You incorporated in France from London, New York, Dubai or Singapore, received the Kbis extract that proves your company exists, hired your first employee in France, and for a few months everything looked like progress. Then the relationship breaks down: the performance never arrives, the trust evaporates, or the business simply cannot carry the cost. A founder used to employment at will writes a short termination email and moves on. In France, that single email can cost the company tens of thousands of euros, because France does not know employment at will. Every exit from a French open-ended contract, called a CDI (contrat à durée indéterminée, the permanent contract that is the default form of hiring in France), follows a mandatory choreography of delays, letters and payments, and the employment tribunal, called the conseil de prud’hommes, enforces that choreography strictly against foreign employers who plead ignorance of the rules. This guide explains in plain English the two lawful doors for ending a first French hire from abroad: inside the trial period, where the exit is fast and cheap when handled correctly, and after the trial period, where you choose between a dismissal for personal reasons and a negotiated rupture conventionnelle. Every decisive rule is quoted word for word from the statute or ruling it comes from, with an official link, and every step includes the practical move that works when you live abroad. If you are still planning the hire itself, read first our guide to hiring your first employee in France from abroad and our company formation guide for foreign founders, then return here when the separation becomes unavoidable.

Five French terms will recur throughout, so they deserve plain definitions now. The période d’essai is the trial period at the start of the contract, during which either side can walk away quickly. The délai de prévenance is the notice period that applies when the employer ends the trial period. A licenciement is a dismissal decided unilaterally by the employer. A rupture conventionnelle is a mutually agreed separation that both sides sign and the labour administration approves. The conseil de prud’hommes is the elected employment court that hears individual disputes about hiring, dismissal and severance, with the employer and the employee each challenging the other before it.

I. Can you end the contract during the trial period when you run the company from abroad

A. How the trial-period notice works and why the calendar decides the cost

If the employment contract you signed provides a trial period, French law gives you a first door that is genuinely fast, but it is a door with a clock on it, and the clock is set by article L. 1221-25 of the Labour Code. The statute provides: “Lorsqu’il est mis fin, par l’employeur, au contrat en cours ou au terme de la période d’essai définie aux articles L. 1221-19 à L. 1221-24 ou à l’article L. 1242-10 pour les contrats stipulant une période d’essai d’au moins une semaine, le salarié est prévenu dans un délai qui ne peut être inférieur à : 1° Vingt-quatre heures en deçà de huit jours de présence ; 2° Quarante-huit heures entre huit jours et un mois de présence ; 3° Deux semaines après un mois de présence ; 4° Un mois après trois mois de présence.” In plain English: when you, the employer, end the contract during or at the end of a trial period of at least one week, you must warn the employee at least 24 hours ahead if they have been present fewer than eight days, 48 hours ahead between eight days and one month of presence, two weeks ahead after one month of presence, and one full month ahead after three months of presence. Presence means days the employee has actually been with the company, so count from the real start date on the contract, not from the signature date.

Two sentences of the same article decide most of the disputes foreign founders lose. First, article L. 1221-25 of the Labour Code adds: “La période d’essai, renouvellement inclus, ne peut être prolongée du fait de la durée du délai de prévenance.” The trial period, renewal included, cannot be extended by the notice period. Concretely, if the notice you owe runs past the last day of the trial period, the contract does not stay in trial mode until the notice expires; you owe the employee the corresponding compensation instead, which brings us to the second decisive sentence: “Lorsque le délai de prévenance n’a pas été respecté, son inexécution ouvre droit pour le salarié, sauf s’il a commis une faute grave, à une indemnité compensatrice. Cette indemnité est égale au montant des salaires et avantages que le salarié aurait perçus s’il avait accompli son travail jusqu’à l’expiration du délai de prévenance, indemnité compensatrice de congés payés comprise.” Those words close the notice rule of the same article L. 1221-25 of the Labour Code quoted above. When the notice is not observed, the employee is entitled, except in cases of serious misconduct (faute grave), to a compensatory payment equal to the wages and benefits they would have received by working until the notice expired, including compensation for unused paid leave. Miss a two-week notice on a 3,500 euro monthly salary and you owe roughly 1,750 euros plus leave accruals, automatically, with no debate about whether the dismissal was fair, because inside the trial period there is no fairness review at all, only the clock.

