Unfair dismissal compensation: the French statutory scale

Before an employment tribunal, an employee's first question almost always concerns the amount. Since 2017, a table answers it, with a few exceptions that change everything. A lawyer values your claim in 20 minutes on Avocat20min.fr.

Unfair dismissal compensation: what the scale covers

The order of 22 September 2017 wrote this benchmark into article L.1235-3 of the Labour Code. It applies to dismissals notified since 24 September 2017 and sets a minimum and a maximum, expressed in months of gross salary.

The judge stays free within that bracket. They take account of age, family circumstances, how long the unemployment that followed lasted, and health. They can no longer exceed the ceiling, however, even facing an obviously greater loss.

Careful: this scale covers only damages for dismissal without real and serious cause. It therefore replaces neither statutory severance, nor notice pay, nor holiday pay.

The table by length of service

Unfair dismissal compensation follows the figures below in companies with at least eleven employees. Service counts in full years at the date of termination.

Length of service	Minimum	Maximum
1 year	1 month	2 months
2 years	3 months	3.5 months
5 years	3 months	6 months
10 years	3 months	10 months
15 years	3 months	13 months
20 years	3 months	15.5 months
25 years	3 months	18 months
30 years and over	3 months	20 months

Between these markers, the ceiling rises by half a month to a month for each extra year. The floor, in contrast, stays fixed at three months from two years of service.

The scale has never been revalued since 2018. Talking about the 2026 version therefore means the same grid as at the start; only the reference salary has moved.

Companies with fewer than 11 employees

A separate grid lowers the unfair dismissal compensation floors in small structures, for the first eleven years of service. The ceilings stay identical.

Length of service	Minimum in a small company
1 year	0.5 month
3 years	1 month
5 years	1.5 months
7 years	2 months
10 years	2.5 months

From eleven years of service, the common floor of three months applies again. Headcount, meanwhile, is assessed at the date of dismissal.

Dismissals that escape the scale

Some nullities push unfair dismissal compensation outside the grid entirely. The judge then awards at least six months of salary, with no ceiling. This covers in particular:

• Discrimination, whether based on origin, sex, age, health or beliefs.
• Psychological or sexual harassment, and the dismissal of an employee who reported it.
• Maternity, paternity and protected family leave.
• Whistleblowers and employees who took the employer to court.
• Breach of a fundamental freedom, such as the right to strike or freedom of expression.

Reinstatement also becomes possible in these cases. An employee who asks for it then recovers the salary lost since the termination.

What the scale does not cover

Several amounts add up to the unfair dismissal compensation, and judges award them separately:

• Statutory severance pay, owed from eight months of service, except where serious misconduct is upheld.
• Pay in lieu of notice and accrued holiday pay.
• Compensation for an irregular procedure, up to one month's salary.
• The fixed award for concealed work, equal to six months' salary.
• Unpaid overtime over the last three years.

A well-built claim therefore adds several heads of loss. That is often where two otherwise similar cases part ways.

The criticism and where the judges stand

The Cour de cassation upheld the capping of unfair dismissal compensation in plenary session on 11 May 2022. In its view, the scale complies with article 10 of Convention 158 of the International Labour Organization, and the European Social Charter has no direct effect between private parties.

Several employment tribunals nonetheless keep setting the grid aside, in the name of case-by-case assessment. Courts of appeal generally overturn them. The European Committee of Social Rights did hold in 2022 that the French cap breached the Charter, without that decision binding the courts.

Tax treatment of tribunal awards

Damages for dismissal without real and serious cause escape income tax, under article 80 duodecies of the General Tax Code. They do bear the CSG and CRDS social levies.

Social security contributions apply only to the part above twice the annual social security ceiling, that is €96,120 in 2026. A settlement signed afterwards follows a similar regime, provided each amount is precisely labelled.

When to consult a lawyer

A lawyer checks the service recorded, the reference salary and above all the possible nullity, the only route out of the scale. They also weigh a settlement against a hearing. An employment lawyer answers within 20 minutes. A cancelled rupture conventionnelle follows the same calculation. The text sits on Légifrance.