Hiring Employees in France: A Comprehensive Guide (2026)

France is one of Europe's most dynamic hiring markets, and one of its most complex.

The Code du Travail runs to thousands of articles, sector-specific collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) override statutory minimums in ways that differ by industry, and employer social contributions add 42–45% on top of each employee's gross salary.

Errors lead to fines, disputes before the Conseil de prud'hommes, potential reinstatement orders, or penalties from URSSAF.

Yet the business case for hiring in France remains strong.

France is the EU's second-largest economy, home to a highly educated workforce, strong engineering and digital talent pools, and strategic access to the broader eurozone market.

For mid-market and enterprise companies expanding into continental Europe, France is often a first-mover priority. The question isn't whether to hire there, but how to do it without getting tangled in compliance risk.

This guide covers French employment law, payroll costs, statutory benefits, how an Employer of Record (EOR) works in practice, the step-by-step hiring workflow, visa routes for non-EU talent, and how to handle termination compliantly in 2026.

Where Deel's EOR solution is relevant, each section also explains how Deel handles that responsibility.

France employment law: what every employer must know

France's employment framework is built on a layered system: the Code du Travail sets the statutory floor, sector-level collective bargaining agreements layer on top of that, and individual employment contracts can go further still, but never below what the CBA, contract, or law requires.

Understanding the structure before hiring prevents costly misunderstandings. Knowing which layer applies, and where they conflict, is what separates a compliant French employer from one who discovers the error in litigation.

Employment contract types in France: CDI vs. CDD vs. interim

France distinguishes clearly between contract types, and choosing the wrong one creates real legal exposure. The most important distinction is between the open-ended permanent contract and the fixed-term contract. The rules governing when each is permitted are tightly drawn.

CDI is the standard form for all regular employment. Using a CDD to avoid permanent employment obligations is a common compliance trap: the Code du Travail specifies a closed list of justifications for CDD use (replacement of an absent employee, seasonal work, exceptional activity, specific contracts for vocational training), and courts interpret these narrowly.

A CDD renewed beyond its permitted limits, or used without a listed justification, is automatically reclassified as a CDI, with all associated retroactive entitlements. The general maximum duration of a CDD (including up to two renewals) is 18 months, though specific cases such as replacement contracts can have different rules.

Probationary periods under a CDI depend on the employee's classification:

• Non-cadre (non-managerial): up to two months, renewable once for a total of four months maximum

• Techniciens and agents de maîtrise (technician/supervisory category): up to three months, renewable once for a total of six months maximum

• Cadre (managerial/executive): up to four months, renewable once for a total of eight months maximum

Collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in France

France's CBA system is unusually broad in scope. Most French employers are bound by a sector-level agreement (convention collective) whether they individually signed it or not. If the government has extended it by ministerial decree (extension ministérielle), it applies to every employer in that sector automatically. The relevant agreement is determined by the company's APE/NAF code, assigned by INSEE based on the company's primary activity.

For technology and consulting companies, the most common CBA is Syntec (IDCC 1486), which adds significant requirements above statutory minimums: specific salary grids organized by position classification (from AM1 to PM3 for cadres), enhanced notice periods, particular rules on forfait-jours (annual-day) working arrangements for cadres, and norms for meal-allowance reimbursement.

A mid-market company hiring a senior software engineer in Paris without checking the Syntec grid risks underpaying them in a way that's both a legal violation and a retention problem.

CBAs govern the following elements that can materially affect your cost and compliance position:

• Minimum salary grids by job category and seniority level

• Notice periods (which may exceed statutory minimums for senior cadres)

• Probationary period rules

• Sick leave top-ups above the IJSS (social security daily allowances), determining how long the employer must maintain full salary during illness

• Additional leave entitlements (e.g. congés exceptionnels for personal events such as marriage, bereavement)

• Supplementary pension fund designation (AGIRC-ARRCO fund and any sector-specific supplementary layer above it)

• Enhanced severance entitlements above the statutory minimum formula

Understanding which CBA applies to a business, and what it requires for each role classification, is step one before drafting any employment contract in France. Deel's EOR team identifies the applicable CBA and applies its requirements for each eligible hire.

Mandatory written contracts and day-one documentation

Every employment relationship in France requires a written contract issued before the employee's first day or on the first day at the latest.

For CDI contracts, the written document isn't strictly required by the Code du Travail but is universally expected in practice, because failure to provide one shifts the burden of proof in any subsequent dispute firmly to the employer.

For CDDs, a written contract is legally mandatory and must be signed within two working days of the start date. Failure to do so converts the CDD to a CDI automatically under Article L1242-13 of the Code du Travail.

