Rupture Conventionnelle Indemnity: Minimum Payment Rules in France

A rupture conventionnelle in France comes with a guaranteed minimum payment, the indemnite de rupture conventionnelle. Unlike an ordinary dismissal, this floor applies from the first day of employment, with no minimum length of service required. This guide explains how that floor is set, how it is taxed, and how it relates to the standard severance formula.

Information last verified on 19 July 2026. This article presents general legal information, not legal advice.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers French national employment law (the Code du travail) as it applies in mainland France. It does not address the adapted labor codes used in some French overseas collectivities or the law of any other country.

What Is the Indemnite de Rupture Conventionnelle

A rupture conventionnelle is a mutually agreed termination of an open ended employment contract (CDI). It is legally distinct from, and cannot be combined with, either a dismissal or a resignation. Neither the employer nor the employee can be forced into one, and the arrangement only becomes effective once both parties sign a written convention setting out its terms, including the amount to be paid to the employee. The procedure itself, including the interview requirements, the withdrawal period, and the DREETS approval step, is covered separately in the guide to mutual agreement termination in France.

This article focuses only on the financial side of that agreement: the indemnite de rupture conventionnelle, the payment the employee is entitled to receive.

No Minimum Seniority Requirement

An ordinary dismissal indemnity only becomes payable once the employee has 8 months of continuous, uninterrupted seniority with the same employer. Many people assume the rupture conventionnelle indemnity follows the same rule. It does not. The law entitles an employee to the rupture conventionnelle indemnity regardless of how long they have worked for the employer, whether that is eight years or eight weeks.

This distinction matters in practice. An employee still within their first months of employment who agrees to a rupture conventionnelle is nonetheless owed the statutory floor described below, calculated on whatever short period of seniority they have actually completed, prorated by the month.

How the Legal Floor Is Calculated

The law sets the rupture conventionnelle indemnity at no less than the indemnite legale de licenciement, the statutory dismissal indemnity, calculated for the same employee as if they were being dismissed. That statutory formula applies one quarter month of reference salary per year of seniority for years up to 10, then one third month of reference salary for each year beyond 10, with any partial final year counted month by month rather than rounded.

The reference salary itself is not simply the employee's most recent payslip. It is set at whichever is more favorable to the employee: the average monthly gross pay over the last 12 months before the rupture, or one third of the gross pay for the last 3 months, with any annual or exceptional bonus included only on a prorated basis.

Because this is the same formula used for standard severance pay, a full worked example, including how the two reference salary methods are compared and how a seniority period crossing the 10 year mark is split between the two rates, is set out step by step in the companion guide to severance pay in France. That article also shows how partial years are prorated by the month, a detail that is easy to get wrong.

Negotiating an Amount Above the Floor

The statutory formula is a floor, not a ceiling. In practice, many rupture conventionnelle agreements set an indemnity above the legal minimum, since the amount is itself a point of negotiation between employer and employee before the convention is signed.

A collective bargaining agreement, the employment contract itself, or an established workplace custom can also set a calculation formula more favorable to the employee than the statutory minimum. When that happens, the employee is entitled to whichever of the two amounts, legal or conventional, is higher. The two do not add together.

Income Tax Treatment and the 6 Times PASS Cap

The rupture conventionnelle indemnity is exempt from income tax up to the greatest of several thresholds: the legal or conventional indemnity amount, 50 percent of the total indemnity actually paid, or twice the employee's gross annual pay for the calendar year before the termination. Whichever of those figures applies, the exemption is capped at 6 times the annual social security ceiling, known as the PASS, which is 288,360 EUR for 2026.

This 6 times PASS cap is the same ceiling that applies to the ordinary indemnite de licenciement. It is not the same as the lower 5 times PASS cap, which applies only to a different payment, the indemnite de mise a la retraite paid when an employer places an employee into retirement. Confusing the two caps is a common error worth avoiding when estimating a rupture conventionnelle payout.

The Retirement Pension Exception

The income tax exemption described above does not apply if, on the date the employment contract actually ends, the employee is already entitled to claim a pension from a mandatory retirement scheme. In that situation, the entire rupture conventionnelle indemnity becomes taxable from the first euro, with none of the exemption thresholds available.

