Temporary employment contract (or so-called temporary employment contract)
Verified 01 February 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
What is a temporary employment contract or interim mission ? How long can it last? What are the rights of the temporary worker? We're giving you the regulations to know.
Content of the contract
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.
The contract shall be forwarded 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 obligatory in any of the following 3 situations:
- Either the contract is intended to provide for the replacement of an employee temporarily employed on a part-time basis
- Either the contract is intended to replace an employee who has left permanently before the abolition of his post
- Either the contract is intended to ensure a temporary increase in the company's activity
Please note
The contract with a specific term does not include no minimum duration. However, if the company is faced with an exceptional export order, the initial term of the contract 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 one of 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 duration of the trial period shall be fixed by collective agreement or collective company agreement.
In the absence of an agreement, the maximum duration of the trial period depends on the duration of the contract.
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Contract of less than 1 month
The trial period is Maximum 2 days.
1-2 month contract
The trial period is Maximum 3 days.
Contract longer than 2 months
The trial period is Maximum 5 days.
Regardless of its term (precise or not), the mission contract may be renewed 2 times if the total duration of the contract (including renewal) does not exceed the maximum duration allowed.
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 shall enjoy the same rights as other employees of the company throughout the period of his assignment (reimbursement of transport costs, restaurant titles, for example).
A temporary employee shall be paid a salary on the same terms as other employees in the company in which he is employed.
The temporary employee shall receive at least:
- a salary equivalent to the salary 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, unconditional seniority, if the other employees of the company are entitled to such 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.
Payment of compensation
At the end of each assignment, the temporary employee receives, in addition to his last salary, an end-of-assignment allowance, more often referred to as 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 of compensation
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:
When is the end of mission allowance paid?
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 an allowance in lieu of paid leave for each assignment carried out, irrespective of the duration of the assignment.
PTO Amount
The amount of the PTO is based on the duration of the mission. But it cannot 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
When is the paid leave allowance paid?
The allowance is paid at the end of the mission.
End of Mission
General case
The employer shall provide the employee with the following documents:
- Work Certificate
- Attestation France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi)
- Receipt for balance of any account.
Please note
When anwage savings is set up in the company, the employer provides the employee, at the end of the employment contract, with a summary statement of the sums saved.
Employee Hiring
At the end of the assignment, a temporary employee may be hired by the user company.
In that case, the length of the assignments carried out within that company during the 3 months prior to recruitment is:
- 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 provisions to the contrary provided for in collective agreement or a branch agreement, when 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 employmentat least 14 days, the time limit shall be third party the duration of the previous contract (including renewal).
- For contracts of less than 14 days, it shall be 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
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Disruption at the initiative of the employer
The employer shall provide the employee with the following documents:
- Work Certificate
- Attestation France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi)
- Receipt for balance of any account.
Please note
When anwage savings is set up in the company, the employer provides the employee, at the end of the employment contract, with a summary statement of the sums saved.
An employer who breaks a contract of employment must propose to the employee a new contract of employment with effect from 3 days as soon as the break 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
A temporary employee may terminate his or her temporary 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 the temporary employee terminates his temporary assignment after the probationary period and outside the authorized cases, he may be ordered by the judge to pay his employer damages.
The employer may propose to the temporary employee to sign a DTA: titleContent at the end of his mission.
The proposal has to be made in writing by letter with RAR: titleContent, by letter delivered by hand against discharge, or by any other means giving a definite date of receipt, before the end of the temporary employee's assignment.
The employer must specify to the temporary worker the period of reflection available to him to reply.
The temporary employee is entitled to refuse this offer, but the employer must then inform France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) if the proposed DTA includes all the following:
- The proposed position is the same or similar to the one you held during your assignment
- The workplace remains the same
Please note
Failure to reply by the temporary employee constitutes refusal of the CDI's proposal.
The employer shall have a period ofone month to inform France Travail of the temporary worker's refusal from the date of the refusal.
The employer must inform France Travail by paperless means on the platform provided for this purpose:
This obligation shall apply from 1er january 2024.
France Travail informs the temporary worker subsequently of the consequences of the refusal of CDI on the opening of his rights to Return to Employment Assistance (RWA).
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
Telephone administrative information - Allo Public Service
For more information on this topic, you can contact Allô Service Public.
Attention: the service does not have access to users' personal files and cannot therefore provide information on their status.
He does not respond questions relating to unemployment compensation and representations to France Labor (formerly Pôle emploi), the officials or contractual of the fpublic service, the amount or payment of contributions social, wage or management.
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The informants who answer you belong to the ministry responsible for labor.
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
Proposal for a DTA