France
Notice periods in France
What the French government’s own guidance says about resigning from a CDI: that your employer cannot refuse it, that the law fixes no general notice length, where the length actually comes from instead, when the clock starts, and the three departments with their own statutory figures.
This page describes France and is drawn from Service-Public.fr, published by the Direction de l’information légale et administrative. It is not legal advice. For most people the operative document is a convention collective, which this page cannot read for you.
General information only. Employment rules depend on your contract and location.
Last verified: August 20, 2026
Who this covers
This is an employee resigning from a contrat à durée indéterminée — a CDI. Fixed-term contracts, temporary agency work and apprenticeships end under different rules; the same government source covers them separately, and nothing on this page should be read across to them.
What the guidance says
Each point below is stated by the source linked against it, checked on the date shown in the source list at the foot of this page.
Resignation is the employee’s right and the employer cannot refuse it; the employee must show a clear and unequivocal intention to end the contract, and does not have to give a reason.
A resignation given under constraint is not valid, and where the intention is in doubt a conseil de prud’hommes can requalify it as an unjustified dismissal.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
No legal procedure is imposed for notifying a resignation: it may be given orally or in writing, though the source recommends writing — a recorded-delivery letter or one handed over against a receipt — to avoid a dispute.
Some collective agreements require a letter; not following that formality is not by itself enough to call the resignation into question.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
As a general rule a resigning employee must serve a notice period and cannot leave immediately; where one is provided for, it must be served in full and the contract continues to run normally until it ends.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
For the general case the law does not fix the length of the notice period: it is most often set by the convention or accord collectif applying in the company, may be set by the employment contract, and in the absence of either is set by the custom of the locality or the profession.
The employee and employer can only lengthen the period by common agreement.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
Some professions have their own minimum periods: a VRP must give at least one month in the first year, two in the second and three thereafter; a professional journalist gives one month up to three years’ service and two months beyond it.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
An employee working in Moselle, Bas-Rhin or Haut-Rhin has statutory notice periods: six weeks for commis commerciaux, teachers, people employed by private individuals, and cadres, techniciens and agents de maîtrise, as well as those paid quarterly or over a longer period; fifteen days where pay is set monthly; one week where it is set weekly; one day where it is set daily.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
The notice period starts on the date the employer is notified: the first presentation of a recorded-delivery letter, the day a letter is handed over against a receipt, or the day of a verbal announcement.
Unless something provides otherwise, the period is then counted from date to date, without regard to the number of days in the month.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
An employee can be released from the notice period: at their own request with the employer’s agreement, in which case the compensatory indemnity is not owed; or on the employer’s own initiative, in which case the employer must still pay it.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
If the employee does not serve the notice period, the employer does not have to pay the compensatory indemnity and can claim payment of it from the employee before the conseil de prud’hommes.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
In certain situations no notice period is required: a medically confirmed pregnancy; leaving to raise a child at the end of maternity or adoption leave, on the stated advance notice; and a journalist resigning over a notable change in the character or orientation of the publication.
Service-Public.fr — Direction de l’information légale et administrative
The number is not in the law
The most useful thing this page can tell you is where not to look. The source states plainly that in the general case the law does not fix the length of a resignation notice: it comes from the convention or accord collectif that applies in your company, failing that from your contract, and failing that from the custom in your locality or profession. Working out which convention collective covers you is the first move, not a detail to settle later.
When the clock starts depends on how you tell them
The period runs from the moment the employer knows: the date a recorded letter is first presented by the post, the day a letter is handed over against a receipt, or the day of a verbal announcement. Unless something provides otherwise it is then counted “de date à date”, without regard to how many days the month happens to have.
Not serving it has a price
Where the notice is not served and no dispense has been agreed, the source states that the employer does not owe the compensatory indemnity and may claim payment of it from the employee before the conseil de prud’hommes. Being released on the employer’s own initiative is the opposite case: there the indemnity is still owed to you.
What this page deliberately does not answer
Each of these has a real answer that this page does not hold a source for. Rather than infer one, it says so:
- Which convention collective applies to you, and what notice period it sets.
- Whether a resignation might be requalified by a conseil de prud’hommes as something else.
- Whether you qualify for unemployment benefit after resigning, beyond the single case the source names.
- How any indemnity is taxed.
- Anything about prise d’acte or résiliation judiciaire, which are separate routes with separate consequences.
The source page linked below publishes a simulator for finding the convention collective that applies to a company, along with its own guidance on each of these. Both are better answers than a confident paragraph from a website.
Sources
Every claim on this page links to the government source it came from, and the date it was last checked.
Run your own numbers
- Project your last working day — enter the period from your convention collective or contract; the count runs from the day the employer is notified.
- What unserved notice would cost — the indemnité compensatrice is the figure at stake if the notice is not served, and it is worth knowing before the conversation.
- Can I quit without notice? — six questions covering your contract, your timing, and your money.