France does not allow at-will termination. An employer needs a valid legal ground. It also needs to follow a set procedure. In most cases, notice and severance pay are owed too. Skip a step, and a labor tribunal can reverse the dismissal or order compensation. This guide covers grounds, notice, severance, the process timeline, protected categories, and the mistakes employers make most.
The notice and severance figures below come from the French Labor Code (Code du travail). We checked them in July 2026, and the full source list is in this piece's trail. Benefits and leave figures match our France guide.
Last updated July 31, 2026. Jump to: Grounds for dismissal · Notice periods · Severance pay · The process, step by step · Protected employees · Employer costs and mistakes · What an EOR handles · FAQ
Grounds for dismissal: cause réelle et sérieuse
Every dismissal in France needs a "cause réelle et sérieuse" — a real and serious ground. French courts test this two ways. The facts must be real and provable. And they must be serious enough that the job cannot continue. A vague reason fails both tests. A tribunal can then rule the dismissal invalid.
Three legal routes end an employment contract in France:
- Personal grounds (motif personnel). Poor performance, misconduct, or unfitness to do the job. This is the most common route, and the focus of this guide.
- Economic grounds (motif économique). Redundancy tied to financial trouble, restructuring, or a role disappearing. Dismiss 10 or more people within 30 days at a company of 50 or more employees, and a redundancy plan (plan de sauvegarde de l'emploi, or PSE) becomes mandatory.
- Mutual consent (rupture conventionnelle). Employer and employee agree to end the contract together. It needs its own signed agreement, a 15-day cooling-off period, and sign-off from the French labor authority (DREETS).
Misconduct has three grades under French law, and the grade changes what the employee is owed. Ordinary misconduct (faute simple) still carries notice and severance. Serious misconduct (faute grave) forfeits both. Gross misconduct (faute lourde) — misconduct meant to harm the employer — forfeits them too. Some employers reach for "serious misconduct" just to skip the payout. Tribunals push back hard when the facts don't support that. Grade it honestly. This is one of the most litigated points in French termination cases.
Notice periods (préavis)
Statutory notice in France scales with length of service. A collective bargaining agreement can set a longer period, and the longer one wins. Under Article L1234-1 of the Code du travail, the statutory floor is:
| Length of service | Statutory minimum notice |
|---|---|
| Under 6 months | Set by law, the applicable collective agreement, or workplace custom — no fixed statutory figure. |
| 6 months to under 2 years | 1 month. |
| 2 years or more | 2 months. |
Most French sector agreements set longer notice than this floor. The longer figure applies. An employer can pay out the notice instead of having the employee work it (indemnité compensatrice de préavis), or exempt them from it. Notice is forfeited entirely for serious or gross misconduct.
For how notice compares across other markets, see our notice periods by country table.
Severance pay (indemnité de licenciement)
Statutory severance is owed once an employee reaches 8 months of continuous service. The formula: one quarter of a month's salary per year of service for the first 10 years, then one third of a month per year after that (Code du travail Article R1234-2). Partial years count on a pro-rata basis. Severance is not owed for serious or gross misconduct. A mutual-consent departure (rupture conventionnelle) uses the same formula as its floor.
The reference salary is whichever is higher: the average of the last 12 months, or the average of the last 3 months, with any annual bonus prorated in. Here is a worked example, using a reference salary of €3,000 a month:
| Years of service | Severance calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 3 × 1/4 × €3,000 | €2,250 |
| 10 years | 10 × 1/4 × €3,000 | €7,500 |
| 15 years | (10 × 1/4 × €3,000) + (5 × 1/3 × €3,000) | €12,500 |
Many French collective agreements set severance above this floor, and the higher figure applies. Check the agreement before you quote a number to an employee. For how France's severance compares to other countries, see our severance pay by country table.
The termination process, step by step
A French dismissal for personal reasons follows a fixed sequence. Rushing a step is its own legal defect. That is true even if the underlying reason was valid.
- Convene the employee to a preliminary meeting (entretien préalable). Send a registered letter, or hand-deliver it. The meeting cannot happen before the 6th working day after the employee gets it — a minimum 5 working-day gap.
- Hold the meeting. Explain the reason for the possible dismissal. Hear the employee's response. If the company has no staff representative body, the employee may bring a colleague or an outside adviser.
- Wait at least 2 working days, then send the dismissal letter by registered mail. State the reason precisely. There is no maximum wait for a non-disciplinary case, but a long delay can undercut the claimed urgency of the reason.
- Employment ends when notice runs out, or immediately with a payout in lieu. Final pay includes unused leave, notice pay if owed, and severance if owed.
Two variants change this timeline. A rupture conventionnelle skips the meeting-and-letter sequence. Instead: a signed agreement, a 15-calendar-day withdrawal window, then DREETS review, up to 15 working days, with silence counting as approval. Signature to an approved exit typically takes 5 to 6 weeks. Dismissing a staff representative or another protected employee adds a mandatory works council (CSE) consultation and a separate DREETS authorization request. That adds several more weeks.
One honest concession: if you already keep an experienced French employment lawyer on retainer, and run this process often, doing it yourself works fine. The law does not require an EOR. Where an EOR earns its fee is volume and unfamiliarity — getting the letter wording, the timing gaps, and the misconduct grade right, every time, in a country you don't operate in daily.
