Employment: templates and forms

The French labour ministry's site code.travail.gouv.fr offers free model letters ending the probation period, for the employee and for the employer. This document is a letter by which the employer or the employee ends the employment contract during the probation period (période d'essai) in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte: it says who is ending it, refers to the notice period of article L. 1221-25 (employer) or L. 1221-26 (employee) of the Labour Code and gives the end date. No reason has to be given. Hand it over against a signed receipt or send it by registered post with proof of receipt, before the probation period ends. In French.

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 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.

The French labour ministry's site code.travail.gouv.fr offers a free model resignation letter. This document is a resignation letter for an employee on an open-ended contract (CDI) in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte: it gives notice of resignation, refers to the notice period set by the collective agreement, the contract or custom, can ask to be released from working it, and asks for the end-of-employment documents. French law prescribes no form; send it by registered post with proof of receipt or hand it over against a signed receipt, to prove the day the notice starts. In French.

A letter for a former employee in mainland France or an overseas department other than Mayotte who wants to denounce the final-settlement receipt (reçu pour solde de tout compte) signed at the end of the contract. Sent within six months of signing, it stops the receipt from discharging the employer from the amounts listed in it (article L. 1234-20 of the Labour Code), and can name the amounts disputed. The withdrawal goes by registered post (article D. 1234-8 of the Labour Code) and the six months run from signing: use proof of receipt and send it early enough to arrive in time. In French.