of your basic daily wage. In 2026 the wage taken into account is capped at 1.4 times the SMIC (€2,613.82 per month), which gives a maximum of €42.97 gross per day. You must have worked or contributed enough beforehand; for the first six months of sick leave, for example, 150 hours of work in the previous three months.

Employer top-up (maintien de salaire): if you have at least one year of service, your employer generally tops up the allowance after a seven-day waiting period, to 90 % of your gross pay for a first period and two thirds after that, for periods that lengthen with seniority. Many collective agreements are more generous and remove the waiting days.

A probation period is not compulsory, but if there is one it must be stated in your contract or letter of engagement. For a CDI, the maximum initial length is:

• 2 months for workers and employees (ouvriers et employés)
• 3 months for supervisors and technicians (agents de maîtrise et techniciens)
• 4 months for managers (cadres)

It can be renewed once, up to 4, 6 or 8 months in total, and only if the collective agreement allows it, the contract mentions the possibility and you agree in writing during the first period.

Either side can end the contract during probation without giving a reason, but must respect a short notice (délai de prévenance). If the employer ends it: 24 hours if you have been there less than 8 days, 48 hours from 8 days to 1 month, 2 weeks after 1 month and 1 month after 3 months. If you end it: 24 hours if you have been there less than 8 days, otherwise 48 hours.

Resigning (démission): no special procedure is required, but give notice in writing (registered letter or letter handed over against a signed receipt) to avoid disputes. The length of your notice (préavis) is usually set by your collective agreement, otherwise by your contract or local custom; it often depends on your category. Notice starts when your employer receives your resignation. Resigning does not normally open the right to unemployment benefit, except in cases France Travail treats as legitimate.

Dismissal (licenciement): an employer needs a "real and serious cause", either personal (for example misconduct or professional inadequacy) or economic, and must follow a procedure. The minimum legal notice when you are dismissed is:

• less than 6 months' service: as set by the collective agreement or custom
• 6 months to 2 years: 1 month
• 2 years or more: 2 months

There is no notice in case of serious misconduct (faute grave or faute lourde). Your contract or collective agreement may give you longer notice. Severance pay rules depend on your seniority and agreement; Service-Public has an official simulator.

A permanent contract can also end by mutual agreement through a rupture conventionnelle. Neither side can impose it.

1. You and your employer meet at least once; you may be assisted by a colleague or, in some cases, an outside adviser.
2. You sign an agreement stating the end date and the termination payment, usually through the online service TéléRC (or the official cerfa form). The payment cannot be lower than the legal or agreed dismissal severance pay.
3. Each side has 15 calendar days after signing to withdraw, without giving a reason.
4. The agreement is then sent to the regional labour administration (DREETS, or DRIEETS in Île-de-France), which has 15 working days to approve it. Silence counts as approval.

If you meet the conditions, a rupture conventionnelle gives access to unemployment benefit (ARE), unlike an ordinary resignation.

• Code du travail numérique: the labour ministry's free website answers common questions, lets you look up your collective agreement by company name, SIRET or IDCC number, and offers simulators and letter templates.
• Regional labour administration: the labour ministry's services in each region (in Île-de-France, the DRIEETS) inform private-sector employees about labour law; the Code du travail numérique lists how to contact them.
• Cité des métiers at the Cité des sciences in Paris (19th arrondissement): free, anonymous advice without appointment on job search, contracts and workers' rights, with periodic free labour-law sessions.
• Unions (syndicats) can advise and support their members.
• Labour court (conseil de prud'hommes): you have 12 months from notification to challenge the end of your contract, and 3 years from when you became aware of the problem to claim unpaid wages.