2–4 months
Maximum initial trial period for a permanent contract, by employee category: two months for workers and employees, three for supervisors and technicians, four for cadres (Art. L 1221-19)
8 months
The absolute ceiling for a cadre's trial period, renewal included — and renewal is possible only once, and only if an extended branch agreement allows it (Art. L 1221-21)
24h–1 month
The employer's notice (délai de prévenance) to end a trial, scaling with the employee's length of presence. Skipping it costs an indemnity in lieu (Art. L 1221-25)

The Trial Period Exists Only If the Contract Says So

Employers arriving from common-law jurisdictions tend to assume that a new hire is “on probation” by default. French law takes the opposite position. Article L 1221-23 of the Labour Code states that the trial period, and any possibility of renewing it, do not exist unless they are expressly stipulated in the offer letter or the employment contract. A contract that is silent on the point produces a definitively hired employee from the first hour of the first day — which means any separation, however early, must follow the full dismissal regime: a real and serious cause, the pre-dismissal procedure, and the exposure that comes with getting either wrong.

The purpose of the clause is set out in Article L 1221-20: the trial allows the employer to assess the employee’s skills in the job, and the employee to assess whether the role suits them. Because it strips away, for its duration, the ordinary protection against dismissal, courts construe it strictly. It must start on the first day of work — it cannot be deferred to a later date — and it runs in calendar days, weeks or months, counted continuously.

The practical consequence for international groups is blunt: a “90-day probationary period” clause lifted from a US or UK template does not transplant. The clause must be drafted against the French statutory caps, and against the applicable collective bargaining agreement (convention collective), which may set different figures.

Maximum Initial Durations: Three Categories, Three Ceilings

Article L 1221-19 fixes the maximum initial trial period for a permanent contract (CDI) by professional category. Article L 1221-22 makes these ceilings mandatory, with narrow exceptions: longer periods survive only where they were fixed by a branch agreement concluded before 26 June 2008; shorter periods can always be agreed, whether by a post-2008 collective agreement or in the individual contract itself. Before drafting, check the branch agreement — it decides both the ceiling that actually applies and whether renewal is available at all.

Category 1 — Art. L 1221-19
Workers and Employees (ouvriers, employés)
Maximum initial trial of two months. With a valid renewal, the total cannot exceed four months. This is the default category for operational and administrative staff without supervisory duties.
Category 2 — Art. L 1221-19
Supervisors and Technicians (agents de maîtrise, techniciens)
Maximum initial trial of three months; six months with renewal. Classification follows the applicable branch agreement’s grid, not the job title the parties choose.
Category 3 — Art. L 1221-19
Executives (cadres)
Maximum initial trial of four months; eight months with renewal — the longest lawful probation in the French system. Most disputes about renewal formalities involve this category.
The renewal that never was

A renewal is valid only if three conditions are met cumulatively: an extended branch agreement must provide for the possibility of renewal; the contract or offer letter must expressly reserve it; and the employee must give clear and unequivocal consent during the initial period — in practice, a signed writing. An employee who simply keeps working after the initial period expires has not consented to anything: they are definitively hired, and a “termination of trial” notified during the purported renewal is analysed as a dismissal without cause.

Renewing the Trial: Once, and Only by the Book

Article L 1221-21 permits a single renewal, and only where an extended branch-level agreement (accord de branche étendu) says the trial may be renewed. With renewal, the total duration cannot exceed four months for workers and employees, six for supervisors and technicians, and eight for cadres. A company-level agreement cannot create the right where the branch is silent, and the parties cannot create it by contract alone.

Timing and form are where renewals fail. The employee’s agreement must be obtained before the initial period expires, and it must be express: courts have refused to infer consent from silence, from continued attendance, or from a signature given on the first day of the contract covering a renewal months away. The safe instrument is a short amendment, signed and dated during the initial period, stating the new end date. An employer who cannot produce that document should treat the employee as confirmed in post.

Events That Stretch or Shrink the Clock

The trial measures actual performance, so absences suspend it: sickness, paid leave or any other suspension of the contract extends the trial by the duration of the absence. The clock also shrinks in defined cases. Under Article L 1221-24, where a student is hired within three months of completing a curriculum internship, the internship counts against the trial — up to half of it, or in full where the job matches the duties performed as an intern. And under Article L 1243-11, where a fixed-term contract rolls into a permanent one with the same company, the CDD’s duration is deducted from any new trial period; the same logic applies to temporary-agency assignments taken on by the user company. Foreign employers who “test” a hire on a CDD and then impose a full four-month trial on the subsequent CDI are, in that measure, imposing a trial the law has already consumed.