Mandatory contract clauses include:

• job title and CBA classification

• place of work (and télétravail provisions if applicable)

• applicable collective bargaining agreement (identified by its IDCC code)

• gross salary

• working-time regime (35-hour week or forfait-jours for eligible cadres)

• probationary period duration

• notice period

• intellectual property assignment clause

• reference to the company's right-to-disconnect policy or télétravail charter

Beyond the contract itself, employers must maintain a single staff register (registre unique du personnel) logging every employee from first day onward, keep right-to-work documentation on file, and have a compliant internal work-rules document (règlement intérieur) for companies with 50 or more employees.

Working time, overtime, and the 35-hour week

France's statutory working week is 35 hours. Hours above 35 per week are classified as overtime and must be compensated at a premium: 25% for hours 36–43, and 50% for hours beyond 43, unless a CBA specifies different compensation arrangements (many do).

The annual overtime cap (contingent annuel d'heures supplémentaires) is 220 hours per employee; once an employee's overtime hours exceed this annual cap, additional authorization from both the employee and DREETS is required before those hours can be worked.

For cadre employees, most companies use the forfait-jours regime instead of hourly tracking: the employee works under a fixed annual day count (capped at 218 working days per year by statute, though CBAs can set a lower cap) and is not subject to daily or weekly overtime tracking. This arrangement must be explicitly permitted by the applicable CBA and must be individually agreed in the employment contract.

Statutory paid leave and right-to-work checks

All French employees accrue 25 working days of paid annual leave per year (calculated as 2.08 days per month of work). Public holidays add further days off. France observes 11 national public holidays; whether a specific public holiday creates a paid rest day depends on the CBA, industry practice, and the company's internal agreement.

Right-to-work checks work differently by nationality:

• EU/EEA nationals and Swiss nationals: present a valid identity document or passport only. No work authorization is required, and no notification to any authority is needed at the time of hire.

• Non-EU nationals: require a valid work permit before commencing employment. The employer must file the DPAE (Déclaration Préalable à l'Embauche) with URSSAF at least two working days before the employee's start date. Non-EU employees who arrive on a long-stay visa that counts as a residence permit (visa long séjour valant titre de séjour, VLS-TS) must validate it online via the ANEF platform within three months of arrival and then register with the Office Français de l'Immigration et de l'Intégration (OFII).

Data protection in hiring: CNIL and GDPR obligations

France's data-protection authority, the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés), applies strict rules to personal data collected during the hiring process.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), employers must inform candidates what data is being collected, the legal basis for processing it, how long it will be retained, and the candidates' rights of access, correction, and erasure.

Candidate data collected in a recruitment process must be deleted within a reasonable period (typically two months from the end of the process) if the person is not hired, unless they gave explicit consent to a longer retention for future opportunities.

Background checks are tightly scoped under French law: criminal record checks (extrait du casier judiciaire) are generally restricted to roles where they're required by law or essential to the trust dimension of the position. CNIL guidance explicitly limits what employers can investigate and prohibits asking candidates questions unrelated to the role's requirements.

The right-to-disconnect obligation (droit à la déconnexion) applies to all companies with 50 or more employees: they must negotiate an agreement on digital tool use outside working hours, or adopt a unilateral charter setting out norms and protective measures.

2026 legislative reform context

Two EU-level reforms are active in France in 2026 that hiring and HR teams must account for:

The EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) requires that job advertisements posted from June 2026 include a salary range or starting salary where technically feasible. France has transposed this obligation.

Employers advertising roles in France must state compensation in published job postings, and HR teams should review their pay banding and pay-equity practices before the audit cycle begins.

The EU AI Act's classification rules for recruitment tools became active in August 2026. AI tools used in candidate screening, ranking, or scoring are classified as high-risk AI systems, meaning employers using such tools must ensure they are auditable, bias-tested, and that candidates are informed of automated decision-making affecting their application.

For employers trying to monitor these regulatory shifts in real time as they land in France, Deel's continuous compliance monitoring platform tracks employment-law updates and surfaces them before they create exposure.

Payroll, tax, and employer costs explained

France's payroll system is among the most sophisticated in the EU, and among the most expensive for employers. Understanding the full cost of employment before you make an offer is essential: compensation conversations that look acceptable on paper can produce total employer costs well above expectations, particularly at mid-to-senior salary levels where the RGDU contribution reduction phases out.

