Employment Lawyers in Paris
Discover our employment law expertise
All of our firm's areas of expertise are gathered in an ergonomic grid. Select a topic to open a detailed sheet without leaving the page, then access the full page in one click.
Disciplinary Dismissal
Dismissal for Misconduct
Simple, serious, or gross misconduct: analysis of allegations, review of disciplinary procedures, and challenging wrongful dismissals before the labor court.
Economic Grounds
Economic Dismissal
Economic grounds, redeployment, order of dismissals, and redundancy plans: comprehensive support for employees and securing business decisions.
Incapacity & Redeployment
Dismissal for Incapacity
Occupational health assessment, redeployment obligation, enhanced compensation for work-related incapacity, and challenging premature dismissals.
Amicable Termination
Mutual Termination Agreement
Choosing mutual termination, compensation strategy, securing the agreement and administrative approval to avoid any subsequent challenge.
Employer's Breach
Constructive Dismissal
Serious employer breaches, strategic choice between constructive dismissal, judicial termination, or maintaining the contract, with careful risk assessment.
Settlement & Scale
Settlement & Compensation
Negotiating settlement agreements, securing mutual concessions, and optimizing the social and tax treatment of payments.
Labor Court
Employment Tribunal Litigation
From filing to judgment: procedural strategy, building the evidence file, calculating claims, and negotiating settlements when appropriate.
Workplace Bullying
Workplace Bullying
Defense of individuals accused of workplace bullying, analysis of constituent elements, and building a criminal and employment defense strategy.
Sexual Harassment
Sexual Harassment Victims
Supporting victims before labor courts and criminal courts: emergency measures, civil party claims, and full compensation for damages.
Equality & Fundamental Rights
Workplace Discrimination
Unlawful differential treatment, dismissal nullity, burden of proof adjustments, and compensation strategy for victims and accused employers alike.
Working Time
Overtime Claims
Hour tracking, shared burden of proof, back pay claims, concealed employment, and implementing compliant tracking systems for employers.
Health & Safety
Workplace Accidents
Accident recognition, challenging insurance decisions, employer's inexcusable fault, and full compensation for all damages.
Occupational Risks
Occupational Diseases
Declarations, disease tables, CRRMP proceedings, challenging coverage denials, and inexcusable fault claims.
Social Dialogue
Works Council & Elections
Setting up works councils, organizing elections, challenging ballots, and securing recurring consultations of the representative body.
Employer Advisory
Secure Dismissal for Employers
Prior audit of grounds, drafting correspondence, meeting deadlines, and anticipating tribunal risks to secure every step of the procedure.
Collective Plans
Restructuring & Redundancy Plans
Developing, negotiating, and reviewing redundancy plans for both companies and employees affected by restructuring.
Social Contributions
Social Security Audit
Assistance at every audit stage, responding to observations, challenging adjustments, and coordinating with concealed employment criminal risks.
Social Protection
Social Protection & Retirement
Verifying retirement rights, challenging pension calculations, coordinating with supplementary schemes and benefits.
Executive Contracts
Day-Rate Contracts
Contract validity, workload monitoring, contract nullity, and substantial overtime back pay claims when standards are breached.
Frequently asked questions.
Is my dismissal without real and serious cause (unfair) and what compensation can I get?
Dismissal without real and serious cause implies that the reasons stated in the letter are not proven or are not sufficiently serious. The employee can obtain damages according to the Macron scale (L.1235-3 Labor Code): minimum amount of one month’s salary, variable maximum depending on seniority (three to twenty months). The Paris Court of Appeal (February 19, 2025, No. 14/13678) and the Versailles Court of Appeal (June 29, 2023, No. 21/02388) have specified the application methods of the scale. The employee retains the statutory severance pay, notice period indemnity, and paid leave. In case of nullity (discrimination, harassment, violation of maternity protection), no scale applies: minimum indemnity of six months’ salary without a cap, reinstatement possible. Firm contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Macron Scale: how is my compensation for unfair dismissal calculated?
The Macron scale sets minimum and maximum amounts according to seniority and company workforce size. Companies with 11+ employees: minimum one month of salary, maximum from three months (less than two years seniority) to twenty months (thirty years). The Paris Court of Appeal (February 22, 2024, No. 20/02633) confirmed the scale’s compatibility with international conventions. The judge assesses within the range based on prejudice, age, and reclassification. The scale does not apply if the dismissal is null and void. Statutory severance pay, notice period, and paid leave are added but do not accumulate with the L.1235-3 indemnity for loss of employment. Statute of limitations: twelve months from dismissal notification to contest. Kohen Avocats evaluates your chances and amounts. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Verbal dismissal or late letter: is it valid and what are my remedies?
