France Severance Pay Calculator for Employees (Indemnité de licenciement)

About the France Severance Pay Calculator for Employees (Indemnité de licenciement)

Work out the legal minimum severance pay (indemnité légale de licenciement) of an employee on a permanent contract (CDI) in France: a quarter of a month’s salary for each year of seniority up to ten years and a third for each year from ten, an incomplete year counted by its complete months, on the reference salary — the better of the monthly average of the last 12 months and of the last 3 months. The calculator counts the seniority to the end of the notice, takes off the absences that do not count, checks the 8 months a dismissal needs, and gives the amount for each way the contract ends: a dismissal, an ending by agreement (rupture conventionnelle), an unfitness caused by a work accident or an occupational disease (double), or serious misconduct (none by law).

It is in English with the French terms beside each line, for employees, HR teams and employers abroad, and every rule links its official source. Nothing you type leaves your browser. Without a pass the page shows a free preview of your own result: the legal minimum in full, with the first rows of the working, while every other figure stays hidden until you unlock it with a Pro pass.

Who gets the legal severance pay

• A dismissal (licenciement) for a personal or an economic reason, or for an unfitness not linked to work, after 8 months of uninterrupted seniority with the same employer, counted to the day the dismissal letter is sent (L1234-9; Service-Public).
• Serious or gross misconduct (faute grave, faute lourde): no legal severance pay, unless a collective agreement, the contract or a usage gives it.
• An ending by agreement (rupture conventionnelle): a specific indemnity of at least the legal or the collective agreement’s severance pay, whatever the seniority (L1237-13; Service-Public).
• An unfitness caused by a work accident or an occupational disease: a special indemnity of at least double the legal severance pay, with no seniority condition, and a compensating indemnity equal to the notice pay (L1226-14; Service-Public).

The seniority that counts

The seniority runs to the effective end of the contract: the end of the notice, also when the employer asks you not to work it. After a dismissal for an unfitness not linked to work the notice is not worked but its length still counts (L1226-4). A suspension of the contract does not break the seniority, but it does not count in the 8 months either (L1234-11).

Service-Public lists what counts (the seniority): in full maternity, paternity and adoption leave, part-time parental leave, a work accident or an occupational disease, paid leave, training leave, and fixed-term contracts followed straight away by the permanent one (from the first); half a full-time parental leave; not at all sick leave not linked to work, a commuting accident, unpaid leave, a sabbatical, a strike, a disciplinary layoff (mise à pied), short-time work (activité partielle) and a notice not worked at your own request.

The reference salary

The reference salary is the better of two monthly averages of the gross pay (R1234-4): that of the last 12 months before the dismissal, or of all the months when the service is shorter; and that of the last 3 months, in which an annual or exceptional bonus counts only for its share: a twelfth of it for each of the 3 months. After sick leave or a therapeutic part-time in the last months, Service-Public uses the 12 or 3 months before it.

The amount

At least a quarter of a month’s salary for each year up to ten years and a third for each year from ten (R1234-2); an incomplete year counts in proportion to its complete months (R1234-1). With 1 500 € and 3 years 6 months: (1 500 × 1/4 × 3) + (1 500 × 1/4 × 6/12) = 1 312,50 €. When you worked full time and part time with the same employer, each period counts in proportion (L3123-5): the calculator works out an earlier period at its share of the salary now, its hours a week against yours today.

What else is paid, and the tax

The severance pay comes on top of the pay for leave not taken and, when the employer does not let you work the notice, the pay for the notice (Service-Public); the France Paid Leave Calculator works out the first. A collective agreement or the contract may give a higher severance pay, and then the higher one is paid, never both. Service-Public states that the legal or the collective agreement’s severance pay of a dismissal is exempt from income tax, and from social contributions and CSG/CRDS within limits that only very large payments reach.

Limitations

• Works out the legal minimum of the Code du travail. A collective agreement (convention collective), the contract or a usage often gives more; check yours and take the higher amount.
• For employees on a permanent contract (CDI) of a private employer; fixed-term contracts (CDD), the public service and some professions have rules of their own.
• Supports one earlier period at another working time; with several changes of working time, each period needs its own share of the salary.
• The 8 months are counted to the day the letter is sent, both days included; at exactly 8 months, check the count with your employer.
• Absences are taken off in months (half months count); your employer may count them to the day.
• Does not work out the notice pay, the pay for leave not taken, the tax or the social contributions on the severance pay.
• MySmartCoPilot is not a law firm: the result is an estimate from the Code du travail, not legal advice. Have an HR professional or a lawyer check it before you sign anything.

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