The practical move from abroad is to put the decision in writing the day you make it and to keep proof of the date. Send a letter ending the trial period by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt, called a lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception, ideally through the French post office online registered-letter service that accepts foreign senders, and double it with an email that states the same date. State clearly that the trial period is ended, give the last day of work, and pay the compensatory notice amount on the final payslip if the employee leaves before the notice expires. Never end a trial period for a discriminatory reason or in retaliation for the employee exercising a right, such as reporting harassment or announcing a pregnancy: the trial period protects you against unfair-dismissal claims, not against discrimination claims, and those carry uncapped damages. If the reason for the separation touches pregnancy, illness, union activity or whistleblowing, stop and take advice before sending anything, because the cheap door is closed in those cases.

B. What you must pay and hand over when the trial-period exit closes

A clean trial-period exit has three money lines and three papers, and a foreign founder should verify all six before considering the file closed. The money lines are the salary for days worked, the compensatory notice payment when the employee does not work the full délai de prévenance, calculated exactly as article L. 1221-25 of the Labour Code defines it, and the compensation for paid leave accrued but not taken, which the statute expressly folds into that payment. There is no statutory severance pay at this stage: severance, called the indemnité de licenciement, only arises on dismissal after eight months of service, as article L. 1234-9 of the Labour Code provides, a threshold a first hire ended inside the trial period will never reach. That absence of severance is precisely what makes the trial-period door cheap, and it is also why acting before the trial period expires, rather than drifting for months with a failing hire, is worth real money.

The papers are the same closing documents as at any contract end, and your French payroll provider should generate them with the final DSN (déclaration sociale nominative, the monthly electronic payroll return through which the employer declares wages, contributions and contract events). First, the work certificate, called the certificat de travail: article L. 1234-19 of the Labour Code states “A l’expiration du contrat de travail, l’employeur délivre au salarié un certificat dont le contenu est déterminé par voie réglementaire.” At the end of the contract, the employer gives the employee a certificate whose content is set by regulation. Second, the final payslip with the balance of all sums due, called the solde de tout compte, which lists each amount separately so the employee can check it. Third, the unemployment attestation for France Travail, the public employment body, which the employee needs to claim benefits and which is produced from your payroll data. Declare the departure in the next monthly DSN return so that URSSAF (unions de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d’allocations familiales, the body that collects employer and employee social contributions) stops expecting contributions for that employee. Founders who have not yet set up payroll correctly should read our guide to the first payslip, contract and URSSAF registration alongside this article, because most trial-period disputes we see from abroad are really payroll setup failures wearing a dismissal costume.

II. How to end the contract after the trial period without losing at the prud’hommes

A. Dismissal for personal reasons: the summons, the meeting and the letter that frames the whole case

Once the trial period is over, ending a CDI for personal reasons, called a licenciement pour motif personnel, means proving a real and serious cause, in French a cause réelle et sérieuse: a serious, objective and verifiable reason connected to the employee, typically persistent underperformance documented in writing or misconduct. Poor fit, vague disappointment or a single undocumented incident will not survive the prud’hommes, and the procedure below will not save a file with no substance. Build the substance first: written objectives, dated warnings, performance reviews the employee signed, each incident recorded when it happened, not reconstructed the night before the meeting. Then follow the four-step choreography exactly, because the court checks the steps even when it agrees with the substance.

Step one is the summons to a preliminary meeting, called the convocation à un entretien préalable. Article L. 1232-2 of the Labour Code provides: “L’employeur qui envisage de licencier un salarié le convoque, avant toute décision, à un entretien préalable. La convocation est effectuée par lettre recommandée ou par lettre remise en main propre contre décharge. Cette lettre indique l’objet de la convocation. L’entretien préalable ne peut avoir lieu moins de cinq jours ouvrables après la présentation de la lettre recommandée ou la remise en main propre de la lettre de convocation.” The employer considering dismissal summons the employee to a preliminary meeting before any decision, by registered letter or hand-delivered letter against receipt, stating the purpose, and the meeting cannot take place sooner than five working days after presentation of the registered letter or hand delivery. From abroad, send the LRAR early enough to absorb international delivery times, keep the tracking proof, and remember that the day of presentation and the day of the meeting do not count in the five working days. Step two is the assistance right, which traps foreign founders with no staff in France: article L. 1232-4 of the Labour Code states “Lors de son audition, le salarié peut se faire assister par une personne de son choix appartenant au personnel de l’entreprise. Lorsqu’il n’y a pas d’institutions représentatives du personnel dans l’entreprise, le salarié peut se faire assister soit par une personne de son choix appartenant au personnel de l’entreprise, soit par un conseiller du salarié choisi sur une liste dressée par l’autorité administrative. La lettre de convocation à l’entretien préalable adressée au salarié mentionne la possibilité de recourir à un conseiller du salarié et précise l’adresse des services dans lesquels la liste de ces conseillers est tenue à sa disposition.” At the hearing the employee may be assisted by a person of their choice from the company staff, or, where there is no staff representation, by an external employee adviser chosen from an official list, and your summons letter must mention that possibility with the address where the list is available. With a single employee and no staff representatives, that mention is mandatory, so copy the current list address from the local DREETS (direction régionale de l’économie, de l’emploi, du travail et des solidarités, the regional labour administration) into the letter. Step three is the meeting itself, where article L. 1232-3 of the Labour Code requires that “Au cours de l’entretien préalable, l’employeur indique les motifs de la décision envisagée et recueille les explications du salarié”: the employer states the reasons under consideration and listens to the employee’s explanations. You may attend by giving a written mandate to someone in France, typically your French lawyer, but the meeting must genuinely happen, with the stated reasons and the answers recorded in your notes the same day. Step four is the dismissal letter, and its timing and content are both regulated: article L. 1232-6 of the Labour Code provides “Lorsque l’employeur décide de licencier un salarié, il lui notifie sa décision par lettre recommandée avec avis de réception. Cette lettre comporte l’énoncé du ou des motifs invoqués par l’employeur. Elle ne peut être expédiée moins de deux jours ouvrables après la date prévue de l’entretien préalable au licenciement auquel le salarié a été convoqué.” The decision is notified by registered letter with acknowledgment, stating the reasons, and it cannot be sent sooner than two full working days after the scheduled meeting date. The English-language procedure page of the French public service confirms each of these clocks and adds that the days of presentation and of the meeting do not count: see service-public.fr, dismissal procedure for personal reasons.

