Under the employment law of France, the termination of an employment agreement by either of the parties must be preceded by a notice period during which the contract remains in effect and binding on both parties. The requirement of prior notice is provided by the law, particularly in cases of resignation, dismissal (except in cases of gross and willful misconduct of the employee), or voluntary and involuntary retirement.
Except in instances of gross misconduct (which may permit an immediate dismissal), the employer must comply with applicable notice periods.
Any applicable collective bargaining agreement or employment contract may increase the statutory minimum. During the notice period, an employee continues to work. The employer may waive this obligation but must pay the employee's salary and holiday pay on up to the end of the notice period.
Per the laws of France, EU citizens do not need a work or residence permit if they hold a passport or other ID, proving their EU citizenship. All non-EU citizens are required to obtain a work permit for employment in France. The relevant préfecture will consider the employment situation within its territory or department when deciding whether to grant a work permit. Persons entering France to exercise a salaried activity for a duration less than or equal to three months in sports, seminars, entertainment, modeling, artistic, personal services, teaching, etc. do not require a work permit.
The work permit issued in a French department, a community, or an overseas territory is valid only in that department, community or territory. Persons who hold such authorization and wish to work in France must obtain a new work permit. On the other hand, a person does not need to get a new work permit if they hold:
In these cases, a person must report the change of address to the prefecture.
Undocumented immigrants may apply for temporary work authorization for difficult fields such as construction, personal care and assistance, catering, etc. To be eligible, the applicant must have worked 12 months in the last 24 and have resided in France for at least 3 years.
According to the Employment Code of France, full-time employees earn 2.5 days of annual leave every working month. The total duration of annual leave cannot exceed 30 working days in a year. Employees under 21 years with dependent children are granted two extra days of leave per child. The annual leave in France runs from June 1 to May 31 of the following year, although this can be changed by collective agreements. Annual leave cannot be replaced by compensatory allowance. Employees are paid leave allowance according to their average salary.
According to a French Court of Cassation ruling of September 2025, when an employee falls ill during paid leave and properly notifies the employer of the sick leave, the days of paid leave that coincide with the sickness must be carried over and can be taken later. Employers must update leave administration policies to allow rescheduling of annual leave in such cases.
The duration of the annual leave used at one time cannot exceed 24 working days. Leave of 12 working days or fewer must be continuous.
The statutory working hours are 35 hours per calendar week or 7 hours per day. Employees are permitted to work overtime on either a one-off basis or regularly. Employers should be cautious when employees work more than 39 hours a week because the maximum amount of overtime an employee may work is 220 hours per year.
There are more flexible systems for autonomous employees and those employed as executives, but the employer must track the hours worked accurately. Furthermore, an exemption from most working time and rest-related regulations is allowed for “managing executives,” but this is exceptional and rarely accepted by employees. The hours worked by a nighttime employee cannot exceed 8 per day (or 40 per week), except under certain circumstances authorized by a labor inspector.
In France, workers are entitled to 16 weeks of maternity leave and may choose to take 6 weeks of leave before the delivery and 10 weeks after the delivery. 8 weeks of maternity leave are compulsory, of which at least 6 weeks must be taken after childbirth. Maternity leave may be extended on medical grounds arising out of the pregnancy by a maximum of 2 weeks before and 4 weeks after the birth. Maternity leave is increased to 34 weeks for twin births and 46 weeks for triplet or more births. From the third and subsequent births, the maternity leave is increased to 26 weeks: 8 weeks before and 18 weeks after childbirth.
During the term of maternity leave, employees are paid a maternity allowance which is equal to the average daily wage (100%) of the 3-month period preceding prenatal leave up to a ceiling of EUR 4,005 (Euros) a month after deduction of the employee's share of statutory social security contributions and taxes. The maximum amount of the daily maternity allowance is EUR 104.02 per day before deduction of the employee's share of statutory social security contributions and taxes of 21%. Maternity leave is treated as an actual working period for determining the duration of paid leave and for legal or conventional rights acquired by the employee with respect to her seniority in the company.
An additional birth leave is created by the 2026 Social Security Financing Act, effective January 1, 2026. It is in addition to maternity, paternity, parental, and adoption leave. Each parent may take the leave simultaneously or alternately with the other. The leave duration is, at the parent's discretion, 1 or 2 months.
Dismissal is prohibited during pregnancy, during maternity leave (whether or not the worker uses the right to take the leave), 10 weeks after a miscarriage of a 14th week or later pregnancy, as well as four weeks after the end of maternity leave.
The French minimum wage (salaire minimum de croissance or SMIC) is adjusted every year on January 1. The current hourly minimum wage for adult employees is EUR 12.31 (Euros). This amount equates to EUR 1,867.02 per month based on a legal workweek of 35 hours and an annual minimum wage of EUR 22,404.20. When accounting for the deduction of employee contributions, the net minimum wage is EUR 9.74 per hour, EUR 1,477.93 per month, and EUR 17,735.19 per year.
Get the full Country Snapshot with 25 sections of information about labor law in Bahrain.
Your request has been received. We'll be emailing you the country snapshot shortly.
Get the full Country Snapshot with 25 sections of information about labor law in France.
Your request has been received. We'll be emailing you the country snapshot shortly.
