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Conventional Break

Verified 12 May 2020 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The conventional break allows the employer and the employee to CDI: titleContent to agree by common accord on the terms of the breach of the employment contract between them. The individual or collective conventional breach is possible under conditions and compensation. A legal procedure determines the steps to be followed. A severance agreement must be drafted. It must be validated by the Direct: titleContent..

Individual

Conventional break-up is the only way of breaking the amicable employment contract between the employee and the employer.

An employee who signs a conventional break-up with his employer shall receive a break-up allowance.

The employee is also entitled to unemployment benefits if he fulfills the conditions conditions of award..

The conventional break is open to the employee employed only in CDI: titleContent..

The scheme shall not apply to employees in CDD: titleContent or on temporary contract.

Requirement: agreement of the parties

The employer and the employee may jointly agree to a conventional breach of the contract of employment.

The employer cannot impose a conventional break on the employee.

Similarly, the employee cannot impose it on the employer.

Cases of prohibition of conventional break-up

Individual conventional rupture is prohibited in the following cases:

  • It is concluded under fraudulent conditions or in the absence of an agreement between the employee and the employer
  • It is proposed in the framework of a collective agreement for the management of jobs and competences (GPEC) or a plan for safeguarding employment (PSE)
  • It is proposed as part of a collective agreement that breaks a collective agreement
  • The procedure of conventional termination aims to bypass the guarantees provided for the employee in respect of economic dismissal

The conventional break can be canceled by the prud'homme council (CPH) if the employee establishes that it was signed when his consent was not free. For example:

  • The conventional break was signed in the context of harassment
  • The employer lobbied the employee to choose a conventional break-up

The employee may then receive compensation in the event of wrongful dismissal (without real and serious cause)..

The interview(s) are used to define the conditions of the break (date of the break, amount of compensation paid by the employer, notice to be given or not). These conditions are indispensable before any conventional breakup agreement.

Convocation to one or more interviews

That's number onere procedure step: the employer and the employee must meet at least once.

The conditions for convening the interview are freely determined by the employer and the employee (date, time, place).

Employee assistance

During each interview, the employee may be assisted by either an employee of the undertaking (staff representative or not) employee advisor in the absence of a representative institution of the staff in the undertaking.

The employee must then inform the employer before the interview (in writing or orally).

Employer assistance

During each interview, the employer may be assisted by:

  • a person of his choice belonging to the staff of the undertaking,
  • a member of his trade union organization of employers or another employer in the same branch, if the undertaking employs less than 50 employees.

If the employer decides to be assisted during an interview, he must inform the employee before the interview (in writing or orally).

Content

The individual agreement of termination shall lay down the conditions for the termination of the employment contract.

The conditions are freely defined by the employer and the employee.

This Convention shall provide for the following conditions:

  • Date of termination of employment contract, fixed at the earliest on the day following the day of authorization by the labor inspector
  • Amount of the specific conventional severance allowance

Remission to employee

The employer must provide the employee with a copy of the agreement.

The employee and the employer must sign the conventional severance agreement.

FYI  

failure to comply with this obligation allows the employee to obtain the cancelation of the conventional break and the payment of compensation wrongful dismissal (without real and serious cause).. The employee must enter the prud'homme council (CPH)..

Retraction

The employer and the employee have a right of withdrawal of 15 calendar days..

The withdrawal period shall start on the day following the date of signature of the agreement. When the last day of the period falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, or unemployed, it shall be extended until 1to working day following signature of the rupture.

A simulator is used to determine the end date of the withdrawal period:

Conventional Break - Retraction Timeout Calculation

Agreement Validation

In the absence of a withdrawal within the period laid down, the agreement must be sent to the Direct: titleContent to get its validation.

The procedure for validating the agreement depends on whether the employee is protected or not.

General case

The employer or employee shall submit a request for validation of the termination agreement:

  • directly online using TV service,
  • or by filling out the form cerfa 14598 application for approval of conventional failure.

The form should be sent to the Direct: titleContent..

Who shall I contact

The Directorate has a deadline of 15 business daysfrom the day following the working day of receipt of the application, to verify the validity of the agreement. If the last day of that period falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday, or unemployed, it shall be extended until 1to next business day.

If the Directorate has not responded within 15 days, the agreement is certified.

In the event of a refusal of approval, the Directorate must give reasons for its decision (in particular in the event of failure to comply with a stage of the procedure or of doubt as to the free consent of the parties).

FYI  

any appeal concerning the convention, its approval or the refusal of approval shall be submitted to the prud'homme council within 12 months of the date of approval of the Convention.

Protected employee

The severance agreement concerning a protected employee is subject not to approval, but to authorization by the labor inspector.

