Researched by ExpatMoneyEU Team · Last updated 5 November 2026 · Data: Service-Public.fr / French Labour Code (Code du travail) art. L1234-9, R1234-1, R1234-2, R1234-4 — 2026
The short answer: on a €2,800 reference salary with 6 years of service, the French statutory minimum severance is €4,200 — 6 years × ¼ month × €2,800, or 1.50 months of salary. The statutory or collective-agreement amount is fully exempt from income tax, and in 2026 the exemption caps are €288,360 for income tax and €96,120 for social contributions (Service-Public.fr, 2026). Enter your own salary and service below — the result updates instantly.
Calculate your severance pay
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| Amount | Total |
|---|---|
| Statutory minimum (legal scale) | €4,200.00 |
| Selected basis — legal minimum | €4,200.00 |
| Months-of-salary equivalent (selected basis) | 1.50 months |
| Statutory notice period | 2 months |
| Amount to expect (higher of legal / agreement) | €4,200.00 |
✓ You meet the 8-month minimum seniority for the statutory indemnity (CDI, dismissal for personal or economic reasons).
What this calculator does: it turns your reference salary and length of service into your French statutory severance pay, shows what the common collective-agreement rates would pay instead, and tells you your notice period and whether you meet the 8-month seniority rule — so you know the floor before any negotiation starts.
How to use the calculator
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- Enter your reference gross monthly salary — the more favourable of your average gross pay over the last 12 months, or one third of your gross pay over the last 3 months (annual bonuses count pro rata, one twelfth per month).
- Enter your years and months of uninterrupted service with the same employer, counted up to the end of your notice period. Incomplete years count by complete months.
- Choose the calculation basis — the legal minimum, or the one-third or one-half month per year rate if your collective agreement is that generous.
- Read the result — the statutory minimum, the months-of-salary equivalent, your notice period and whether you meet the 8-month seniority rule.
The formula: how French severance pay is calculated
→ How severance works in general: Severance pay estimator
The statutory severance (indemnité de licenciement) is a legal minimum for permanent-contract (CDI) employees dismissed for personal or economic reasons, set by articles L1234-9, R1234-1, R1234-2 and R1234-4 of the French Labour Code. In symbols:
Severance = (years up to 10 × ¼ × reference salary) + (years beyond 10 × ⅓ × reference salary)
Reference salary = the more favourable of: average gross monthly pay over the last 12 months, or ⅓ of gross pay over the last 3 months
- Reference salary — your gross monthly pay before deductions. Take the higher of the two formulas above; in the 3-month formula, an annual bonus adds one twelfth of its amount to each of the 3 months.
- First 10 years — each year of service earns one quarter (¼) of one month's reference salary. At €2,800 a month, one year is worth €700.
- Years beyond 10 — each additional year earns one third (⅓) of one month's salary. At €2,800 a month, one year beyond 10 is worth about €933.33.
- Incomplete years — counted pro rata by complete months: 3 years and 6 months counts as 3.5 years, 12 years and 9 months as 12.75 years.
- Collective agreements — many pay more than the legal floor, commonly ⅓ or ½ a month per year (metallurgy/UIMM is a well-known example). You receive the higher amount; the legal and agreement figures never stack.
- 8-month rule — the statutory indemnity needs at least 8 months of uninterrupted service. Below that, the legal minimum does not apply — but a rupture conventionnelle (mutual termination) pays the same scale with no minimum seniority.
Worked example: 6 years at €2,800 a month
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Take an expat dismissed after 6 years with a reference salary of €2,800 gross a month. All 6 years fall inside the first-10 band, so the calculation is 6 × ¼ × €2,800 = 6 × €700 = €4,200 — exactly 1.50 months of salary. The notice period is 2 months (service over 2 years), and the €4,200 is fully exempt from income tax because it matches the statutory amount.
A second example: 12 years and 9 months at a €2,400 reference salary. The first 10 years pay 10 × ¼ × €2,400 = €6,000. The remaining 2.75 years pay 2.75 × ⅓ × €2,400 = €2,200. Total: €8,200 — about 3.42 months of salary. Under a collective agreement paying ½ a month per year, the same 12.75 years would pay 12.75 × ½ × €2,400 = €15,300, and the employee would receive that higher figure instead.
Severance pay at a glance: legal minimum at €2,800 a month, 2026
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| Years of service | Statutory minimum | Months of salary | Notice period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | €700.00 | 0.25 | 1 month |
| 3 years | €2,100.00 | 0.75 | 2 months |
| 5 years | €3,500.00 | 1.25 | 2 months |
| 8 years | €5,600.00 | 2.00 | 2 months |
| 10 years | €7,000.00 | 2.50 | 2 months |
| 15 years | €11,666.67 | 4.17 | 2 months |
| 20 years | €16,333.33 | 5.83 | 2 months |
Check the 15-year row: 10 × ¼ × €2,800 = €7,000, plus 5 × ⅓ × €2,800 = €4,666.67, giving €11,666.67. Two patterns matter most. First, severance grows slowly — even 20 years of service is worth under 6 months of salary at the legal floor, which is why the collective-agreement rate matters so much. Second, the notice period jumps to 2 months once you pass 2 years of service and stays there, so the real difference between a 3-year and a 20-year exit is the severance cheque, not the notice.
Notice periods, rupture conventionnelle and tax
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Three things to settle before you sign anything. Notice: the statutory notice is 1 month after 6 months of service and 2 months after 2 years, unless your collective agreement is more generous — and your seniority for the severance amount is counted up to the end of the notice, so a long notice can add months to the calculation. Rupture conventionnelle: if you and your employer agree to part ways, the mutual-termination indemnity uses the same scale as the legal minimum but has no 8-month seniority requirement — the standard route for short-service exits, and it also preserves your unemployment rights, unlike a resignation. Tax: the part of the payment matching the statutory or collective-agreement amount is fully exempt from income tax; for anything above that, the 2026 exemption caps are €288,360 for income tax and €96,120 for social contributions (Service-Public.fr). If the total payment exceeds €480,600, no social-contribution exemption applies at all. Severance also stacks with notice pay and unused-holiday pay — check all three lines on your final settlement (solde de tout compte) before signing it.
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Official sources for the figures on this page:
- Service-Public.fr — Indemnité de licenciement du salarié en CDI — the French government's official page on statutory severance: the 8-month rule, the ¼ / ⅓ scale, the reference-salary formulas and the 2026 tax caps (€288,360 income tax, €96,120 social contributions)
- Code du travail, art. L1234-9 (Légifrance) — the statutory severance provision in the French Labour Code
- Service-Public.fr — Rupture conventionnelle — the mutual-termination route, with the same indemnity floor and no minimum seniority
ExpatMoneyEU verdict: at 6 years on €2,800 a month, French law guarantees at least €4,200 — but always check your collective agreement first, because a ⅓ or ½ month-per-year rate can double or triple it. Never sign a settlement before the notice pay and unused holiday are on the table too.