Ending the Trial: Free-Form, but Not Free of Rules

During a valid trial, either party may end the contract without stating a reason, without the dismissal procedure and without severance. That freedom is real, but it is bounded in four ways that regularly catch employers out.

The employer’s notice ladder

The employer must give a délai de prévenance that scales with the employee’s presence: 24 hours below eight days; 48 hours between eight days and one month; two weeks after one month; one month after three months. The notice cannot push the relationship past the trial’s end date — if it no longer fits, the employer terminates within the trial and pays an indemnity in lieu for the shortfall, save in cases of grave fault.

C. trav. Art. L 1221-25
The employee’s notice

An employee who walks away during the trial owes 48 hours’ notice, reduced to 24 hours if they have been present for less than eight days. The asymmetry is deliberate: the regime protects the party the trial exposes.

C. trav. Art. L 1221-26
Reasons that poison a free-form exit

“No reason required” does not mean “any reason permitted.” A termination motivated by discrimination, pregnancy, or anything unrelated to the assessment of the employee’s professional abilities — a restructuring, a budget cut, the disappearance of the role — is abusive and gives rise to damages. And if the true reason is misconduct, the employer must run the disciplinary procedure even during the trial. The absence of a stated motive in the letter is precisely why the surrounding facts get examined.

C. trav. Art. L 1221-20
Letting the deadline slip

The trial ends on its stated date, automatically. A termination notified even one day after expiry — or during a renewal that was never validly agreed — is not the end of a trial but a dismissal, judged with no cause on file and no procedure followed. Diarise the end date at signature, and place the decision meeting well before it.

C. trav. Art. L 1221-23

Permanent vs Fixed-Term: Two Different Trial Regimes

The caps above belong to the permanent contract. The fixed-term contract (CDD) carries its own, far shorter regime under Article L 1242-10, and importing CDI durations into a CDD is one of the most common drafting errors in French subsidiaries.

Feature Permanent contract (CDI) Fixed-term contract (CDD)
Legal basis Arts. L 1221-19 to L 1221-26 Art. L 1242-10
Maximum duration 2, 3 or 4 months by category One day per week of contract: capped at 2 weeks (CDD of 6 months or less) or 1 month (longer CDD)
Renewal Once, if an extended branch agreement provides for it and the employee expressly agrees None
Must be written into the contract Yes (Art. L 1221-23) Yes
Notice to terminate the trial 24 hours to 1 month by presence (employer); 24–48 hours (employee) Same ladder, within the limits of the contract’s term
Carry-over to a following CDI — CDD duration is deducted from the trial of the subsequent CDI (Art. L 1243-11)
What to Verify Before You Hire — and Before You Terminate a Trial
  • Write the clause or lose it (Art. L 1221-23): the trial and the possibility of renewal exist only if expressly stipulated in the offer letter or contract. A silent contract means a definitively hired employee from day one.
  • Check the branch agreement before fixing the duration (Arts. L 1221-19, L 1221-22): the statutory caps of 2, 3 and 4 months are mandatory, but the applicable convention collective may shorten them — and it alone decides whether renewal is possible.
  • Paper the renewal during the initial period (Art. L 1221-21): a signed, dated amendment with the employee’s express consent, obtained before the initial trial expires. Continued attendance is not consent.
  • Deduct what the law has already counted (Arts. L 1221-24, L 1243-11): curriculum internships and prior fixed-term contracts with the same company reduce or eliminate the trial available on the subsequent hire.
  • Respect the notice ladder and the end date (Arts. L 1221-25, L 1221-26): give the délai de prévenance that matches the employee’s presence, keep the exit inside the trial, and never let the decision drift past expiry — one day late converts a free-form exit into a dismissal without cause.
Hiring in France, or About to End a Trial Period?

The trial period is the one moment in a French employment relationship where the employer holds real flexibility — and it is forfeited by drafting errors, missed renewal formalities and late decisions. We advise international companies and founders on French employment contracts, collective-agreement classification, trial-period terminations and the disputes that follow them.

Speak to a French Lawyer

This article is for general information only. It does not constitute legal advice. The trial period actually available in a given hire depends on the applicable collective bargaining agreement, the employee’s classification and the parties’ prior relationship, and the validity of a trial-period termination is assessed on the specific facts. Always seek qualified legal advice before drafting an employment contract or terminating a trial period in France.