Dismissal must be notified by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt or hand-delivered. Article L.1232-6 Labor Code. A purely verbal dismissal is null and void. The Court of Cassation (June 11, 2025, No. 23-21.819) reiterated the requirement for a written statement of reasons. The letter sets the limits of the dispute: grievances not mentioned are inadmissible. Minimum delay of two working days after the preliminary interview. Absence of letter or late notification without respecting the delay: procedural irregularity opening right to maximum one month’s salary indemnity if real and serious cause is established. If no cause: dismissal without real and serious cause with Macron scale. Employee must contest before the Labor Court (Prud’hommes) within twelve months. Evidence: receipts, testimonies, exchanged letters. Kohen Avocats secures your appeal. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
How to prove moral harassment (bullying) at work and who bears the burden of proof?
Article L.1154-1 of the Labor Code adjusts the burden of proof. The employee presents factual elements suggesting harassment: emails, colleague testimonies, medical certificates, sick leave, occupational physician reports. The employer must then prove that these actions do not constitute harassment and are justified by objective elements unrelated to any harassment. The Metz Court of Appeal (March 22, 2023, No. 20/01681) and the Versailles Court of Appeal (March 15, 2023, No. 21/03257) recalled the evidentiary mechanism. Characterized harassment: repeated actions having the object or effect of degrading working conditions, infringing on rights, dignity, health, or professional future. Sanctions: nullity of dismissal, uncapped damages, possible reinstatement. Kohen Avocats builds the evidentiary file. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Is my dismissal null and void due to discrimination and what compensation can I get?
Dismissal is null and void if pronounced in violation of a fundamental freedom or for a discriminatory reason (origin, gender, disability, pregnancy, union activity, etc.). Article L.1132-1 Labor Code. The Montpellier Court of Appeal (July 4, 2025, No. 23/04997) applied Article L.1235-3-1: nullity opens the right to reinstatement or minimum indemnity of six months’ salary without applying the Macron scale. Uncapped compensation according to actual prejudice. The employee can present factual elements suggesting discrimination; the employer must prove the decision is objectively justified (L.1134-1). Statute of limitations twelve months from dismissal notification. Burden of proof for discrimination, harassment, violation of maternity protection. Possible accumulation: severance pay, damages for discrimination, moral prejudice. Kohen Avocats defends discrimination victims. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Mutual termination agreement (Rupture Conventionnelle): when can it be annulled?
A mutual termination agreement can be annulled for defect of consent (violence, deceit, duress) or procedural irregularity (lack of interview, non-respect of the fifteen-day retraction period). Articles L.1237-11 et seq. Labor Code. The employee must prove defect of consent before the Labor Court within twelve months of termination. DREETS homologation does not cover consent defects. The 2024 Court of Cassation Social Panorama recalls requirements. The Bourges Court of Appeal (May 23, 2025, No. 24/00902) assessed the gravity of defects and analysis method. Annulment produces effects of dismissal without real and serious cause: severance pay, Macron scale, unemployment benefits. Specific mutual termination indemnity minimum equals statutory dismissal indemnity. Employer reimburses sums perceived. Kohen Avocats contests vitiated mutual terminations. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Taking action before the Labor Court (Prud'hommes): timeframe and steps?
The employee has twelve months from dismissal notification to seize the Labor Court (L.1471-1 Labor Code). Petition to the competent court registry: identity details, reasons, quantified demands, documents. Conciliation and Orientation Bureau attempts conciliation, can grant provision. If failure: Judgment Bureau rules on the merits after adversarial debates. Average procedure duration: twelve to eighteen months from seizure to judgment. Appeal possible within one month of judgment notification. 2024 Court of Cassation Social Panorama details procedure and deadlines. Three-year statute of limitations for salary/overtime payment actions. Lawyer assistance recommended: file constitution, strategy, representation at hearings. Legal aid possible if resources insufficient. Kohen Avocats accompanies Prud’hommes litigation in Paris. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
How to prove and get paid for my overtime hours?
Article L.3171-4 Labor Code adjusts the burden of proof. The employee presents sufficiently precise elements: week-by-week breakdown, schedules, time-stamped emails, connection logs, access badges, colleague testimonies. The employer then provides elements justifying hours worked: working time control documents kept for five years (D.3171-16). 2024 Court of Cassation Social Panorama specifies evidentiary regime. Absence of employer documents: judge may accept employee’s breakdown. Overtime beyond thirty-five weekly hours: twenty-five percent surcharge (first eight hours) then fifty percent. Back pay for three years preceding Prud’hommes seizure. Concealed work: five years and six months’ salary indemnity. Kohen Avocats builds overtime evidentiary files. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Is my 'forfait-jours' (fixed-day arrangement) valid if my workload is not monitored?