Application for authorization of a conventional termination of a protected employee's indeterminate employment contract

The Convention shall be addressed to the Direct: titleContent by the employer.

The labor inspector must ensure the freedom of consent of the parties (in particular by verifying that no pressure has been exerted in connection with the protected employee's mandate).

In the absence of a reply from the labor inspector within 2 months, the application for authorization shall be deemed to have been rejected.

FYI  

all appeal (gracious, hierarchical or contentious) must be submitted within 2 months of the decision of the labor inspector.

As long as the contract has not been completed, the employee shall continue his activity under the usual conditions.

He may take paid leave during this period.

Whatever his seniority, the employee who signs a validated conventional break-up shall receive a specific conventional break-up allowance at the end of the breach of contract.

The allowance may not be less than statutory severance pay..

The calculation of specific allowance varies according to length of service and remuneration.

You can estimate the amount of your allowance by using the conventional specific break allowance calculation simulator:

Conventional Break Benefit calculation simulator

The termination date of the contract is provided for in the termination agreement.

The employee is not required to give notice.

The employer must provide the employee with the following documents:

The employee receives vacation pay, if he has not taken all the leave acquired on the date of termination of the contract.

If the employment contract provides for a non-competition clause, the financial contribution is due (unless waived).

At the end of the contract, the employee is entitled to unemployment benefits if he fulfills the conditions for the benefit of..

Collective

The Conventional Break collective cannot be proposed by the employee to his employer. Only the employer can have the initiative to negotiate a collective agreement that involves a collective agreement break.

Collective treaty breakdown is achieved only through collective agreement.

An employee who is a candidate for collective bargaining breakdown shall give his written consent.

An employee who signs a collective conventional break-up with his employer shall receive severance pay.

He is also entitled to unemployment benefits, if he completes them conditions of award..

The employee has no obligation to be a candidate for collective conventional rupture.

If the number of employees applying is greater than the maximum number of departures envisaged by the employer, the employees concerned by the scheme shall be divided according to criteria.

These devices are set out in the collective agreement breaking up.

Please note

if protected employee is covered by a collective agreement of conventional break, the authorization of the labor inspection is mandatory. If a occupational doctor is involved in a collective agreement of conventional break-up, the authorization of the labor inspection is compulsory, after the opinion of the occupational physician inspector.

Requirement: agreement of the parties

A collective agreement on collective agreement to terminate a collective agreement shall lay down the terms and conditions governing the termination by mutual agreement of the employment contract between the employer and the employee.

The employer must first conclude a collective agreement at the level of the undertaking or establishment and transmit the content of the agreement to the Direct: titleContent via PSE-RCC portal.

PSE-RCC portal (Job Safeguarding Plan-Collective Treaty Break)

Content of the agreement

The collective agreement must contain the following information:

  • Conditions for informing the Social and Economic Committee
  • Maximum number of planned departures, associated job losses and duration of implementation of collective bargaining
  • Conditions to be fulfilled by the employee in order to benefit
  • Conditions for the submission and examination of applications from employees
  • Criteria for separation between candidates at departure
  • Ways of calculating severance benefits guaranteed to the employee
  • Accompanying measures and external reclassification of employees in equivalent jobs
  • Agreement tracking clauses

Agreement Validation

The agreement must be validated by the Direct: titleContent..

The lack of a response next 15 calendar days after the receipt of the file is valid.

Absence of response is implicit acceptance.

The employer must then transmit a copy of the validation request, accompanied by its acknowledgement of receipt by the administration, to the SSC and to the employees who have signed the agreement.

If the Directorate refuses to validate the agreement, the employer must submit a new agreement that takes into account the changes requested.

As long as his employment contract has not expired, the employee shall continue his activity under the usual conditions.

He may take paid leave during this period.

The acceptance by the employer of the employee's candidacy in the context of the collective agreement break-up constitutes a breach of the contract of employment by mutual agreement of the parties.

The employee shall be entitled to severance pay which may not be less than legal compensation in the event of dismissal for economic reasons.

In the context of collective contractual breakdown, the employee is not entitled to benefit from the professional security agreement (CSP)..

The employee also does not benefit from the priority of rehiring that exists in the context of an economic redundancy.

The employer remains free to hire if his financial situation improves.

However, the employer has no obligation to offer an available position to an employee who has accepted a collective agreement.

The termination date of the contract is provided for in the termination agreement.

The employer must provide the employee with the following documents:

The employee receives vacation pay, if he has not taken all the leave acquired on the date of termination of the contract.

If the employment contract provides for a non-competition clause, the financial contribution is due (unless waived).

At the end of the contract, the employee is entitled to unemployment benefits if he fulfills the conditions for the benefit of..

FAQ