France operates a pay-as-you-earn income tax system called prélèvement à la source (PAS), implemented in 2019. The employer withholds income tax directly from the employee's net salary each month using a personalized rate communicated by the tax authority (Direction Générale des Finances Publiques, DGFiP) and remits it monthly via the Déclaration Sociale Nominative (DSN).

The DSN, a monthly digital filing submitted via net-entreprises.fr, simultaneously covers social security contributions, income tax withholding, pension fund contributions, and all other statutory payroll declarations in one consolidated submission.

For more detail on the employer cost burden, see Deel's dedicated guide to employer costs for an employee in France.

Income tax bands (2026)

France taxes personal income progressively across five brackets. The thresholds below are per income share (part) in the quotient familial system: total household income is divided by the household's number of parts (one for a single person, two for a couple, 0.5 additional per child), and each part is taxed separately at the progressive scale.

The brackets below apply to 2025 income (declared in the 2026 return) and were adjusted upward by 0.9% for inflation under the 2026 Finance Act (LOI n° 2026-103 du 19 février 2026, confirmed by Service-Public.gouv.fr).

A high-income surtax (contribution exceptionnelle sur les hauts revenus) adds 3% on income above €250,000 for single filers (€500,000 for couples) and 4% above €500,000 (€1 million for couples).

Employer social contributions

This is where France's total employment cost diverges sharply from most other jurisdictions. Employer social contributions — covering health insurance, old-age pension, family allowances, unemployment insurance, workplace accident insurance, AGIRC-ARRCO mandatory supplementary pension, housing levy, transport levy, apprenticeship tax, and solidarity contribution — add approximately 42–45% on top of gross salary for employees at mid-to-senior salary levels, per URSSAF data compiled for 2026.

The exact rate varies significantly by salary level, company size, industry, and geography. The RGDU (Réduction Générale Dégressive Unifiée), which replaced the old Fillon reduction from January 2026, reduces employer contributions for employees earning up to three times the SMIC. Above that threshold, full rates apply with no reduction.

The 2026 Social Security Financing Law (LFSS 2026), published in the Journal Officiel on 30 December 2025, brought several key changes:

• Employer contribution on rupture conventionnelle and employer-initiated retirement indemnities increased from 30% to 40%, effective for all separations from January 2026 onward

• The old salary-band reliefs for health insurance (7%) and family allowances (3.45%) for lower-paid employees were abolished and replaced with the unified RGDU

• The flat-rate employer deduction on overtime hours was extended to companies with 250 or more employees

The monthly Social Security ceiling (PMSS) for 2026 is €4,005/month (annual ceiling PASS: €48,060/year).

Employer cost example

The table below illustrates the indicative total annual employer cost for an employee at a €60,000 gross annual salary in France:

Figures are indicative for a standard mid-level salarié at this salary level, in Île-de-France, without the RGDU reduction. Actual rates vary by sector, company size, and applicable CBA.

AGIRC-ARRCO mandatory supplementary pension

All employees in France are automatically enrolled in the AGIRC-ARRCO supplementary pension scheme, a mandatory occupational pension system that operates in addition to the state basic pension (régime général de l'assurance vieillesse).

The AGIRC-ARRCO system was reformed in 2019 and now applies a single unified contribution grid to all employees regardless of cadre status.

Contributions are split between employer and employee and are calculated against two tranches:

• T1 up to the PMSS (€4,005/month)

• T2 from one to eight times the PMSS

The employer's share is typically around 60% of total contributions. The specific AGIRC-ARRCO fund to which contributions must be paid is determined by the applicable CBA.

There is no single national fund. Multiple authorized funds are organized by sector.

Statutory benefits and leave entitlements

France mandates paid leave, complementary health coverage, pension contributions, family leave, and several other protections for every employee. Every employee receives a statutory baseline of benefits that contracts cannot waive, and most CBAs add further entitlements on top. Understanding the full package before negotiating a compensation offer prevents surprises between what's budgeted and what the law requires.

Annual leave, public holidays, and RTT

All employees accrue 25 working days of paid annual leave per year (2.08 days per month of actual work). Leave is traditionally accrued within a reference year running June 1 to May 31, though many companies now operate an agreement-based alternative that aligns more closely with the calendar year. France has 11 national public holidays. May 1 (Fête du Travail) is the only mandatory paid rest day by statute. Whether the remaining 10 produce paid days off depends on the CBA, work rules, or company agreement. In practice, most employers in France treat all 11 as paid holidays.

For employees under a forfait-jours regime, RTT (Réduction du Temps de Travail) days cap total working time below the agreed annual day count. Their number is determined by the CBA and the specific forfait-jours agreement.

