Temporary employment contract (temporary)
Verified 16 August 2021 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The temporary assignment shall be for a period specified in the contract of employment, but may not exceed the maximum legal duration, which may vary according to the nature of the assignment. During the assignment, the temporary employee shall enjoy the same rights as other employees. A temporary employee shall receive a precarious allowance and a paid leave allowance at the end of the assignment. The contract of assignment may be terminated, subject to conditions.
Content
The temporary employee signs a contract of assignment with the temporary company of work.
A supply contract shall be concluded between the temporary company of work and the company where the temporary agency worker carries out his assignment.
The contract of assignment must be written and signed by the employee.
The contract is transmitted to the employee at the latest within 2 working days according to its availability.
It shall contain the following information:
- Reference to the contract of supply (concluded between the temporary company of work and the company where the temporary agency works) is repeated
- Professional qualification of the employee
- Pay Terms (Periodicity of Payment)
- Duration of the trial period
- Name and address of the supplementary pension fund and the provident society responsible for the temporary company of work
- Clause stating that at the end of the assignment, hiring by the user company is not prohibited
- Clause mentioning that repatriation is the responsibility of the temporary company of work (if the mission is outside the metropolitan area)
FYI
if not drawn up in writing and signed, the contract may be requalified on a DTA.
Contract with specific term
A temporary assignment shall have a specific term when the contract provides for a firm expiry date.
A specific term is mandatory in the following 2 situations:
- The purpose of the contract is to provide for the replacement of an employee temporarily employed on a part-time basis
- The contract is intended to provide for the replacement of an employee who has left definitively before the abolition of his post
- The contract is intended to ensure a temporary increase in the company's activity
Please note
no minimum contract duration is to be expected, except in the case of exceptional export orders (the initial contract duration may not be less than 6 months).
Contract without a specific term
The contract is not necessarily subject to a specific term when the temporary worker is acting in the following cases:
- Replacement of absent employee
- Replacement of an employee whose employment contract is suspended
- Waiting for the arrival of an employee hired on a permanent contract
- Seasonal employment (e.g. harvests)
- Employment the use of which excludes the use of a CDI (e.g. moving or hotel sectors)
- Replacement of a head of company, a head of agricultural holding or a person engaged in a liberal activity (or the absent spouse when he or she actively participates in the activity of the company or holding)
In one of these cases, the termination of the contract of assignment is foreseen at the end of the absence of the replaced person or at the achievement of the object for which the contract was concluded.
FYI
the contract without a precise term shall be concluded for a minimum period to be determined freely.
The maximum duration of the acting contract varies according to the nature of the assignment, including renewal.
Nature of the contract of assignment | Maximum duration (including renewal) |
|---|---|
Replacement of absent employee | 18 months |
Replacement of an employee whose employment contract is suspended | 18 months |
Replacement of a temporary part-time employee | 18 months |
Seasonal employment | 18 months |
Employment excluding the use of a CDI | 18 months |
Replacement of a self-employed person (head of company, head of agricultural holding, liberal profession) | 18 months |
Temporary increase in activity | 18 months |
Exceptional export order | 24 months |
Mission carried out abroad | 24 months |
Replacement of a departed employee before the permanent abolition of his post | 24 months |
Carrying out urgent work for safety measures | 9 months |
Temporary employee awaiting the arrival of an employee on a permanent contract | 9 months |
Training course completed in apprenticeship | 36 months |
The contract of assignment may include a trial period.
The length of the trial period is fixed by collective agreement or collective agreement.
In the absence of an agreement, the maximum duration of the trial period depends on the duration of the contract.
Contract of less than 1 month
The trial period is 2 days maximum.
1-2 month contract
The trial period is 3 days maximum.
Contract longer than 2 months
The trial period is a maximum of 5 days.
Regardless of its term (precise or not), the assignment contract may be renewed twice if the total duration of the contract, taking into account the renewal, does not exceed the maximum authorized duration.
The conditions for such renewal must be laid down in a clause inserted in the contract of employment or in a agreeable offered to the employee before the original scheduled term.
The temporary employee enjoys the same rights as other employees of the company throughout the period of his assignment (catering, transport, etc.).
A temporary worker shall be entitled to a salary on the same terms as other employees in the company in which he is employed.
The temporary agency shall receive at least:
- the salary which may be received by another employee of the company, with equivalent qualifications and work position (after a trial period),
- any bonuses and salary accessories provided for in equivalent qualifications and positions.
Public holidays must be paid to the temporary employee, without seniority condition, if the other employees of the company benefit from this payment.
FYI
in the construction or public works sector, temporary workers must be paid the same amount as other employees and without any seniority condition.
Conditions
At the end of each assignment, the employee must receive, in addition to his salary, an end-of-assignment allowance, more often called precarious premium.
