French Labour Law

The Pre-Dismissal Meeting in France: A Practical Employer's Guide for 2025

DAIRIA Law · 2026-08-25 · 9 min

The Pre-Dismissal Meeting in France: A Practical Employer’s Guide for 2025

The pre-dismissal meeting (entretien préalable au licenciement) is a mandatory and essential step in the procedure for dismissal on personal grounds. Provided for by Articles L. 1232-2 to L. 1232-4 of the French Labour Code, it guarantees the employee’s right to be heard before the employer makes any decision. Failure to comply exposes the company to significant financial penalties.

Any dismissal on personal grounds requires a pre-dismissal meeting, whether the dismissal is disciplinary or non-disciplinary. This obligation applies regardless of the company’s headcount and regardless of the employee’s length of service.

The purpose is twofold:

  • To set out the grounds for the contemplated dismissal to the employee (Article L. 1232-3)
  • To gather the employee’s explanations and observations

The pre-dismissal meeting is not a mere formality: it is an adversarial dialogue that may influence the employer’s final decision. The French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) regularly reiterates that the employer must not have made its decision before the meeting (Cass. soc., 12 February 2014, no. 12-25.592).

The invitation letter: mandatory form and content

The invitation to the pre-dismissal meeting must be sent to the employee by:

  • Registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception, LRAR)
  • Or letter handed over in person against a signed receipt

The content of the invitation is strictly regulated by Article L. 1232-2. It must state:

  1. The purpose of the meeting: the contemplated dismissal of the employee
  2. The date, time and place of the meeting
  3. The right to assistance: the employee may be assisted by a person of their choice who is a member of the company’s staff or, in the absence of employee representatives, by an external employee adviser (conseiller du salarié)
  4. The address of the labour inspectorate and of the town hall where the list of employee advisers is available

Caution: Omitting the reference to the employee’s right to assistance, or providing an incorrect address for the list of advisers, constitutes a procedural irregularity giving rise to a right to compensation (Cass. soc., 3 June 2015, no. 14-12.245).

The 5-working-day period

Article L. 1232-2 imposes a minimum period of 5 working days (jours ouvrables) between the delivery of the invitation letter and the date of the meeting. This period is calculated as follows:

  • The day the letter is delivered does not count (dies a quo)
  • If the fifth day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the period is extended to the next working day
  • Working days (jours ouvrables) are all days except Sundays and statutory public holidays

Concrete example: The registered letter is delivered on Monday 6 January 2025. The count begins on Tuesday 7 (day 1), Wednesday 8 (day 2), Thursday 9 (day 3), Friday 10 (day 4), Saturday 11 (day 5). The meeting may take place from Monday 13 January onwards.

Practical tip: Always build in a safety margin by scheduling the meeting 7 to 8 days in advance to allow for postal delays. Where a registered letter is not collected, the period runs from the date of first delivery attempt.

Conducting the pre-dismissal meeting

The meeting must take place during the employee’s working hours. Time spent in the meeting is treated as actual working time and must be paid normally.

Location of the meeting: in principle, the meeting takes place at the employee’s workplace or at the company’s registered office. The Cour de cassation has upheld holding the meeting at the premises of another company within the group, provided this does not cause excessive difficulty for the employee (Cass. soc., 20 October 2009, no. 08-42.155).

Typical sequence:

  1. The employer or its representative welcomes the employee and, where applicable, the person assisting them
  2. The employer sets out the grounds for the contemplated dismissal
  3. The employee is invited to speak and to provide explanations
  4. An adversarial exchange takes place
  5. The employer states that it will make its decision at a later date

The employee’s right to assistance

The employee may be assisted by:

  • A member of the company’s staff of their choice: a union representative, a member of the Social and Economic Committee (CSE), or any other colleague
  • An employee adviser (conseiller du salarié) (only where there are no employee representatives in the company): an external person registered on a departmental list

The person assisting the employee cannot speak in the employee’s place, but may intervene to ask questions, request clarifications and take notes. They are bound by a duty of discretion regarding the information they become aware of (Article L. 1232-8).

The employer’s assistance

The employer may be represented by a member of the company’s staff authorised to conduct the meeting (HR director, line manager, site director). However, the employer may not be assisted by a lawyer or an external adviser.

The Cour de cassation accepts that the employer may be accompanied by several members of the company’s staff, provided that their presence does not create a situation of intimidation for the employee (Cass. soc., 26 March 2013, no. 11-22.539).