Sick leave and daily allowances

When an employee is ill, they are entitled to Indemnités Journalières de Sécurité Sociale (IJSS) from the social security system from day four of continuous absence. The first three days are a délai de carence (waiting period) during which the employer does not pay if the CBA provides no top-up. Most CBAs, including Syntec, require the employer to top up IJSS to full or near-full salary for a defined period, which varies by seniority and classification. The employer must file the arrêt de travail (sick leave certificate) declaration via DSN to trigger IJSS payment.

Maternity, paternity, and parental leave

France's parental leave entitlements are among the most extensive in the EU, and the LFSS 2026 added a further layer of paid birth leave from July 2026.

Key employer obligations: the employer cannot dismiss an employee during maternity leave (with very narrow exceptions for grave fault), must reinstate them to an equivalent or superior position on return, and must implement a salary catch-up mechanism where the employee's pay fell below collective increases during leave.

Mandatory mutuelle (complementary health coverage)

All employers must provide a collective complementary health insurance plan (mutuelle d'entreprise) to every employee, regardless of whether they are cadre or non-cadre, part-time or full-time. The employer must contribute at least 50% of the premium. Both the plan and the employer's contribution sharing must be applied uniformly across the workforce. Providing coverage only to senior staff is not permitted. The plan must cover a minimum guaranteed basket of care (panier de soins minimum), set by decree, covering basic medical, dental, optical, and hospitalization costs.

Meal vouchers, transport allowance, and télétravail

These three elements are structurally present in almost every French employment package:

Meal vouchers (titres-restaurant): an employer co-financing arrangement where the employer contributes between 50–60% of the face value of each voucher per working day. The employer's contribution is exempt from social contributions up to €7.18 per voucher per working day in 2026. The daily face value eligible for exemption is €13.09. The voucher is not legally mandatory but is so universally expected that absence effectively reduces offer competitiveness.

Transport allowance (prise en charge des transports): employers with 50 or more employees in Île-de-France must reimburse 75% of the monthly Navigo public transport pass (or equivalent). For all other employers in France, the statutory minimum is 50% reimbursement of the employee's public transport costs.

Télétravail (remote work): all remote-working arrangements require a written agreement or charter (chartre télétravail). The employer must either provide the equipment needed to work remotely or pay a documented reimbursement. Employers also typically pay a flat-rate télétravail allowance (forfait télétravail) of up to €10 per month, which is exempt from social contributions within that limit.

Hiring without a French entity: how an Employer of Record works

Establishing a French entity (a SARL, SAS, or branch) typically takes three to six months from decision to first hire. That timeline includes company registration with the Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce, obtaining a SIRET/SIREN number, setting up a registered address and accounting infrastructure, registering with URSSAF and the relevant pension fund, and implementing a DSN-compliant payroll system.

For companies exploring France as a new market, hiring a first or second employee, or scaling quickly without the overhead of local entity governance, those requirements represent a significant barrier. An Employer of Record enables companies to hire without establishing their own French entity, while the EOR manages local employment obligations.

With an EOR, a France-compliant company acts as the legal employer of the hire. The client defines the role, sets day-to-day objectives, and manages the work.

The EOR handles the employment contract (including identifying and applying the correct CBA), payroll processing, DSN filings, URSSAF registrations, statutory benefits enrollment (mutuelle, AGIRC-ARRCO pension, meal vouchers), and the locally required termination process, based on the client's business decision and the circumstances of each case.

For employers concerned about France's employee misclassification rules and prevention, an EOR provides an employment structure rather than a contractor arrangement.

The table below illustrates how the relationship actually works:

Misclassification risk in France: salariat déguisé and portage salarial

France recognizes the risk of disguised employment (salariat déguisé), where someone engaged as an auto-entrepreneur or contractor is in practice subordinate to the client company in the same way an employee would be.

French courts look at three criteria:

1. the work is performed under the company's authority and direction (lien de subordination)

2. it's integrated into the company's usual activity

3. it's remunerated

If all three are met, the relationship is reclassified as a CDI regardless of the contract label, triggering full retroactive employment entitlements, URSSAF back-contributions (potentially spanning years), and potentially criminal liability for the company's directors under Article L8221-6 of the Code du Travail.

Portage salarial is a legitimate intermediate form: an individual provides services through a registered portage company that employs them. It's capped at 36 months per client-engagement. Beyond that cap, the engagement must either transition to direct employment or end.

Deel's direct French EOR solution is not subject to the portage salarial 36-month cap and removes any subcontracting layer between the hire and the employing entity: Deel's French SARL is the employer of record, not an intermediary arrangement through a third party.

