Application: templates and forms

A rupture conventionnelle is concluded and approved free of charge online, through the French labour ministry's TéléRC service, and the ministry's site code.travail.gouv.fr has a free model request for a meeting; this document is only the letter that proposes one. For an employee on an open-ended contract (CDI) in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte, it asks for a meeting with a view to ending the contract by mutual agreement (articles L. 1237-11 to L. 1237-16 of the Labour Code), without amounting to a resignation, and can give a preferred end date. Send it by registered post with proof of receipt or hand it over against a receipt. In French.

A request from an employee in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte to suspend the contract without pay: unpaid leave (congé sans solde), which the employer is free to grant, a sabbatical (articles L. 3142-28 et seq. of the French Labour Code) or leave to set up or take over a business (articles L. 3142-105 et seq.). It gives the dates and, where relevant, the reason or the business's activity. For the two statutory leaves, send it at least three months (sabbatical) or two months (start-up) ahead, in a way that proves the date (registered post with proof of receipt, or hand delivery against a receipt), unless a collective agreement says otherwise. In French.

A letter for an employee whose contract has ended in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte and who has not received the documents due: the certificat de travail (article L. 1234-19 of the Labour Code), the certificate for France Travail, the public employment service (article R. 1234-9), and the final-settlement receipt (article L. 1234-20). It lists what is missing, sets a deadline and says that, failing that, the employment tribunal's urgent-applications judge will be asked to order it. Send it by registered post with proof of receipt. In French.

A letter for an employee dismissed in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte, asking the employer to make precise the reasons given in the dismissal letter (articles L. 1235-2 and R. 1232-13 or R. 1233-2-2 of the Labour Code). It must go within fifteen days of being notified of the dismissal, by registered post with proof of receipt or by hand against a receipt; the employer then has fifteen days to answer. A standard form: it does not challenge the dismissal and does not replace an application to the employment tribunal. In French.

For someone tax-resident in France who is asked by a foreign state, bank or employer for a certificate of tax residence, to apply a tax treaty and avoid double taxation. The request can be made free through the secure messaging of your personal space on impots.gouv.fr. This French letter to the individual tax office (SIP) is for sending it by post or reusing its wording: year, foreign state, form 731 or the foreign form to be certified.

A paid-leave request from an employee to the employer in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte: first and last day, the number of days counted in jours ouvrables or jours ouvrés, the date of return, and room for the employer's signed agreement. Leave is earned at two and a half jours ouvrables per month worked (article L. 3141-3 of the French Labour Code); the employer sets the order in which staff take it. An e-mail often does; the letter keeps a written record of the agreement. In French.

For a parent, or an adult pupil, who needs a certificate of school attendance (for the CAF, an employer, a grant body), a leaving certificate after a move, the transfer of the school file to the new school, or a copy of the school report book. The certificate is often a free download from the school's digital workspace (ENT), and the report book from ÉduConnect: check there first. In French, the letter to the head identifies the pupil, the document wanted and who it is for.

For finding out what a company, administration or association based in France knows about you. The CNIL publishes a free model letter; this letter, in French, follows the same right and goes further: confirmation of processing, a copy of the data, purposes, recipients, retention period, source and automated decisions (article 15 of the GDPR), an answer within one month (article 12), first copy free. It announces a complaint to the CNIL if there is no reply. Send it by post or through the channel named in the privacy policy.