France
Strengthen your compliance framework in France with Lerio's specialized HR support.
Hiring in France at a glance
€ Euro / EUR
35 hours / week
11 holidays / year
The most common payment frequency is monthly.
By law, an employee must be paid at least once a month
French
64M
€11.65 / hour
1st Jan – 31st Dec
Employment Tax
Income tax is calculated on the household’s income and not on an individual income basis. Tax credits are applied for personal expenses and tax splitting allows dependents to be considered. Once this is done, a tax rate is applied based on taxable income. Additional tax is applied for certain high income families or singles.
- Social Insurance: 16.62% – 25.26%
- Pension: 6.9%
- Generalised Social Contribution (GSA): 9,20%
- Social Debt Repayment Contribution (SDRC): 0,50%
- Unemployment: Agency for Executive Employment (Apec): 0.024%
Additional pension based on seniority of role:
- Agirc-Arrco: 3.15%-8.64%
- General equilibrium contribution (GCE): 0.86%-1.08%
- Technical Balance Contribution (TEC): 0%-0.14%
Employers of French employees are required to pay health tax, autonomy solidarity contributions, old age insurance, family benefits, unemployment insurance, occupational health service tax, and a working from home allowance
- Social security insurance: 25.92% – 33.72%
- Health, maternity, invalidity, death insurance: 13% (7% if salary is below 2.5 times the minimum wage)
- Old age insurance: 8.55% capped at €3 666
- Unemployment insurance: 4.05%
- Family allowances: 3.45% or 5.25%
- Pension: 1.9%
- Autonomy Solidarity Contribution (CSA): 0.3%
- AGS (Wage Guarantee Insurance): 0.15% capped at €14,664
- Social dialogue contribution: 0.016%
- Fnal: 0.5% if more than 50 employees; 0.1% if less
- Apprenticeship tax: Between 1 – 0.5% depending on industry and size of company
- Workers compensation insurance: 1.90% – 2.22%
Income Tax
| Taxable Salary | Tax Rate (%) | ||
| €0 - €10 777 | 0% | ||
| €10 778 - $27 478 | 11% | ||
| €27 479 - €78 570 | 30% | ||
| €78 571 - €168 994 | 41% | ||
| €168 994 + | 45% |
Employer of Record
in France
Taking on the role of the official employer, an Employer of Record is tasked with ensuring compliance with Australian employment standards. This involves managing payroll, processing taxes, and adhering to labor regulations in all aspects of employment.
Employer of
Record Process
- Company
- Full legal name of prospective employee
- Employee contact details
- Employee nationality and residency status
- Proposed start date
- Right to work status
- Job title
- Working hours
- Job description and deliverables
- Salary information
- Benefit information
- Intellectual property and confidentiality agreement
- Terms of termination (e.g. notice period)
- Probation period
- EMployee bank details
- All other company-specific requirements (e.g. non-compete, intellectual property clauses, etc.)
Finds their perfect hire and provides Lerio with all the information required to prepare an employment agreement. For Australia, that includes:
- Lerio
Prepares the employment agreement and shares with the prospective employee for signing. Requests all additional documents such as identity documents, proof of right to work in Australia, tax information, etc.
- Employee
Signs employment agreement and submits required documents.
Umbrella Process
- Employee
Now no longer a prospective employee but simply an official employee, who ensures to keep Lerio updated on any personal information changes.
- Lerio
Onboards employee to payroll and benefit programs to get started ensuring that salaries are paid every month and benefits are administered. Tax contributions and benefit fees are paid and payslips are provided to the employee.
Lerio provides an invoice and statement to the company for each month.
- Company
Receives monthly invoice, reviews and processes. Provides information on whether anything has changed in their relationship with the employee, the employee’s role or the company that will have an effect on the upcoming payroll run.
Employee Benefits
- Government and private medical insurance
- Government and private pension
- Life insurance (at a minimum for managers but may be required for all based on CBA)
- Public transport costs (50% of cost to commute to work)
- Workers compensation insurance
- Profit-sharing: If a company has more than 50 employees and the CBA requires it
Non-mandatory
Employee Benefits
- Extended health insurance
- Extended public transport reimbursement
- Additional time off
- Wellbeing programms
- Training
Employee Right
- Fair and just dismissals
- Protection from discrimination, harassment and bullying
- Protection of personal information
- Whistleblower protection
- Right to disconnect
- Revision of workload with managers when it’s too much
- Right to disconnect
- Remote work where appropriate and a work-from-home allowance
Leave
30 days annually. Employees can’t take more than 24 days consecutively.
Employed for 3 months: 50% of standard salary for 6 months if they’ve sufficiently contributed to social security in the last 6 months. This is capped at €51.70 per day.
Employed more than 1 year: Can increase to 90% through social security if a medical certificate is submitted within 48 hours.
Employers may be required to contribute depending on their CBA.
16 weeks paid leave capped at €95.22 per day paid through social security. If contributions have been made for the 10 months preceding and at least 150 hours have been worked in the 90 days preceding the birth.
This increases to 26 weeks after the third child.
28 days paid leave capped at €95.22 per day and must be taken consecutively within the child’s first 4 months.
1 – 3 days: Paid by employer (full salary)
4 – 28 days: Paid by social security at the capped rate.
Depends on the makeup of the household:
-
- Adopting 1 child with 1 child already in the home: 16 weeks for one parent and an additional 28 days for the other parent.
- Adopting 1 child with 2 or more children already in the home: 18 weeks for one parent and an additional 28 for the other parent.
- Adopting two or more children: 22 weeks for one parent and an additional 32 days for the other parent
* Paid in the same ratio of company vs. social security as in maternity and paternity and capped the same way.
1 year unpaid parental leave. The 1 year entitlement is shared between the parents and can be used until the child is 3 years old.