EOR versus setting up your own French entity

When to set up your own entity instead: if you plan to hire more than 20–25 employees in France over a multi-year horizon, have validated market fit, or operate in a sector where direct employment or physical establishment is required by regulation or client contract, setting up a SARL or SAS makes long-term economic sense. Deel can model that transition and help you run payroll via Deel Payroll once the entity is live.

What makes Deel's EOR different: Deel operates its own registered French SARL, not a third-party subcontracting arrangement. That removes a third-party EOR subcontracting layer: Deel's French SARL serves as the local legal employer and manages the employment obligations assigned to it under the EOR arrangement from day one.

For more on the EOR model in France, including the distinction from portage salarial, see Deel's guide to employer of record services in France.

Step-by-step guide to hiring an employee in France

Hiring in France follows a defined sequence of registrations, filings, and documentation. The steps below apply whether you're hiring through Deel's EOR solution or through your own French entity. Where Deel handles a step, that's noted. Each step has a firm deadline or a clear consequence if missed.

Step 1 — Choose your hiring model

Before making an offer, decide whether to hire through your own entity, via Deel's EOR solution, or engage the individual as a contractor. The decision matrix:

• No French entity and want full employment rights for the hire: use Deel's EOR solution to hire through Deel's French entity without establishing your own local entity

• French entity already registered: hire directly through it, using Deel Payroll to run compliant monthly payroll and DSN filings

• Role is genuinely project-based, non-subordinate, and the individual has multiple clients: contractor engagement, but run a misclassification assessment against France's lien de subordination criteria before executing the contract

If in doubt, an EOR may be an appropriate option for companies without a French entity, particularly for an initial hire.

Step 2 — Verify right to work

Right-to-work checks must be completed before the employee's first day. The documentation required differs by nationality:

• EU/EEA nationals and Swiss nationals: request a valid identity document or passport only. No permit is required, and no notification to any French authority is needed at the time of hire.

• Non-EU nationals: verify the employee holds a valid work authorization (a Passeport Talent, EU Blue Card, standard salarié work permit, or other applicable titre de séjour). The employer must file the DPAE (Déclaration Préalable à l'Embauche) with URSSAF at least two working days before the employee's start date. The employee must validate their VLS-TS (if applicable) online via the ANEF platform within three months of arrival and register with the OFII.

Keep a copy of all right-to-work documentation on file in a secure, GDPR-compliant system. Calendar permit expiry dates and initiate renewal processes with at least three months' lead time. Missing a permit renewal while the employee is active creates a live compliance exposure.

Step 3 — Draft and issue a compliant employment contract

Every French employment contract must include the following mandatory elements:

• Job title and CBA classification (e.g., "Cadre, Position 2.3" under Syntec)

• Place of work (and télétravail provisions if applicable)

• Applicable collective bargaining agreement (identified by IDCC code, e.g., IDCC 1486 for Syntec)

• Gross salary and confirmation it meets the applicable CBA grid minimum for the role's classification

• Working-time regime: 35-hour week or forfait-jours for eligible cadres (with the annual day cap stated)

• Probationary period duration (per CBA defaults or the statutory maximum for the classification)

• Notice period applicable at end of probation and post-probation

• Intellectual property assignment clause (essential for roles with creative or technical output)

• Reference to the company's right-to-disconnect policy or télétravail charter

For CDI contracts, providing a bilingual French-English document is a recognized good practice. The French text is legally controlling in all disputes, but an English version helps the employee genuinely understand their obligations. For CDD contracts, the specific Code du Travail justification for the fixed term must appear in the body of the contract. Any gap here automatically converts the CDD to a CDI.

Step 4 — Register with French tax/payroll authority

Before or concurrent with the first hire, the company must be registered with URSSAF. Foreign companies without a French establishment can register via the URSSAF foreign companies service. Additional registrations required:

• SIRET/SIREN number from INSEE (if not already obtained through entity registration)

• APE/NAF code (assigned by INSEE based on primary activity; this determines the applicable CBA)

• URSSAF employer account for monthly contribution payments

• DSN filing system access via net-entreprises.fr or a compliant payroll software vendor

• AGIRC-ARRCO pension fund registration (specific fund determined by CBA and company size)

The DPAE for each new hire is submitted via net-entreprises.fr, at least two working days before the employee's first day.

Step 5 — Set up pension and benefits enrollment

Before the first payroll run, the following benefits must be in place:

AGIRC-ARRCO pension: the employee is automatically enrolled in the supplementary pension fund designated by the applicable CBA. Determine which fund applies (e.g., Malakoff Humanis Retraite for Syntec companies) before the first month's payroll. Incorrect or missing enrollment creates retroactive contribution liabilities.