The dismissal letter deserves its own warning, because the Cour de cassation, the supreme court for employment cases, has made it the fence around the entire dispute. In a ruling of 23 October 2024, pourvoi no. 22-22.206, the Social Chamber held, visas articles L. 1232-1 and L. 1232-6: “Il résulte de ces textes que la lettre de licenciement fixe les limites du litige en ce qui concerne les griefs articulés à l’encontre du salarié et que le juge a l’obligation d’examiner l’ensemble des griefs invoqués dans la lettre de licenciement.” The dismissal letter sets the boundaries of the dispute as regards the complaints made against the employee, and the judge must examine every complaint stated in it: see Cass. soc., 23 Oct. 2024, no. 22-22.206. Draft the letter as if the judge will read only it, because in substance that is what happens: every grievance goes in, precisely dated and factually described, and nothing the employee did but you forgot to mention can be added later. A first hire dismissed after a few months will rarely trigger statutory severance, since article L. 1234-9 of the Labour Code grants it only to a permanent employee “licencié alors qu’il compte 8 mois d’ancienneté ininterrompus au service du même employeur”, dismissed with eight months of uninterrupted service, except for serious misconduct, with the floor set by article R. 1234-2 of the Labour Code: “1° Un quart de mois de salaire par année d’ancienneté pour les années jusqu’à dix ans ; 2° Un tiers de mois de salaire par année d’ancienneté pour les années à partir de dix ans”, a quarter month per year up to ten years, a third beyond. And if the dismissal is judged without real and serious cause, damages follow the statutory scale, called the barème Macron: article L. 1235-3 of the Labour Code provides that “Si le licenciement d’un salarié survient pour une cause qui n’est pas réelle et sérieuse, le juge peut proposer la réintégration du salarié dans l’entreprise, avec maintien de ses avantages acquis. Si l’une ou l’autre des parties refuse cette réintégration, le juge octroie au salarié une indemnité à la charge de l’employeur, dont le montant est compris entre les montants minimaux et maximaux fixés dans le tableau ci-dessous”, and the table caps damages at one month of gross salary for an employee with zero full years of service. The employee then has twelve months from notification of the break to sue, since article L. 1471-1 of the Labour Code states “Toute action portant sur la rupture du contrat de travail se prescrit par douze mois à compter de la notification de la rupture.” Keep every proof of posting, receipt and payment for at least those twelve months, and diary the deadline the day you notify.

B. Rupture conventionnelle: the mutual exit that needs the administration’s stamp

When the substance for a dismissal is thin but both sides want to part, the rupture conventionnelle is usually the better instrument: a separation by mutual agreement that gives the employee unemployment benefits and gives you a signed, approved closure. But mutual means mutual, and the statute polices consent from the first line: article L. 1237-11 of the Labour Code provides “L’employeur et le salarié peuvent convenir en commun des conditions de la rupture du contrat de travail qui les lie. La rupture conventionnelle, exclusive du licenciement ou de la démission, ne peut être imposée par l’une ou l’autre des parties.” The parties may jointly agree the terms of the break, which excludes dismissal or resignation and cannot be imposed by either side. Never present the agreement as take-it-or-leave-it, never sign it the same day as a disciplinary summons, and hold at least one genuine discussion meeting whose date is written into the form: an employee who proves pressure or fraud gets the agreement annulled and the exit reclassified as an unfair dismissal. The English-language public service page walks through the whole sequence, including the withdrawal and approval periods: see service-public.fr, rupture conventionnelle, with online filing at the teleprocedure for homologation requests.