The ‘forfait-jours’ requires effective workload monitoring, dedicated annual interview, day control document, right to disconnect. Articles L.3121-53 to L.3121-66 Labor Code. Lack of guarantees or ineffective implementation: deprivation of agreement effect, payment of overtime beyond thirty-five weekly hours. Legisocial (October 31, 2025) recalls workload management requirement according to Court of Cassation. Employer must prove respect for guarantees. Employee provides elements of ineffectiveness: absence of dedicated interviews, no control document, solicitations outside working hours, untreated overload. Three-year statute of limitations. Significant back pay amounts for executives. Nullity if absence of real autonomy: Court of Cassation (June 7, 2023, No. 22-10.196). Kohen Avocats contests invalid fixed-day arrangements. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Remote work: am I entitled to luncheon vouchers (tickets restaurant) and expense reimbursement?
Luncheon vouchers are due if provided by collective agreement, usage, or contract, regardless of work modality (on-site or remote). Legisocial (October 24, 2025) specifies remote work jurisprudence and vouchers. Employer may foresee specific remote work regime if objectively justified. Remote work professional expenses (electricity, internet, furniture): reimbursement if used for professional purposes, according to URSSAF scales or justified actual costs. Article L.1222-10 Labor Code imposes employer coverage of professional costs. Remote work agreement or charter must specify reimbursable costs nature, justification methods, amounts. Absence of expense reimbursement: Prud’hommes action for back pay over three years. Kohen Avocats defends remote workers’ rights. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Workplace accident: what are my rights and how to recognize inexcusable fault?
Workplace accident: sudden event by fact or occasion of work causing injury. Rights: full coverage of care, daily allowances sixty percent then eighty percent without waiting period, annuity if permanent incapacity ten percent or more. Dismissal protection during leave (L.1226-9 Labor Code). Employer’s inexcusable fault: awareness of danger and lack of preservation measures. Opens complementary full compensation for prejudices not covered by social security (suffering, aesthetic, amenity, loss of promotion) and annuity increase. Victim must jointly sue employer and social pole fund at judicial tribunal. 2024 Court of Cassation Social Panorama health-safety theme. Kohen Avocats accompanies inexcusable fault recognition. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Occupational disease and unfitness for work: what are the reclassification obligations?
Occupational physician declares employee unfit following occupational disease: employer obligation to search for reclassification within company or group (L.1226-10 Labor Code). Serious loyal search traced: all available positions compatible with physician recommendations even lower remuneration. Consultation with occupational physician on position compatibility, staff representatives on reclassification possibilities. Procedure one month from resumption medical exam. Failure to reclassify: dismissal without real and serious cause. If no position or employee refusal: unfitness dismissal opens special indemnity double statutory indemnity (occupational origin) plus notice period. The Nîmes Court of Appeal (October 17, 2023, No. 21/02697 and No. 21/02700) specified evidentiary burden and fact assessment. Kohen Avocats contests irregular unfitness dismissals. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Paid leave during sick leave: can I accrue rights?
Since Court of Cassation ruling (May 28, 2025, No. 25-40.006) and 2024 provisions, employees on ordinary sick leave now accrue paid leave within limits set by law. Workplace accident or occupational disease leave: full accrual maintained. Rules recently evolved following European jurisprudence and legislative reforms. 2024 Court of Cassation Social Panorama rest and leave theme. Paid leave compensatory indemnity due at contract termination even for gross misconduct. Tenth rule calculation: salary for untaken leave days plus ten percent of total reference period remuneration. Statute of limitations for leave indemnity action: three years. Employee can contest leave statement and claim payment at Labor Court. Kohen Avocats defends paid leave rights. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Constructive dismissal ('Prise d'acte') or judicial termination: which option and what effects?
Constructive dismissal (Prise d’acte): immediate termination by employee imputing serious employer breaches. Immediate effect, contract cessation without notice. If serious breaches established: effects of dismissal without real and serious cause (severance pay, Macron scale, unemployment). Otherwise: resignation, no indemnities. Judicial termination: seizing Labor Court requesting termination at employer’s wrongs. Contract continuation during instance, notice period maintained. If granted: effects of dismissal without real and serious cause. The Paris Court of Appeal (February 22, 2024, No. 20/02633) specified effective date and indemnities. Choice depends on urgency, breach gravity, wish to maintain or immediate rupture. Risks of constructive dismissal: reclassification as resignation if breaches not established. Kohen Avocats evaluates opportunity and secures remedies. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
CSP and economic redundancy: what are the employer's information obligations?