Mutuelle (complementary health): the employee must be enrolled in the company's collective complementary health plan on or before their first day. The employer must pay at least 50% of the premium. Provide the employee with the plan certificate (attestation de couverture) and the applicable claims booklet.

Meal vouchers: order or activate the employee's meal voucher card/account before end of their first month.

Transport allowance: collect the employee's monthly transport pass documentation and set up reimbursement in the payroll system at the required statutory rate.

Single staff register: enter the employee's details (name, nationality, hire date, contract type, CBA classification, role) in the company's registre unique du personnel on the day of hire.

Step 6 — Run the onboarding workflow

French law imposes specific onboarding obligations beyond a standard welcome process:

Medical visit with occupational physician: all new hires must complete an initial information and prevention appointment (visite d'information et de prévention, VIP) within three months of hiring. For safety-sensitive roles (postes à risque), a pre-hire medical visit (examen médical d'aptitude) is required before the employee starts. Register with the company's occupational health service (SPSTI) before the first hire if not already done.

Livret d'accueil: the internal onboarding document presenting the company's organization, internal rules, safety procedures, applicable CBA reference, and the employee's main rights and obligations. Not legally mandatory but required in practice for DREETS inspections.

CSE notification: in companies with 11 or more employees, the Comité Social et Économique (CSE) must be informed of new hires at the next CSE meeting.

GDPR data-handling onboarding: employees must receive a clear information notice (mention d'information RGPD) explaining what personal data is processed, the legal basis, retention periods, and their rights. Obtain and retain a signed acknowledgment.

IT provisioning and equipment record: document all company equipment issued (laptop, phone, access cards), including serial numbers and the employee's acknowledgment of their IT security and data-handling obligations under the company's IT policy.

Step 7 — Maintain ongoing compliance

French employment law is not a one-time setup. It requires active, ongoing compliance management:

Monthly DSN filings: due by the 5th of the following month for companies with 50 or more employees paying on time (M), or the 15th for smaller employers or those operating on an M+1 pay cycle. Late or incorrect DSN filings trigger URSSAF penalties and can disrupt IJSS payment for sick employees.

CBA wage index updates: most CBAs publish annual updates (and sometimes mid-year updates) to their salary grids. If the grid minimum for an employee's classification rises above what you're currently paying them, the employer must increase the salary to match. Track IDCC updates for your specific CBA via Légifrance or your payroll provider.

Télétravail charter maintenance: update and redistribute the charter if working arrangements change materially. For instance, if the company moves from occasional to regular télétravail or adds new categories of employees to the arrangement.

EU Pay Transparency Directive readiness: build and document internal pay bands by role and seniority. From 2027, pay-equity reporting requirements under the Directive will activate for companies above the relevant employee thresholds. Preparation now avoids a compliance rush later.

Right-to-work renewals: build an automatic calendar process for every non-EU employee's permit expiry date, initiating renewal at least 90 days in advance. The employer shares responsibility for ensuring ongoing right-to-work authorization. Employing someone whose permit has lapsed without taking action is a violation of Article L8252-1 of the Code du Travail.

Hiring internationally into France: visas and right to work

France has a well-structured skilled-worker immigration system for non-EU hires, centered on the Passeport Talent framework. For companies hiring international talent into France, understanding the primary visa routes, and the employer's role in supporting applications, is essential.

Without a local sponsor licence or an established entity in France, the immigration process can seem opaque. Deel Mobility coordinates the immigration workflow, including document preparation, eligibility checks, and support for relevant Préfecture, DREETS, and OFII steps, so the client company accesses the results without building that expertise internally.

The primary routes for non-EU skilled workers into France are:

Passeport Talent — Salarié Qualifié (Qualified Employee): the standard highly skilled worker route. Requires a gross annual salary of at least €39,582, a fixed reference figure set by arrêté du 21 août 2025 and confirmed unchanged through 2026 by France-Visas and VisaHQ. This replaced the previous SMIC-multiple calculation, providing employer certainty. The candidate must hold a master's-level qualification (Bac+5) or equivalent. The permit is multi-year (up to four years) and renewable.

Passeport Talent — Carte Bleue Européenne (EU Blue Card): for highly qualified non-EU professionals. Requires a gross annual salary of at least €59,373, equal to 1.5 times the reference salary, confirmed for 2026 by multiple immigration authorities. Requires at least three years of recognized higher education or equivalent. Unlike other Talent Passport categories, the EU Blue Card grants intra-EU mobility rights: after 18 months in France, the holder can work in other EU member states under the EU Blue Card's mobility provisions. This makes it particularly attractive for companies operating across multiple EU markets.