The money term is negotiated but floored by law. Article L. 1237-13 of the Labour Code requires that the agreement set “le montant de l’indemnité spécifique de rupture conventionnelle qui ne peut pas être inférieur à celui de l’indemnité prévue à l’article L. 1234-9”, a specific payment that cannot be lower than the statutory dismissal indemnity, and that it fix “la date de rupture du contrat de travail, qui ne peut intervenir avant le lendemain du jour de l’homologation”, a break date no earlier than the day after approval. With under eight months of service the legal floor is thin, so expect the employee to bargain for more, often one to three months of salary for a first hire, against the certainty of approval and immediate benefit rights. Then come the two clocks that foreign founders most often break. Clock one is withdrawal: “A compter de la date de sa signature par les deux parties, chacune d’entre elles dispose d’un délai de quinze jours calendaires pour exercer son droit de rétractation”, fifteen calendar days from signature for either side to retract, Sundays and holidays included with extension to the next working day. Clock two is approval: article L. 1237-14 of the Labour Code provides “L’autorité administrative dispose d’un délai d’instruction de quinze jours ouvrables, à compter de la réception de la demande, pour s’assurer du respect des conditions prévues à la présente section et de la liberté de consentement des parties. A défaut de notification dans ce délai, l’homologation est réputée acquise et l’autorité administrative est dessaisie.” The administration has fifteen working days from receipt to verify compliance and free consent, failing which approval is deemed granted. And the sentence founders must memorize: “La validité de la convention est subordonnée à son homologation.” The agreement is valid only once approved. Never set the departure date, never pay the specific indemnity, and never announce the exit internally before the approval is acquired or deemed acquired.

The Cour de cassation has already punished both classic shortcuts. In a ruling of 13 June 2018, pourvoi no. 16-24.830, the Social Chamber held: “il résulte de l’application combinée des articles L. 1237-13 et L. 1237-14 du code du travail qu’une partie à une convention de rupture ne peut valablement demander l’homologation de cette convention à l’autorité administrative avant l’expiration du délai de rétractation de quinze jours prévu par le premier de ces textes”, so filing for approval during the withdrawal period voids the step, and where a first agreement is refused approval, the parties must grant each other a fresh withdrawal period for the second agreement, failing which the second agreement is void and the break counts as a dismissal without real and serious cause: see Cass. soc., 13 June 2018, no. 16-24.830. From abroad, run the sequence through the online filing portal, which timestamps receipt and starts the fifteen working days cleanly, and mandate your French lawyer to receive any administration query the same day, because a refused file followed by a rushed re-signature is exactly the fact pattern the 2018 ruling destroys. Finally, an approved agreement can still be challenged, but on a short fuse: “Le recours juridictionnel doit être formé, à peine d’irrecevabilité, avant l’expiration d’un délai de douze mois à compter de la date d’homologation de la convention”, per article L. 1237-14 of the Labour Code. Keep the signed form, the proof of filing, the approval notice and the payment proof for those twelve months, and close the DSN and URSSAF position exactly as for a dismissal, with the same three closing documents handed to the employee.

Conclusion

A failing first hire in France is a solvable problem when you match the door to the calendar. Inside the trial period, act fast, respect the notice in article L. 1221-25 of the Labour Code, pay the compensatory amount without debate, and deliver the three closing documents. After the trial period, either dismiss with a real and serious cause through the summons, meeting and reasoned letter of articles L. 1232-2 to L. 1232-6 of the Labour Code, or negotiate a rupture conventionnelle and wait for approval before moving a single date. In both cases the letter or the agreement decides the litigation, as the rulings of 23 October 2024 and 13 June 2018 demonstrate, and the employee has twelve months to sue, so archive everything. Do this from abroad with a French lawyer holding the mandate and the mailbox, and the exit will cost you the notice or the negotiated indemnity instead of a prud’hommes judgment.

Need a quick opinion on your case

First hire not working out, summons to draft, rupture conventionnelle to file, or prud’hommes claim just received? Get a phone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer from our firm. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 or write through our contact page. We assist foreign employers in Paris and across Île-de-France, in English, from the trial-period exit to the defence of your dismissal before the prud’hommes.