Avocat à la Cour · Barreau de Paris (Paris Bar)
Dismissed, harassed, unpaid: twelve months to act, sometimes less.
Before the conseil de prud’hommes (the French employment tribunal), every claim has its own limitation period. The dismissal letter is to be read before anything at all is decided.
Reply within 2 hours on working days · Aide juridictionnelle (legal aid) accepted
First steps
- Keep the dismissal letter and the date on which it was first presented.
- Do not sign the solde de tout compte (final settlement statement) without reading it: once signed, it can only be challenged within six months.
- Prepare the entretien préalable (pre-dismissal meeting) — at least five working days separate the summons from the meeting.
Private-sector employees, managerial and non-managerial. Conseil de prud’hommes and cour d’appel (court of appeal).
What time limit is open to you? Time runs from notification of the termination or from the date the facts became known.
12 months
Challenge to the termination of the contract of employment, running from its notification (art. L. 1471-1 of the Code du travail)
2 years
Claims relating to the performance of the contract (art. L. 1471-1)
3 years
Back pay, overtime, bonuses (art. L. 3245-1)
2 months
After that, misconduct can no longer be sanctioned by the employer (art. L. 1332-4)
1 month
Appeal against a judgment of the conseil de prud’hommes (art. R. 1461-1)
What is your situation
One page for each situation, with its limitation period and its strategy
Six situations cover the essentials of employment tribunal cases.
5 working days
I have been summoned to an entretien préalable (pre-dismissal meeting)
The meeting is not a formality: what is said there, and what is left unsaid, carries weight afterwards.
12-month time limit
I have been dismissed
Genuine and serious cause, procedure, compensation: the dismissal letter sets the boundaries of the dispute.
5-year time limit
Harassment, discrimination
An adjusted burden of proof and full compensation, outside the statutory scale.
3-year time limit
I am not being paid what I am owed
Wages, overtime, bonuses, leave: the burden of proof is shared and the limitation period is three years.
15 days or 12 months
Rupture conventionnelle (negotiated termination), prise d’acte (constructive dismissal claim), judicial termination
Three ways of bringing the contract to an end other than by dismissal, with very different effects.
2-month time limit
Disciplinary sanction, variation of my contract
Misconduct becomes time-barred quickly; a variation of the contract requires your agreement.
Online consultation
Dismissed? You have twelve months to bring a claim before the conseil de prud’hommes.
Have your dismissal letter read before you decide anything. Once payment has been made, you upload your documents and the lawyer replies to you, by telephone or in writing. The fee is deducted from the fixed fee if the case is then entrusted to him.