Standard Salarié permit: for roles that don't meet the Talent Passport qualification or salary criteria. Requires a labor-market test submitted by the employer to the DREETS (Direction Régionale de l'Économie, de l'Emploi, du Travail et des Solidarités), demonstrating that no suitably qualified EU candidate was available. The DREETS test can add two to twelve weeks to the process, and Préfecture processing adds further time. Total timelines of eight to twelve weeks from DREETS application to work permit in hand are typical.

ICT (Intra-Company Transfer) permit: for employees transferring within the same corporate group from a non-EU entity to a French entity. The employee must have worked for the group for at least three months before the transfer. ICT permits are typically faster to obtain than standard salarié permits because the labor-market test requirement is waived.

How Deel Mobility manages the sponsorship process

Under standard French immigration rules, the sponsoring employer must initiate and manage the DREETS application (where required), complete the Préfecture application, coordinate OFII registration, and track all permit renewals. For most HR teams outside France, this represents an unfamiliar administrative burden in an unfamiliar language and system.

Deel Mobility supports and coordinates the workflow, from document preparation and eligibility checks through application tracking and post-arrival steps, so the client company benefits from the result without building in-house immigration operations.

For employees and their families making the move personally, Deel's guide to moving to France for expats covers the practical relocation considerations alongside the immigration steps.

Temporary regularization for shortage sectors: a scheme allowing employers in specified shortage sectors to regularize eligible workers is running through December 2026. Check DREETS guidance for the current list of qualifying sectors and conditions; eligibility is sector- and jurisdiction-specific and subject to change.

Termination, redundancy, and offboarding

France's termination framework is among the most procedurally demanding in Europe. Getting the substance wrong (dismissing without a real and serious cause) triggers damages. Getting the procedure wrong, even on a technical point, can make an otherwise valid dismissal unfair (sans cause réelle et sérieuse) and expose the employer to the barème Macron scale of awards, or in serious procedural violations, to unlimited damages. Understanding both dimensions is essential before initiating any dismissal.

Fair-dismissal grounds

French law requires a "real and serious cause" (cause réelle et sérieuse) for every individual dismissal. The Code du Travail divides grounds into two principal categories:

Personal grounds (motif personnel): includes professional misconduct (faute simple — requires the full procedure; faute grave — serious enough to eliminate notice entitlement and statutory severance; faute lourde — willful harm to the company, eliminating severance and preserving a civil claim), documented poor performance (with prior warnings and improvement process), repeated or unexplained absence, physical or mental incapacity certified by the occupational physician.

Economic grounds (motif économique): covers genuine job elimination due to restructuring, technological change, economic difficulty, or company closure, but only when no redeployment option exists within the company or group. French courts scrutinize economic justifications carefully; a profitable company citing economic grounds for redundancy faces significant risk of the dismissal being challenged as lacking real cause.

Termination procedure for individual personal-grounds dismissal

1. Send a convocation to a preliminary interview (entretien préalable) by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt (minimum five working days' notice) before the meeting

2. Hold the entretien préalable; the employee has the right to be accompanied by a colleague or external adviser (conseiller du salarié, from a government-approved list)

3. Observe the reflection period: two working days minimum (for faute simple/personal dismissal); seven working days minimum for economic dismissal

4. Send the dismissal letter by registered mail, within a bounded period after the entretien préalable. The letter must state the real and serious cause; vague grounds are treated as an absence of cause

Notice periods

Notice periods under French law depend on the length of service and the employee's classification, subject always to the CBA providing more favorable terms. The following reflects statutory minimums:

Many CBAs set significantly higher notice periods for senior cadres. Under the Syntec CBA, the standard notice for a cadre at Position 2 or above is three months, regardless of length of service. The employer may pay a financial indemnity in lieu of worked notice (indemnité compensatrice de préavis), releasing the employee immediately.

Statutory severance pay (indemnité légale de licenciement)

Severance is owed on every dismissal that is not for gross misconduct (faute grave or faute lourde), once the employee has completed at least eight months of continuous service. The statutory minimum formula, per Article R1234-2 of the Code du Travail:

• First 10 years of service: one-quarter of one month's reference salary per year

• Each year beyond 10 years: one-third of one month's reference salary per year

The reference salary is the higher of: the average monthly gross salary over the last 12 months, or the average monthly gross salary over the last three months (with bonuses prorated over the period for which they're paid). The applicable CBA may set a higher minimum; the employer must always apply whichever calculation produces the greater amount.

