French Single Staff Register Template (Code L1221-13)
French single staff register (RUP) template, mandatory from the first employee under Labour Code Article L1221-13, covering identity, dates, roles, and contracts.
Who must keep a registre unique du personnel (RUP) in France in 2026?
Any employer with at least one employee in France must open a RUP from the very first hire (art. L. 1221-13 Code du travail). The obligation applies regardless of company size or sector: associations, liberal professions such as doctors or architects, craftsmen and retailers are all covered. There is no exemption based on legal form.
Source: Légifrance — Art. L. 1221-13 Code du travail: obligation to maintain the registre unique du personnel · updated 2026
About this form
The registre unique du personnel (RUP — the mandatory employee register) is compulsory in every French establishment from the moment the first employee is hired, under articles L. 1221-13 and D. 1221-23 of the French Labour Code (Code du travail). Seven pieces of information must be recorded for each worker in strict chronological order of hiring: full identity, nationality, date of birth, sex, job title and qualification, start and end dates, and contract type. The register must be retained for five years after each employee's departure (art. D. 1221-26) and produced immediately on request by the labour inspectorate (inspection du travail — the French equivalent of a labour authority audit team). Failing to maintain the register, or leaving mandatory fields blank, constitutes a fourth-class contravention under art. R. 1227-4 of the Labour Code: a fine of up to EUR 750 per affected employee, doubled to EUR 1,500 on a repeat offence within the year.
Worked example
A liberal medical partnership (SELARL of four nurses, comprising four open-ended CDI employees and one apprentice) keeps its RUP on a shared Excel spreadsheet with no audit trail. During a labour inspection in January 2026, the inspector identifies two anomalies: (1) the end date for a CDD employee who left in March 2025 is missing, and (2) the nationality field for a French-Algerian employee is blank. Result: two fourth-class contraventions under art. R. 1227-4 Code du travail — 2 × EUR 750 = EUR 1,500 in fines, plus a formal compliance notice requiring rectification within eight days. The practice subsequently migrates to dedicated HR software with a timestamped modification log, resolving the traceability issue ahead of any future inspection.
How to fill out the form
- Open the RUP template (paper form or a secured spreadsheet with an audit trail) and create one row per employee in strict chronological order of hiring. Do not skip rows or renumber retroactively — the unbroken chronological sequence serves as evidence during a labour inspection.
- Record the seven mandatory fields at the moment of hiring: full name, nationality, date of birth, sex, job title, qualification and contract type. For non-EU/EEA nationals, copy the type and number of the work permit (titre de travail) and note its expiry date so you can track and anticipate renewals proactively.
- Enter the leaving date on the exact day the employee departs — whether at the end of a fixed-term CDD, through a negotiated termination (rupture conventionnelle — a mutually agreed separation), resignation or dismissal. Never leave the end-date field blank for an employee who has already left: this is the most common anomaly flagged during inspections.
- Keep the register at the specific establishment it relates to, available on site with no delay. If you operate multiple locations, each establishment must maintain its own separate RUP — a centralised register held at head office does not satisfy the legal obligation for each distinct establishment.
- Archive each row for five years from the employee's departure date (art. D. 1221-26). If you migrate to a digital system, export a timestamped, electronically signed PDF of each completed section to ensure long-term data integrity for legal archiving purposes.
Good to know
- Multi-site trap: a separate RUP is required per establishment, not per company. An employer running three shops must maintain three distinct registers, each held on-site. Consolidating them at head office exposes every establishment to its own separate fourth-class contravention.
- Fine exposure: the EUR 750 fine applies per unregistered or incompletely registered employee (art. R. 1227-4). On a team of ten, maximum first-offence exposure reaches EUR 7,500, rising to EUR 15,000 on a repeat offence within the year.
- Non-EU/EEA employees: omitting work permit details (type, number, expiry) in the RUP is a distinct offence in its own right, potentially cumulative with penalties for employing a foreign national without valid authorisation. Update the register immediately at each permit renewal.
Frequently asked questions
Who must keep a registre unique du personnel (RUP) in France in 2026?
Any employer with at least one employee in France must open a RUP from the very first hire (art. L. 1221-13 Code du travail). The obligation applies regardless of company size or sector: associations, liberal professions such as doctors or architects, craftsmen and retailers are all covered. There is no exemption based on legal form.
What information is mandatory in the employee register?
For each employee, in order of hiring: full name, nationality, date of birth, sex, job title, qualification, contract type (open-ended CDI, fixed-term CDD, apprenticeship, or professionnalisation contract) and start and end dates. For non-EU/EEA nationals, the type, number and expiry date of the work permit (titre de travail — French work authorisation document) must also be recorded (art. D. 1221-23 Code du travail).
Can the register be kept in digital format?
Yes. The RUP may be maintained on paper or in a digital system. A digital register must guarantee data integrity, timestamp all entries and prevent the retroactive deletion of rows. The labour inspector (inspecteur du travail) must be able to consult it immediately on site — no delay or prior export is acceptable.
How long must the employee register be retained?
The register must be kept for five years from the departure date of each employee listed, per establishment (art. D. 1221-26 Code du travail). Because the five-year clock runs separately for each employee, the full register in practice needs to remain accessible for many decades, as long as any individual line has not yet passed the five-year threshold since that person's departure.
What are the penalties for a missing or incomplete register?
Absence of a RUP or incomplete entries constitute a fourth-class contravention under art. R. 1227-4 of the Labour Code: a fine of up to EUR 750 per affected employee. On a repeat offence within the year, the fine doubles to EUR 1,500 per employee. The labour inspectorate may issue one penalty per employee who is unregistered or incorrectly registered — on a ten-person workforce, maximum first-offence exposure is EUR 7,500.
Do interns and agency workers appear in the register?
No. Interns are recorded in a separate register for internship agreements (art. L. 1242-13 Code du travail). Agency workers (intérimaires — staff hired through a temporary-employment agency) appear in that agency's own register, not the host company's. However, employees made available through a groupement d'employeurs (employer-pooling group), apprentices and employees on a professionnalisation contract must all appear in the RUP of the host establishment.
Official sources
- Légifrance — Art. L. 1221-13 Code du travail: obligation to maintain the registre unique du personnel — 2026-06-27
- Service-public.fr — Registre unique du personnel: mandatory entries, retention period, penalties — 2026-06-27
- Légifrance — Art. D. 1221-23 to D. 1221-26 and R. 1227-4 Code du travail: content, keeping requirements and sanctions for the RUP — 2026-06-27
Updated on 2026-06-27
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