Code du Travail (Labor Code)

Introduction

The Code du Travail is the comprehensive French labor code that governs individual employment relationships, collective bargaining, and workplace health and safety. The Code reflects France’s strong tradition of worker protection.

Structure

The Code du Travail is organized into eight parts covering: preliminary provisions, individual employment relations (contracts, wages, working time), collective labor relations (unions, works councils, collective bargaining), health and safety, employment and vocational training, and control and penalties.

Key Protections

The Code provides extensive protections including the 35-hour work week, paid vacation, minimum wage (SMIC), protection against unfair dismissal, and the right to collective bargaining. The contrat à durée indéterminée (CDI) is the standard permanent employment contract.

Recent Reforms

The Macron reforms (Ordonnances Travail of 2017) modified the Code to provide greater flexibility, including caps on wrongful dismissal damages and expanded scope for company-level bargaining to override industry-wide agreements.