Mistakes to avoid during the pre-dismissal meeting

  • Announcing the decision during the meeting: the employer must state that the dismissal is “contemplated” and not decided
  • Refusing to listen to the employee: the meeting must be a genuine adversarial exchange
  • Recording the meeting without the employee’s knowledge: a covert recording is an unfair method
  • Involving an external third party: only members of staff may assist the employer
  • Holding the meeting on a non-working day: the meeting must take place on a working day

FAQ – The pre-dismissal meeting

Must the employer prepare minutes of the pre-dismissal meeting?

No legal provision requires minutes to be drawn up. However, it is strongly recommended to record the exchanges in writing so as to build up evidence in the event of litigation.

What happens if the employee does not attend the meeting?

The employee’s absence does not suspend the procedure. The employer may notify the dismissal within the statutory time limits, provided that the invitation requirements have been complied with.

Can the pre-dismissal meeting be postponed?

Yes, either the employer or the employee may request a postponement. If the employer postpones, it must send a new invitation complying with the 5-working-day period.

For tailored support with your dismissal procedures, contact DAIRIA Avocats. Our DAIRIA IA platform can help you generate invitation letters that comply with the French Labour Code.

Dismissal is strictly regulated by the French Labour Code. The employer must follow a precise procedure, failing which the termination may be reclassified as a dismissal without real and serious cause (licenciement sans cause réelle et sérieuse). Article L.1232-1 of the French Labour Code requires any dismissal on personal grounds to be justified by a real and serious cause, i.e. an objective, accurate and sufficiently serious reason.

The procedure necessarily comprises:

  • The invitation to a pre-dismissal meeting (Article L.1232-2): registered letter or delivery in person, with a minimum period of 5 working days before the meeting
  • The pre-dismissal meeting (Article L.1232-3): during which the employer sets out the grounds for the contemplated decision and gathers the employee’s explanations
  • Notification of the dismissal (Article L.1232-6): by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, at least 2 working days after the meeting

Case law has clarified these requirements. In a ruling Cass. soc., 13 September 2023, no. 22-10.529, the Cour de cassation reiterated that insufficient statement of reasons in the dismissal letter does not deprive the dismissal of real and serious cause but gives rise to compensation not exceeding one month’s salary. This solution is in line with Ordinance no. 2017-1387 of 22 September 2017.

To explore this topic further, see our complete guide to dismissal.

Payments owed to a dismissed employee

Subject to meeting the length-of-service conditions, any dismissed employee is entitled to several payments:

  • The statutory severance indemnity (Articles L.1234-9 and R.1234-1 to R.1234-4 of the French Labour Code): 1/4 of a month’s salary per year of service for the first 10 years, then 1/3 of a month beyond that. The minimum length of service required is 8 continuous months
  • Compensation in lieu of notice: except where the employer waives the notice period (in which case it remains payable) or in the event of gross or wilful misconduct
  • Compensation in lieu of paid leave: for days accrued but not taken

In the event of a dismissal without real and serious cause, the employee may claim damages whose amount is capped by the scale set out in Article L.1235-3 of the French Labour Code (the “Macron scale”). This scale sets a floor and a ceiling based on the employee’s length of service and the company’s headcount.

The Cour de cassation confirmed the compatibility of this scale with international standards in its rulings of 11 May 2022, nos. 21-14.490 and 21-15.247, holding that it was not contrary to Article 10 of ILO Convention no. 158 or to Article 24 of the European Social Charter.

It is also necessary to check whether the applicable collective bargaining agreement provides for more favourable provisions regarding severance pay.

Practical checklist: securing a dismissal

Here are the key points of vigilance for the employer:

  • ✅ Verify that the ground invoked genuinely constitutes a real and serious cause (or gross/wilful misconduct as the case may be)
  • ✅ Gather supporting evidence before initiating the procedure (statements, warning letters, appraisals, etc.)
  • ✅ Strictly comply with the invitation deadlines (minimum 5 working days)
  • ✅ State in the invitation the employee’s right to be assisted (by an employee representative or, in the absence of a CSE, by an external adviser)
  • ✅ Draft the dismissal letter with precise and factually verifiable grounds
  • ✅ Comply with the notification time limits (minimum 2 working days; maximum 1 month for disciplinary dismissals)
  • ✅ Correctly calculate the severance indemnity, taking into account the collective bargaining agreement and the payslip
  • ✅ Issue the end-of-contract documents: work certificate, France Travail certificate, final settlement statement
  • ✅ Inform the employee of the portability of the death-and-disability and health insurance cover (Article L.911-8 of the French Social Security Code)

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