How much notice do I need to give? (France, fixed term contract)

November 18, 2009 5:43 AM

How much notice do I have to give at work? I'm in France, and my contract lasts 1 year.

I'm employed in France on a fixed term contract (a CDD - Contrat duree determinee). I'm half way through so I've started applying for other jobs. The job application form I'm currently working on wants to know my notice period. I have no idea, and it's not in my contract. (Just in case my boss reads this: I have every intention of staying to the end of the contract, I just need this for the form.) I think the law covering my contract is this one: article 86-83, but my French is not quite up to the job of finding the information in that page...

posted by handee to work & money (3 comments total)

I've found another page, also in French, which relates to the CDD --
http://www.travail-solidarite.gouv.fr/informations-pratiques/fiches-pratiques/contrats-travail/contrat-travail-duree-determinee-cdd.html?var_recherche=contrat

it may be easier to find the information there, or possibly the Expatica forum.
posted by bwonder2 at 5:50 AM on November 18, 2009

I found this on this page

You can break your contract only under these circumstances:

"à l’initiative du salarié qui justifie d’une embauche en contrat à durée indéterminée. Le salarié doit alors respecter un préavis d’une durée égale à 1 jour par semaine compte tenu de la durée totale du CDD (renouvellement inclus) ou - s’agissant d’un CDD sans terme précis - de la durée du contrat effectuée. Dans tous les cas, le préavis ne peut excéder 2 semaines. Toutefois, avec l’accord de l’employeur, le salarié peut être dispensé de préavis"

Translation
"on initiative of the employee if he can show that he is hired for a contract of durée indéterminée. The employee has to respect a notice of 1 day per week for the total duration of the CDD" (I presume they mean: one day for each week that your contract would normally last). "In any case, the notice cannot exceed two weeks. The employer can agree to let the employee go without notice."
posted by NekulturnY at 6:03 AM on November 18, 2009

I'm sorry, there was more there (hit "post" too soon)

- accord conclu entre l’employeur et le salarié ;
- force majeure, c’est-à-dire un événement exceptionnel, imprévisible et insurmontable qui rend impossible l’exécution du contrat de travail (des difficultés économiques ou la liquidation judiciaire de l’entreprise ne constituent pas, pour l’employeur, des situations de force majeure) ;
- faute grave de l’employeur ou du salarié.

- a deal between employee and employer
- force majeure (exceptional event, unforeseeable and unsurmountable that makes it impossible to continue the contract)
- "serious offense" by employee or employer ("faute grave" is a term that is legally defined and can't easily be translated)

So it looks as if breaking your contract won't be all that easy. If you do break the contract for a reason that is not listed here, you may be liable for the "actual economic damage that breaking your contract will inflict on the enterprise".

Your best bet is to have a good conversation with your boss.
posted by NekulturnY at 6:18 AM on November 18, 2009