Minimum reward for a student or pupil in a company

Verified 01 January 2024 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)

Are you a student intern or a student in a company? Does your employer have to pay you financial compensation for your internship? If so, do you have to pay social security contributions? We explain to you the conditions for payment of a traineeship bonus minimum bonus if you are entitled to it.

It depends on your situation before you enter your internship, whether you are a student intern or a graduate student in agricultural education

Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement

You're a student intern

You're not considered a company employee.

You receive no salary, remuneration or compensation.

However, you will be paid a bonus if, during the same academic year, the duration of your internship exceeds:

  • Either 2 consecutive months (equivalent to 44 days at 7 hours per day)
  • Either from 309e hour even if your internship is carried out non-continuously

Below these duration thresholds, your internship host organization is not required to pay you a bonus.

Please note

If you are a student trainee from a country of the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) You have the same obligations and the same rights as a French intern.

You are a second-degree student in agricultural education

You're not considered a company employee.

You receive no salary, remuneration or compensation.

However, you get a reward obligatory after 3 months presence in your internship host organization under the following conditions:

  • Either your internship is for more than 66 days of consecutive or non-consecutive attendance, for a 7-hour day
  • Either your internship is for more than 462 hours even non-continuously, based on a different daily duration

Below these duration thresholds, your internship host organization is not required to pay you a bonus.

Please note

If you are a pupil who is a national of a the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) You have the same obligations and the same rights as a French intern.

Warning  

this obligation concerns only student trainees as part of an introductory course, initial training or further initial vocational training. For trainees in continuing vocational training bound by an employment contract, other rules shall apply.

To calculate the amount of your reward, your internship host organization must deduct the number of hours of actual presence which you carried out during your internship.

FYI  

If you are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave during your internship, or other leave of absence, the amount of your bonus during your days of absence is not mandatory.

The amount of your bonus must be included in your internship agreement.

The hourly rate of the bonus is equal to the minimum of €4.35 per training hour, corresponding to 15% the hourly ceiling for social security (either €29 x 0.15).

Public bodies may not pay a bonus in excess of the minimum legal amount, otherwise the traineeship agreement will be reclassified as an employment contract.

In some professional branches, the amount of the bonus is fixed by branch agreement or extended professional agreement and may be greater than €4.35. The employer must verify this in the collective agreement.

A calculation simulator allows employers to calculate the minimum amount due based on the trainee's actual hours of presence:

Calculate the minimum bonus amount for a learner

Please note

the social security ceiling is amended each year on 1er January. If this change takes place during the course of the course (for example for a course scheduled between 1er december and february 15), the convention must explicitly provide for an increase in the value of the bonus in line with the change of 1er January.

The bonus is paid at the end of each month and not at the end of the internship.

It's due as early as the firster day of training.

Example :

For a full-time internship (7 hours a day) of 1er January to March 31, 2024:

  • January: 154 hours worked (22 days x 7 hours)
  • February: 147 hours worked (21 days x 7 hours)
  • March: 147 hours worked (21 days x 7 hours)

The amount of the total bonus due is 448 hours, or €1,948.80.

The bonus can be paid in 2 different ways:

  • Or based on the actual number of hours worked per month
  • Or by smoothing by month all the hours worked during the course
Tableau - Comparison of the 2 methods of payment

Period

Actual Hours

Smoothing

(=€1,948.80/3)

January

€669.90

€649.60

February

€639.45

€649.60

March

€639.45

€649.60

Total

€1,948.80

€1,948.80

Any temporary internship is subject to readjustment on the basis of the actual number of hours worked.

Any internship permanently interrupted is subject to a global regularization according to the number of hours worked.

If the hourly amount of the bonus does not exceed €4.35, you are exempt from charges (the CSG: titleContent and the CRDS: titleContent are not due).

A conventional bonus greater than €4.35 is, however, subject to social contributions.

Please note

the bonus is exempt from income tax up to the annual amount of the Smic: titleContent.

Health coverage

You remain affiliated to your social security sickness insurance scheme during the duration of the traineeship asentitled of your parents' diet.

Accident at work Contribution

In the field of occupational accidents and diseases (AT/MP), you are attached to the CPAM: titleContent of your place of residence during your internship.

The declaration and payment of the AT/MP contribution are managed by the host organization of your internship.

Excluded contributions

You're not an employee of the company. You don't pay unemployment insurance.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region