However, payment of this premium shall not be due in the case of:
- Conclusion of a DTA with the user company immediately after the end of the mission
- Additional vocational training provided to the employee by the user company at the end of the mission
- Early termination of the contract at the employee's initiative
- Early termination of contract for gross negligence or for force majeure
- Seasonal contract (if the agreement or agreement applicable in the company does not provide for termination indemnity)
Amount
The amount of the allowance shall not be less than 10% the gross total remuneration, including renewal of the contract.
A computation simulator is available:
Payment
The precarious allowance shall be paid at the end of each mission and at the same time as the last salary due.
Please note
the amount of this bonus is shown on the last salary slip.
A temporary employee shall be entitled to a compensatory allowance for paid leave for each assignment he carries out, irrespective of the duration of the assignment.
Amount
The amount of the PTO is calculated as:
- depending on the duration of the mission,
- not be less than 10%the total gross remuneration of the temporary employee (including the end-of-service allowance).
Some absences are taken into account during the mission:
- Maternity and adoption leave
- Accident at work Stoppages due to occupational illness or illness, up to a continuous period of one year
- Recall periods in the armed forces if the point of departure of those periods occurs during a mission
Payment
The allowance is paid at the end of the mission.
End of Mission
General case
In the absence of recruitment at the end of the mission, the employee is entitled to payment of an end-of-mission allowance to compensate for the precariousness of his situation.
The employer must provide you with all of the following:
- Work Certificate
- Pôle emploi Attestation
- Balance of all accounts
- Participation schemes, profit-sharing schemes, wage savings plans within the company, summary statement of all sums and securities saved
Employee Hiring
At the end of his assignment, the employee made available may be hired by the user company.
In this case, the length of the assignments carried out within that company during the 3 months preceding recruitment shall be:
- taking into account for calculating the length of service of the employee
- and deducted from the trial period, if the new contract provides for one.
FYI
if the user company employs a temporary employee after the end of his assignment without a contract, the judge may reclassify the assignment contract as a contract of indefinite duration (CDI).
Waiting period
In the absence of any provision to the contrary provided for in the collective agreement or a branch agreement, where the contract of assignment ends, a waiting period applies. A deadline must be met before using a new assignment contract or a CDD on the same workstation.
The method of calculation varies according to the duration of the contract, under the following conditions:
- For contracts of at least 14 days, the time limit shall be one third of the duration of the previous contract (including renewal).
- For contracts of less than 14 days, it is fixed at half the duration of the previous contract (including renewal).
The duration of the contract shall be assessed in calendar days, but the waiting period shall be counted in the opening days of the establishment concerned.
In the absence of provisions to the contrary provided for in the collective agreement or a branch agreement, the waiting period shall not apply in the following cases:
- New absence of the replaced employee, if the assignment contract is concluded to replace an employee temporarily absent or whose employment contract is suspended
- Employment of a seasonal nature or for which it is customary not to have recourse to a CDI
- Urgent work required for safety measures
- Early termination of the contract at the employee's initiative
- Refusal by the employee to renew his contract (period not taken into account for the duration of the non-renewed contract)
- Contract concluded for the replacement of a farm manager, a caregiver, a farm partner or their spouse
- Contract concluded with a view to replacing a head of a craft, industrial or commercial company, a person exercising a liberal profession, his or her spouse or a self-employed member of a professional civil business, a civil business of means or a business of liberal practice
Disruption at the initiative of the employer
The employer who breaks the contract of employment must propose to the employee a new contract of employment with effect within a maximum of 3 days once the termination is made.
The new contract of assignment may not involve changes to an essential element in respect of professional qualifications, remuneration, working hours and transport time.
If the new contract is of a shorter duration than the previous contract, the employer must pay the employee compensation. This allowance shall be equal to the remuneration he would have received up to the end of the contract, including the end-of-mission allowance.
Please note
the employer may terminate the contract of employment without any special obligations vis-à-vis the temporary worker during the trial period, in the case of gross negligence of the employee or in the case of force majeure. In such cases, the employer is not obliged to propose a new employment contract to the employee.
Disruption at the initiative of the employee
You can terminate your acting assignment early in the following cases:
- Either during the trial period without any particular reason
- In the case of hiring on a permanent contract
- Or in the case of force majeure
Please note
if you terminate your acting assignment after the probationary period and outside of authorized cases, you may be ordered by the judge to pay your employer damages.
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Supply Agreement
Contract of assignment
Use of the contract of assignment (Article L1251-6)
Term and duration of the contract of assignment
Renewal of the mission contract
Period of use (sectors of activity)
Hiring at the end of the mission
Requalification as a CDI
Waiting period
Remuneration (Article L1251-18), holiday pay (Article L1251-19), weather pay (L1251-20)
Precarious allowance (Article L1251-32)
Early termination of the contract of assignment
Information on vacancies
Trial period