CBAs in sectors like metallurgy (UIMM) commonly set severance at one-third or even one-half month per year, significantly above the statutory floor.

Example calculation: an employee with 12 years of service at a reference monthly salary of €4,500:

• First 10 years: 10 × (€4,500 × one-quarter) = €11,250

• Years 11–12: 2 × (€4,500 × one-third) = €3,000

• Statutory minimum total: €14,250 (CBA may require more)

Rupture conventionnelle (mutually agreed termination)

The rupture conventionnelle is France's uniquely popular mechanism for agreed termination of a CDI. Both parties negotiate an exit package (severance at or above the legal minimum) and a departure date, document it using the official CERFA form, and submit it to the DREETS for approval. The DREETS has 15 business days to approve; silence after that deadline constitutes implicit approval.

The employee retains access to unemployment insurance (ARE), a significant advantage over voluntary resignation, and the primary reason this route is more popular than resignation for employees who want to leave.

From January 2026 under LFSS 2026, the employer contribution on the rupture conventionnelle indemnity increased from 30% to 40%, making this route somewhat more expensive for employers but not materially changing its prevalence, given the practical and relational advantages it offers.

PSE (Plan de Sauvegarde de l'Emploi) for collective redundancies

When a company with at least 50 employees plans to make 10 or more employees redundant for economic reasons within 30 days, it must implement a PSE. The PSE must include measures to avoid redundancies where possible, facilitate internal redeployment, and support affected employees through outplacement services, training, early-retirement arrangements, or financial support.

The PSE is negotiated with the CSE and, if a majority-supported agreement is reached, is then validated by the DREETS. If no agreement is reached, the employer's unilateral plan is submitted to the DREETS for homologation.

No dismissal letters can be issued before DREETS validation. Proceeding without a valid PSE renders all resulting dismissals null and void.

Protected employee categories

Certain employees have enhanced dismissal protection that the standard procedure does not apply to:

• Elected CSE representatives and trade union delegates (délégués syndicaux): any dismissal of a protected representative requires prior DREETS authorization (autorisation administrative de licenciement). Failure to obtain this renders the dismissal automatically null

• Employees on maternity leave: dismissal is prohibited during maternity leave and for a 10-week protection period after return, with very narrow exceptions

• Employees who have raised a health and safety alert (droit d'alerte): protected from dismissal for good-faith alerts

How Deel handles offboarding

After the client makes the termination decision, Deel coordinates the locally required termination process for the employee it legally employs through the EOR arrangement. This includes:

• advising on the appropriate grounds and procedural path

• drafting the required notices or rupture conventionnelle agreement

• executing the entretien préalable process

• calculating and processing statutory severance

• notice pay or payment in lieu

• accrued annual leave payout

• all final-pay documentation: solde de tout compte, certificat de travail, and the Pôle Emploi attestation required for unemployment benefit access

Deel manages execution in line with applicable French procedural requirements, based on the facts of the case. For more on managing remote workers in France through the full employment lifecycle, including offboarding, see how to hire and pay remote workers in France.

Hire in France with Deel

France is a top-tier European talent market. Its Code du Travail, mandatory CBAs, DSN payroll system, social-contribution complexity, and termination rules make it one of the highest-stakes jurisdictions for a foreign employer to navigate without local expertise. Deel makes it operational from day one:

Start with Deel Hire to route the hiring decision into the right path, then use Deel's EOR solution, Deel Payroll, or Deel Mobility based on entity status and immigration needs:

• Deel's EOR solution for companies without a French entity: Deel's registered French SARL acts as the legal employer, covering employment contracts, CBA identification, monthly payroll, URSSAF filings, DSN submissions, mutuelle, AGIRC-ARRCO pension enrollment, and the locally required termination process, without the 3–6-month entity-setup timeline and without any subcontracting layer

• Deel Payroll for companies with an existing French entity: run compliant monthly payroll, DSN submissions, and AGIRC-ARRCO pension filings through Deel Payroll, with payroll workflows designed to reflect current French requirements

• Deel Mobility for non-EU talent: coordinate Passeport Talent, EU Blue Card, and standard salarié immigration workflows through Deel Mobility, with Deel supporting relevant Préfecture, DREETS, and OFII steps

• Continuous compliance across the platform: Deel helps surface relevant French employment-law changes, including SMIC revaluations, LFSS updates, and CBA index changes, so teams can review and respond sooner

Book a demo below to see how Deel's platform handles French hiring end-to-end.