Legal Severance Pay Calculator
Estimate the statutory minimum severance indemnity (indemnité légale de licenciement) under French law, based on articles L.1234-9 and R.1234-2 of the French Labour Code. This does not calculate the conventional indemnity (indemnité conventionnelle), which may be higher depending on your applicable collective bargaining agreement.
Estimated Legal Minimum Severance (indemnité légale)
Calculation Breakdown
Important Notice
This calculator computes the statutory legal minimum severance indemnity (indemnité légale de licenciement) only. It does not compute the conventional indemnity (indemnité conventionnelle de licenciement), which is set by your applicable collective bargaining agreement (convention collective) and is often more generous. French law requires the employer to pay whichever is higher. This calculator also excludes notice period pay (indemnité compensatrice de préavis) and accrued holiday pay. For a complete assessment including your CCN, contact our team.
How is the Legal Severance Pay Calculated?
Under French law (articles L.1234-9 and R.1234-2 of the Code du travail), the legal minimum severance indemnity (indemnité légale) is calculated as follows:
- 1/4 of monthly salary per year of service for the first 10 years
- 1/3 of monthly salary per year of service beyond 10 years
The reference salary is the higher of: the average of the last 12 months, or 1/3 of the last 3 months (including prorated annual bonuses). A minimum of 8 months of seniority is required.
Legal vs. Conventional Severance: What's the Difference?
French employment law provides two separate severance frameworks:
- Legal indemnity (indemnité légale) — the statutory minimum set by the Labour Code, applicable to all employees. This is what this calculator computes.
- Conventional indemnity (indemnité conventionnelle) — a higher amount provided by many collective bargaining agreements (conventions collectives). The formula varies by industry and often provides significantly more generous terms (e.g. 1/3 per year from year 1, or special bonuses for long seniority).
The employer must always pay whichever is higher. To determine your conventional indemnity, you need to identify the applicable CCN (by IDCC code). Contact us or use DAIRIA AI to find out which convention collective applies to your company.
Severance pay — key questions
Who is entitled to French statutory severance pay?
Any employee on a permanent contract dismissed for a reason other than gross misconduct (faute grave) or wilful misconduct (faute lourde), provided they meet the minimum seniority set by article L.1234-9 of the French Labour Code. The calculator applies the statutory formula of articles L.1234-9 and R.1234-2 — the legal floor that applies when no more favourable rule exists.
Is the statutory amount always what the employer actually owes?
No — and this is the most common costly mistake. The statutory indemnity is only a floor. The applicable collective bargaining agreement (convention collective) frequently provides a higher indemnity, different seniority steps or a more favourable salary base. Before budgeting a dismissal, the conventional scheme must be checked against the statutory one — the employee is entitled to whichever is more favourable. DAIRIA AI reads the applicable CCN clause and tells you which one wins, with the exact source.
Which salary is used as the calculation base?
The reference salary is the more favourable to the employee of two averages: the last twelve months of gross remuneration, or the last three months — in which case annual or exceptional bonuses are included pro rata. Getting this base wrong invalidates the whole calculation, which is why the calculator asks for the figure and the formula recomputes both mechanisms.
Does severance pay apply in case of mutual termination?
Under a rupture conventionnelle (mutual termination), the specific indemnity owed to the employee cannot be lower than the statutory severance indemnity — and where the collective agreement provides a higher dismissal indemnity, that conventional amount generally becomes the floor. Use our mutual termination calculator for that scenario: the mechanics differ.
Need Expert Advice?
Every situation is unique. Get personalized guidance from our French employment law specialists.