Employer must propose Professional Security Contract (CSP) during preliminary interview for economic redundancy in companies with fewer than one thousand employees or receivership/liquidation. Articles L.1233-65 et seq. Labor Code. Complete information notice mandatory: precise economic motive and employment impact. The Court of Cassation (March 26, 2025, No. 23-21.099) ruled that lack of economic motive information in CSP notice renders dismissal without real and serious cause. Employee has twenty-one days to accept or refuse CSP. Acceptance: contract rupture, reinforced Pôle Emploi support, allocation seventy-five percent salary for twelve months. Refusal: classic redundancy procedure. Default of motive information: employee contests at Prud’hommes. Kohen Avocats defends employees in economic redundancies. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Is my non-compete clause valid and can I have it annulled?
Non-compete clause valid if four cumulative conditions met: indispensable for protection of company’s legitimate interests, limited in time and space, takes into account employee’s job specifics, includes financial compensation. Absence of one condition: clause nullity. Compensation minimum ten percent of previous remuneration generally admitted by jurisprudence. Employer can waive clause after termination within reasonable delay. Waiver releases employee from obligation and suppresses compensation. Clause violation by employee: loss of compensation, damages to employer. 2024 Court of Cassation Social Panorama contract clauses theme. Contesting validity: Prud’hommes action. Three-year statute of limitations. Judge can reduce clause scope if excessive. Kohen Avocats contests abusive non-compete clauses. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Illicit evidence (logs, videos): can the employer use them against me?
Evidence must be loyal and proportionate. Article 9 Civil Procedure Code and L.1121-1 Labor Code. Employer can monitor employee activity if device declared to CNIL, prior employee information, proportionate to objective. Exploitation of logging files, computer logs, video surveillance: lawful if conditions met. Open Lefebvre Dalloz (April 9, 2025) specifies recent jurisprudence on log exploitation and illicit evidence. Evidence obtained by fraud, privacy violation, disproportion: inadmissible. GDPR imposes data processing transparency. Employee can contest admissibility of disloyal evidence at Prud’hommes. Judge assesses loyalty case by case. 2024 Social Panorama evidence and contract execution theme. Video surveillance in toilets, changing rooms: illicit. Kohen Avocats contests employer disloyal evidence. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Discrimination based on pregnancy or health status: how to act and what remedies?
Discrimination based on pregnancy or health status prohibited by Articles L.1132-1 and L.1225-1 Labor Code. Dismissal during pregnancy or ten weeks after childbirth null unless gross misconduct unrelated to pregnancy or impossibility to maintain contract for foreign reason. Nullity: possible reinstatement or minimum indemnity six months’ salary without Macron scale. Health status discrimination: employee presents factual elements suggesting it (sick leave, occupational physician opinion, treatment differences). Employer proves decision objectively justified (L.1134-1). The Montpellier Court of Appeal (July 4, 2025, No. 23/04997) applies nullity and uncapped compensation. Open Lefebvre Dalloz (April 9, 2025) recent discrimination examples. Action within twelve months of dismissal. Kohen Avocats defends pregnancy health discrimination victims. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Gross misconduct (Faute grave): when is a disciplinary dismissal disproportionate?
Gross misconduct makes keeping employee in company impossible even during notice period. Employer must prove precise verifiable facts rendering contract continuation impossible. No severance pay nor notice period. Sanction must be proportionate to fault gravity. The Riom Court of Appeal (March 21, 2023, No. 20/01621) assesses sanction proportionality. Double sanction for same facts prohibited: non bis in idem principle. The Paris Court of Appeal (February 19, 2025, No. 14/13678) sanctions double punishments. Insufficient gravity or facts not established: reclassification as dismissal without real and serious cause with Macron scale. Fault dismissal deadline: two months from knowledge of faulty facts. Action statute of limitations twelve months from notification. Labor judge controls fact reality and proportionality. Kohen Avocats contests disproportionate fault dismissals. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45
Part-time work: when can I request reclassification to full-time?
Reclassification from part-time to full-time if employee regularly works hours beyond part-time contractual duration. Articles L.3123-1 et seq. Labor Code. Employee must prove regular permanent overruns of contractual hours. Employer justifies exceptional punctual overruns. Reclassification: indemnity equal to back pay full-time minus part-time received over three-year limitation period. Complementary hours beyond contractual schedule surcharged ten percent (overrun tenth of schedule) or twenty-five percent (overrun third). 2024 Court of Cassation Social Panorama working time and reclassification theme. Statute of limitations for salary payment actions three years. Employee can request contract modification or prejudice reparation. Kohen Avocats obtains part-time reclassifications. Contact: 06 89 11 34 45