Avocat à la Cour (a French lawyer) · Barreau de Paris (Paris Bar)
Disciplinary sanction, transfer, end of duties: asserting your rights as a public servant.
Two months to bring the matter before the court. An administrative appeal lodged within that period extends it; a letter sent out of time puts nothing right.
Reply within 2 hours on working days · Aide juridictionnelle (legal aid) accepted
First things to do
- Identify the date of notification and the means of redress stated on the decision — that is when the time limit starts to run.
- Keep the decision and its envelope or the e-mail by which it was notified.
- Sign nothing under pressure — neither a resignation nor a rupture conventionnelle (negotiated termination) — before you have called.
State, local and hospital public service. Established civil servants (titulaires), contract staff (contractuels) and probationers (stagiaires).
Have you just received a decision? Time limits run from notification, not from the date of the decision.
2 months
To bring proceedings before the tribunal administratif (administrative court), running from notification (art. R. 421-1 of the code de justice administrative)
Extended
An appeal to the deciding authority or to its superior, lodged within the time limit, interrupts the time limit for bringing proceedings (art. L. 411-2 of the CRPA)
4 months
Maximum duration of a precautionary suspension; beyond that period, an officer who is not the subject of criminal proceedings is reinstated (art. L. 531-1 and L. 531-4 of the CGFP)
3 years
Once that period has elapsed from the moment the facts became known, no disciplinary proceedings may be brought (art. L. 532-2 of the CGFP)
48 hours
Time within which the juge des référés (the judge hearing urgent interim proceedings) rules where a fundamental freedom is at stake (art. L. 521-2 of the CJA)
What is your situation
One page per situation, with its time limits and its grounds of challenge
Six situations recur in almost every case. Each has its own procedure, its own time limit and its own arguments.
Time limit 2 months
I have received a disciplinary sanction (in French)
From a warning to dismissal from the service: challenging the procedure, the existence of the facts and the proportionality of the sanction.
4 months at most
I have been suspended from duty
A precautionary measure, not a sanction: pay is maintained, the duration is limited, and reinstatement is a matter of right on expiry.
Time limit 2 months
My transfer or my assignment adversely affects me
Distinguishing the internal management measure (mesure d’ordre intérieur), which cannot be challenged, from the decision that alters your rights or your position.
No time limit for reporting
Harassment, assault, protection fonctionnelle refused
The administration must protect its staff. A refusal of protection fonctionnelle (an employer’s statutory duty of protection) is challenged like any other decision.
Time limit 2 months
My contract is not renewed, I am dismissed, my appointment as an established civil servant is refused
Three situations, three regimes: contract staff, established civil servants, probationers. The grounds and the procedure are examined separately.
Time limit 2 months
Accident in the course of duty, illness attributable to the service
Recognition that the injury is attributable to the service, the opinion of the conseil médical (the medical board), leave for temporary incapacity attributable to the service.
Online consultation
Has a decision been notified to you?
The first exchange, to get your bearings, remains free of charge. For an examination of the decision and of your documents, choose one of the two options: 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 subsequently entrusted to the Firm.