The employment contract must be in writing and may be:
- permanent Contrat à durée indéterminée (CDI)
- fixed-term Contrat à durée déterminée (CDD)
- temporary
- part-time
- intermittent.
PERMANENT CONTRACTS (CDI)
This type of contract is concluded for a non-specific period, in other words
no set period has been specified by the two parties. However, it may be ended by
one or other party provided that the provisions set down in the Labour Code are
respected.
Permanent employment contracts must be in writing. If the employee is
foreign, the contract may be translated into his/her mother tongue on request.
Contrat nouvelles embauches (CNE) is reserved for private sector
emplotyers with staff numbering under 20)
FIXED-TERM CONTRACTS (CDD)
This type of contract may be used only for carrying out a specific, temporary
task under strictly regulated conditions, for instance:
- to replace an absent employee (e.g. maternity leave)
- in the event of a temporary increase in the company’s activity
- for seasonal jobs.
The maximum period of a fixed-term contract (including its renewal) is
eighteen months. It is increased to twenty-four months when the contract is
performed abroad. Such contracts can be renewed only for the same period as the
initial contract.
A fixed-term contract must be in writing and must include the precise reason
for the job (e.g. maternity leave), otherwise the contract is regarded as being
permanent.
A fixed-term contract can be terminated only in the following cases:
- force majeure
- by agreement between the parties or
- because of a serious offence.
The bonus for the precarious nature of the contract (or end-of-contract
allowance) is 10% of the total gross salary (Law of 3 January 2003), with
exceptions in some sectors (collective agreements facilitating access to
vocational training), where it can be limited to 6%.
The compensation for paid leave is added to this bonus: 10% of the amount of
the total gross salary and bonus.
TEMPORARY CONTRACTS
The conditions for using this type of contract are identical to those
governing fixed-term jobs. However, in this case there are three parties to the
contract:
- The temporary employee
- The temporary employment agency, which is his/her employer
- The user undertaking, in which the temporary employee works.
An employer can have recourse to employees of temporary employment agencies
only for the performance of a short-term task known as a “mission”.
There is no law to prevent a temporary employee from leaving the temporary
employment agency to be recruited on the basis of a permanent contract in the
undertaking where he/she is carrying out his/her mission.
PART-TIME CONTRACT
This contract provides status that is comparable to that of full-time
employees.
In the private sector, “part-time employment” is all employment that is
less than 80% of the legal or contractual working hours. No minimum working
hours are in place. However, in practice, a certain number of hours is needed to
benefit from social security coverage (60 hours per month).
In the public sector, part-time employment must be between 50% (half-time)
and 80% of full-time employment.
Part-time employment contracts must be in writing.
INTERMITTENT EMPLOYMENT
Intermittent employment concerns mainly seasonal jobs. The contract is
continuous for permanent jobs that may, however, involve rest periods because of
the seasonal nature of the work.
These contracts must be in writing.
Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2006
Reproduction is authorised.
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