French Employee Resignation Letter Template

Any employee on an open-ended contract (CDI) may resign at any time without giving reasons or seeking the employer's agreement. The only obligations are to express a clear and unambiguous intent and to serve the notice period set by the applicable convention collective. Employees on a fixed-term contract (CDD — contrat à durée déterminée) can only exit early if they have a written CDI job offer, or if the employer expressly agrees to an early termination.

The French Labour Code sets no statutory minimum notice for resigning non-managerial employees: the duration is determined exclusively by your convention collective (or your contract if it is more favourable). Common practice under most agreements is one month for employees with under two years' service, two months beyond that, and three months for managerial staff (cadres). Always check your agreement on legifrance.gouv.fr or your payslip — which shows the IDCC sector identifier — before dating your letter.

The notice period begins on the date the LRAR is presented to the employer — the date shown on the signed acknowledgement of receipt (avis de réception). If you hand-deliver the letter against a dated and countersigned receipt, the notice period starts on that delivery date. The letter must state the precise end date of the notice period and therefore your last working day, calculated from that start point.

No. An ordinary resignation entirely excludes you from the ARE, with no waiting period or deferred access. Two exceptions exist in 2026: (1) démission légitime (legitimate resignation), covering situations such as following a spouse relocated more than 50 km away or where the relocation requires a change of residence, marriage or PACS provided the resignation is notified within two months after the ceremony, or starting or acquiring a business; and (2) a professional retraining project validated before the resignation by a regional joint commission (CPIR — commission paritaire interprofessionnelle régionale), accessible once every five years to employees with at least five consecutive years of salaried employment, whether accumulated with one employer or across several.

If you quit before the end of your notice period without the employer's agreement, you must pay an indemnité compensatrice de préavis (compensatory notice indemnity) equal to the gross wages you would have earned through the end of the notice period. The employer may pursue this before the prud'hommes (employment tribunal). Conversely, if the employer waives the notice period, they must pay you all salary and benefits due through the original end date, even though you do not work during that time.

No, the law does not require LRAR for a resignation. However, it is strongly recommended: the signed acknowledgement of receipt is the only legally uncontestable proof of the date the employer was notified — the notice-period start date. Hand-delivery against a dated, countersigned receipt provides equivalent protection. Sending by ordinary post or email without proof of receipt exposes you to disputes about when the notice period began and, consequently, your last working day.