French Employer Rates and Thresholds 2026

French employer contributions are many separate rates. Some apply to all pay, some only up to the annual social security ceiling (PASS, €48,060 in 2026), and some to the band between one and eight times the PASS. The table below is for an executive (cadre) working in Paris for an employer with 50 or more employees.

Smaller employers pay less for some items (vocational training, the housing levy), the mobility levy depends on the location and only applies from 11 employees, and the workplace accident rate depends on the activity. The compulsory health plan is priced by the insurer and isn't included.

Because some rates stop at the PASS and others start above it, the effective rate changes with salary. Employer contributions for a Paris executive at 2026 rates, before the health plan:

The SMIC is €12.31 gross an hour, which is €1,867.02 a month or €22,404.20 a year for a 35-hour week. A reduced rate can apply to employees under 18 with less than six months' experience in their sector.

• The legal working week for full-time employees is 35 hours of actual work. Hours beyond it are overtime.
• Employees earn 2.5 working days (jours ouvrables, counted Monday to Saturday) of paid leave per month of actual work, up to 30 working days a year: five weeks.
• Every private employer must provide a collective, compulsory complementary health plan (mutuelle) meeting a statutory minimum level of cover, and pay at least half of its cost.

• The open-ended contract (CDI) is the normal and general form of employment. Fixed-term contracts (CDD) are allowed only in the cases set by law, may not be used to fill a permanent role and, unless an extended branch agreement says otherwise, may not exceed 18 months including renewals (9 or 24 months in specific cases).
• A CDI may include a probation period of up to 2 months for workers and employees, 3 months for supervisors and technicians, and 4 months for executives (cadres). It can be renewed once if an extended branch agreement allows it, up to a total of 4, 6 or 8 months respectively.
• Except for serious misconduct, a dismissed employee is entitled to notice of 1 month after 6 months' continuous service and 2 months after 2 years. Below 6 months, notice is set by law, the collective agreement or local custom.
• A dismissal for personal reasons must have a real and serious cause and follow a formal procedure. After 8 months' uninterrupted service, an employee on a CDI dismissed other than for serious misconduct is entitled to severance of at least 1/4 month's salary per year of service for the first 10 years and 1/3 month per year after that.
• Any for-profit operation whose sole purpose is lending staff is prohibited, except through the regulated temporary-work, time-sharing and similar regimes listed in the Labour Code. Lending is not for profit if the lender bills the user only the salary, related social charges and reimbursed expenses.