Protected employees and categories
A few categories carry extra protection on top of the standard process:
- Staff representatives (salariés protégés). Elected works council members, union delegates, and similar roles cannot be dismissed — alone or as part of a layoff — without prior authorization from the labor inspector (inspecteur du travail). This protection runs for their mandate and for a period after it ends.
- Pregnant employees and new parents. Dismissal is barred during pregnancy, during maternity leave in France, and for 10 weeks after return from leave. The exceptions are serious misconduct unrelated to the pregnancy, or a genuine, unrelated economic ground.
- Employees on sick leave from a workplace accident or occupational illness. Dismissal in this protected window is barred, except for serious misconduct or a genuine inability to keep the role open.
- Whistleblowers. Dismissing someone for reporting misconduct in good faith is void. French law puts the burden on the employer to show the dismissal was unrelated.
Dismiss a protected employee without the required authorization, and the risk goes past compensation — French courts can order reinstatement. Confirm protected status before starting any process.
Employer costs and common mistakes
The direct cost of a French dismissal is notice pay (if not worked), statutory or agreed severance, and payout of unused paid leave. France's statutory annual leave runs 30 working days a year — one of the higher entitlements globally. Add the indirect cost: a tribunal claim (at the conseil de prud'hommes) can run for months. If the employer loses, it adds compensation for dismissal without real and serious cause, on top of what was already owed. Our France cost calculator prices the ongoing employer cost of the role — useful context before a dismissal, since it shows what continuing to employ the person costs versus what ending it costs.
The mistakes we see most often:
- Treating France like an at-will market. There is no "no reason" dismissal in France. Every case needs a documented ground.
- Overclaiming serious misconduct to skip severance. Tribunals scrutinize this closely. A downgraded grade after a challenge means paying the severance anyway, plus the employer's own legal costs.
- Missing the 5 working-day gap between the convocation letter and the preliminary meeting, or sending the dismissal letter too soon after the meeting. Both are procedural defects, separate from the underlying reason.
- Not checking the collective bargaining agreement. Sector agreements often set longer notice or larger severance than the statutory floor. The agreement wins.
- Missing protected status. Dismissing a pregnant employee or an elected representative without the extra process is one of the costliest mistakes an employer can make in France — a court can order reinstatement, not just compensation.
What an employer of record handles
An employer of record is the legal employer of the worker in France on your behalf. So it runs the dismissal process directly, rather than just advising you from outside. It drafts the convocation letter. It manages the timing gaps. It calculates notice and severance against the right collective agreement, and handles the DREETS filing when a case runs through a rupture conventionnelle.
This does not remove the legal requirements — France's process still applies, no matter who runs it. What it removes is the risk of a step going wrong because the employer is new to France. Remote& runs employment in France, alongside contractor management and contractor of record, for a flat $400 per employee per month. See global workforce management for the full picture, including how hiring, paying, and offboarding work together on one platform. Terminating a hire in a different market? Our employee termination in Germany guide covers the equivalent process there.
Frequently asked questions
How do you fire an employee in France?
You need a documented legal ground — personal, economic, or mutual consent. Then a fixed procedure follows: a preliminary meeting held at least 5 working days after the convocation letter, then a dismissal letter sent at least 2 working days after the meeting. Notice and severance are owed unless the dismissal is for serious or gross misconduct. There is no at-will termination in France.
How much notice do you have to give an employee in France?
The statutory minimum under Code du travail Article L1234-1 is: no fixed figure under 6 months of service (set by contract, collective agreement, or custom), 1 month between 6 months and 2 years, and 2 months at 2 years or more. Most sector agreements set a longer period, and the longer one applies.
How is severance pay calculated in France?
Statutory severance (indemnité de licenciement) is owed after 8 months of continuous service. The formula is one quarter of a month's reference salary per year for the first 10 years, then one third of a month per year after that, prorated for partial years (Code du travail Article R1234-2). Collective agreements can set a higher formula.
Can you fire an employee in France without cause?
No. Every dismissal needs a "cause réelle et sérieuse" — a real, provable, and sufficiently serious ground. If a tribunal finds the reason inadequate, it can order compensation for dismissal without real and serious cause, on top of any notice and severance already due.
How long does the termination process take in France?
A standard personal-reason dismissal takes roughly 2 to 3 weeks, from the convocation letter to the dismissal letter, plus the notice period after. A rupture conventionnelle typically takes 5 to 6 weeks end to end. Dismissing a protected employee adds several more weeks for CSE consultation and labor inspector authorization.
Who is a protected employee in France?
Elected staff representatives and union delegates (salariés protégés), pregnant employees and new parents within 10 weeks of returning from leave, employees on leave for a workplace accident or occupational illness, and whistleblowers all carry extra dismissal protection. Some require prior authorization from the labor inspector before any dismissal can proceed.
What happens if a French dismissal is ruled unfair?
The labor tribunal (conseil de prud'hommes) can award compensation for dismissal without real and serious cause, on top of any notice and severance owed. It can also reduce a claimed misconduct grade if the facts don't support it, which restores the notice and severance the employer tried to avoid paying. For a protected employee dismissed without authorization, reinstatement is possible.
Do I need a French entity to fire an employee legally?
Only if you employ them directly. If the person is employed through an employer of record, the EOR is the legal employer and runs the dismissal under French law on your behalf. You do not need your own French entity or in-house French employment counsel to do it correctly.
France terminations, handled correctly
Remote& is the legal employer for your French hires, and that includes running offboarding to the letter — notice, severance, and the filing that goes with it. Flat $400 per employee per month, no separate legal bill per case.