This rule turns on eligibility, not on whether the employee has actually started drawing the pension. An employee who has reached the age and contribution record needed to claim a mandatory pension, but who has not yet requested it, is still treated as pension eligible for this purpose. The relevant date is the date the contract ends, not the date the convention is signed or the date the indemnity is paid.

Social Contributions and the 2026 Employer Contribution Increase

Separately from income tax, the rupture conventionnelle indemnity also benefits from an exemption from employee social contributions and CSG and CRDS charges, up to a ceiling and provided the amount does not exceed the legal or conventional indemnity. Any portion of the indemnity above that exempt threshold can become subject to additional social charges, so an amount negotiated well above the statutory floor should be checked against current guidance rather than assumed to be entirely exempt.

On the employer side, a confirmed change took effect for 2026: the unique employer contribution charged on the socially exempt portion of the indemnity rose from 30 percent to 40 percent, under article 15 of the 2026 Social Security Financing Law, which amended the Code de la securite sociale. This is an employer side cost. It does not reduce the amount the employee actually receives. Reporting on exactly which date triggers the new 40 percent rate, meaning whether it is the date the contract ends or the date the convention was signed, has not been independently confirmed against a primary government source at the time this article was last verified, so that specific mechanic should be treated as current practice rather than a quoted statutory rule, and confirmed directly with URSSAF or a payroll specialist for any agreement spanning the turn of the year.

How This Compares to Standard Severance Pay

The rupture conventionnelle indemnity and the standard indemnite de licenciement share the same calculation formula, the same reference salary rules, and the same income tax cap. The two payments differ in when each becomes available. The dismissal indemnity requires 8 months of seniority and only follows an actual dismissal; the rupture conventionnelle indemnity has no seniority requirement at all and only arises from a mutually signed agreement. For the full formula walk through, worked numeric examples, and the reference salary comparison, see the companion guide to severance pay. Once a termination is agreed or decided, the employee's remaining pay, including unused leave, is settled through a final pay settlement. For the full set of France employment law topics, see the France hub.

Disclaimer

This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. French employment law changes over time, and how these rules apply can depend on an individual employee's contract, applicable collective bargaining agreement, and specific circumstances. Anyone negotiating or reviewing a rupture conventionnelle should consult a qualified French employment lawyer or the relevant French labor authorities before relying on the figures described here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a minimum length of employment required to receive the rupture conventionnelle indemnity?

No. Unlike the indemnity for an ordinary dismissal, which requires 8 months of continuous seniority, the rupture conventionnelle indemnity is due regardless of how long the employee has worked for the employer.

What is the legal minimum amount of the rupture conventionnelle indemnity?

The indemnity can never be lower than the indemnite legale de licenciement that would apply to the same employee for a standard dismissal, calculated from seniority and reference salary using the statutory formula.

Can the employer and employee agree to a rupture conventionnelle indemnity above the legal minimum?

Yes. The legal formula is a floor, not a ceiling. Negotiating an amount above the minimum is legal and common, and a collective bargaining agreement, employment contract, or workplace custom may also set a higher formula that then applies instead of the statutory minimum.

Is the rupture conventionnelle indemnity taxed?

It is exempt from income tax up to the greatest of several thresholds, capped at 6 times the annual social security ceiling, 288,360 EUR for 2026, unless the employee is already eligible for a mandatory retirement pension on the date the contract ends, in which case the entire amount becomes taxable.

Does being eligible for retirement change the tax treatment?

Yes. If, on the date the contract actually ends, the employee is already entitled to claim a pension from a mandatory retirement scheme, the rupture conventionnelle indemnity loses its income tax exemption entirely, even if the employee has not yet started drawing the pension.

Did the employer cost of a rupture conventionnelle change in 2026?

Yes. The unique employer contribution charged on the socially exempt portion of the indemnity rose from 30 percent to 40 percent under the 2026 Social Security Financing Law. This is a cost borne by the employer and does not reduce the amount paid to the employee.

How is the rupture conventionnelle indemnity calculated in practice?

The calculation uses the same formula as ordinary severance pay: one quarter month of reference salary per year of seniority for the first 10 years, then one third month per year beyond 10 years, with partial years counted month by month. A full worked example is available in the companion guide to severance pay.

Is the 5 times PASS tax cap relevant to a rupture conventionnelle?

No. The 5 times PASS cap applies only to indemnites de mise a la retraite, a different type of termination payment. The rupture conventionnelle indemnity, like ordinary severance pay, is capped at 6 times PASS.