Carer’s leave: 3 days to care for sick children under 16 and 5 days for a child under 1 or if they have 3 or more kids. Up to 3 months unpaid leave is also allowed to care for relatives if they are french citizens.
2 – 14 days paid leave for the death of an immediate family member, a child’s accident or disability or a close family member’s death.
Paid leave is allocated for the death of an immediate family member.
5 days
1 day
After 3 years at a company, an employee can apply for a 6 – 11 month unpaid sabbatical.
After 2 years at the company, an employee can apply for up to a year’s unpaid leave to start or take over a business.
- 6 months – 1 year: 1 month notice
- 2 years or more: 2 months’ notice
- Executive level positions: 3 months’ notice
Probation
Mandatory dependent on the CBA and the role. Standard probation is 3-4 months.
What is a work permit in France?
Work permits are official documents from a country’s government that qualifies an individual to legally work and live in the country. However, this is a broad term and many countries require more than one official document and may use different terms to refer to these documents – and France is one of them. Essentially all terms are referencing documents that prove someone has been given the legal right to work and live in the country.
In France, the “work permit” required to legally live and work there is generally made up of three separate documents:
- Work visa
- Residence permit (requirement depends on visa)
Who needs a work permit in France?
France requires everyone who is not a citizen or a permanent resident to go through a process of obtaining legal right to work, with certain exceptions:
EU member state citizens: All EU citizens have the right to work in another EU member state. They may however need to register their presence in the country (if staying for three months or less) or register your residence (staying for longer than three months). France is an EU member state and therefore EU member state citizens don’t need to obtain any documents to prove their right to work and live in France.
Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway: As members of the EEA (European Economic Area), Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway citizens have the same rights as any EU member state citizen to work and live in France. They are required to follow the same process as EU citizens as described above.
Switzerland: Though not a part of the EU or the EEA, the EU has an agreement with the Swiss government that allows a mutual freedom of movement. This affords Swiss nationals the same rights as any EU citizen to work and live in France. They are required to follow the same process as EU citizens as described above.
Therefore, anybody who is not a citizen of an EU member state, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland needs to go through the process to obtain a legal right to work.
*UK citizens: Please see here to understand the rights of UK citizens who settled in Italy prior to Brexit.
How long does it take to get a work permit in France?
Current processing times are estimated to be:
Authorisation to work: Up to 60 days
Work visa: Up to 90 days but work visas are usually 30 days
Residence permit: 45 – 60 days
Types of work visas in France
Salaried work/employed visa:
Long-stay visa serving as a residence permit (VLS-TS)
This allows you to be in France for four to 12 months, without needing to apply for a resident permit upon arrival. To legally work in France, you are required to have an authorisation to work as well. Those who have an indefinite employment agreement are suitable for this visa.
Visa mentioning “residence card to be applied for within 2 months of arrival”
This visa requires you to apply for a residence permit within two months. Those offered fixed-term employment agreements are suitable for this visa.
EU Blue Card
The EU blue card is a combined work and residency permit available to highly skilled individuals. It allows holders access to live and work in 25 out of the 27 EU member states (Denmark and Ireland not included).
Eligibility
- Bachelors or higher degree, some states accept 5 years of relevant experience without a degree
- Must be a salaried employee, not self-employed
- Annual salary must be at least 1.5 times the average national income of the state applying for
- Offer of employment
- Health insurance
Country-specific requirements and application processes can be seen here.
Other visas:
In addition you can apply for seasonal work visas and self-employed work visas.
Application process in France
Authorisation to work
Employers are required to request an authorisation to work for the employee. Foreign or not, employers need to register new employees on the Labour Department’s personnel register. For the authorization to work, employers need to add the request as an annex when the employee’s details are added to the register.
The application must go to the DIRECCTE (Directions régionales des entreprises, de la concurrence, de la consommation, du travail et de l’emplo) which has separate departments for different industries. Once approved the DIRECCTE sends the authorisation to the French Office for Immigration and Integration and the embassy in the employee’s country.
Work visa
The person looking to work in Italy must apply for the work visa at their local Italian embassy or consulate.
- Complete the application form (can be done online from most countries) and make an appointment with the consulate/embassy
- Collect all the required documents to prepare for the appointment
- Attend the visa appointment where:
- Required documents will be submitted
- Biometric data will be recorded
- A brief interview will be conducted (sometimes this doesn’t happen)
- Collect visa or have it delivered
Residence Permit
If you were awarded a VLS-TS visa, you do not need to apply for a residence permit within the first 12 months. It needs to be validated within two months of issue. This can be done on this webpage.
After validating, you will be invited to an appointment to a medical exam and/or for signing a Republican Integration Contract.
If not, you need to apply for a resident permit. This can be done on this dedicated website. After applying, you will be invited to an appointment to a medical exam and/or for signing a Republican Integration Contract.
What documents are required to apply for a work permit in France?
Authorisation to work
- Copy of employee’s passport
- Employment agreement
- Proof that the role could not be filled locally
- Proof of education and qualifications
- Proof of relevant experience/qualifications to the job
- Proof that the salary of at least the monthly minimum wage
- Compliance to labour regulations and conditions in terms of equal work and pay
Work visa
- Employment agreement
- Authorisation of work
- Completed Long-Stay Visa Application form
- Passport with at least two blank pages, valid for minimum one year
- Two passport pictures
- Proof of accommodation
- Proof of sufficient financial means
- Proof of paid visa fee
- Proof of education and qualifications
Resident permit
- A valid passport and a copy
- Visa
- 3 passport photos
- Proof of address in France
- Medical certificate issued by OFII
- Proof of income
- Proof of health insurance
- Proof of payment of permit fees
- Signed Republican Integration Contract and language certificate
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