🇫🇷 Europe ·OECD member ·EU member

France

An ILO EPLex composite of 0.434 places France among moderate-protection jurisdictions on the 0-1 scale.

ILO EPLex OECD EPL
0.434 ILO EPLex composite (0–1) Moderate protection
OECD EPL →

France's statutory protection against unfair dismissal is moderate - an ILO EPLex composite of 0.434 on the 0–1 scale, stronger than 52% of the 95 rated countries.

EPLex 0.434 · #47/95 · OECD 2.68/6. ILO EPLex · OECD EPL.

Employment Protection Composite

C+ 63/100

One composite verdict from 2 of 3 independent sources, each percentile-benchmarked against every rated country. A missing source never lowers the score -- its weight redistributes to the sources this country actually has.

ILO EPLex C-
0.43
Statutory dismissal-protection composite (0-1 scale)
World Bank B-READY N/A
N/A
Labor-market regulatory quality
OECD EPL B
2.68
Employment protection legislation strictness (0-6 scale)

Benchmarked against p10-p90 of every country rated by that source. See our methodology for the exact benchmark table and weights.

Where France sits on ILO EPLex protection

Every rated country's dismissal-protection composite, 95 countries

0.43 Top 48% higher than 52% of 95 rated countries

0.00–0.10: 0 rated countries (0%). Below this entry. 0.10–0.20: 1 rated countries (1%). Below this entry. 0.20–0.30: 8 rated countries (8%). Below this entry. 0.30–0.40: 26 rated countries (27%). Below this entry. 0.40–0.50: 39 rated countries (41%). This entry sits in this band. 0.50–0.60: 15 rated countries (16%). Above this entry. 0.60–0.70: 6 rated countries (6%). Above this entry. 0.70–0.80: 0 rated countries (0%). Above this entry. 0.80–0.90: 0 rated countries (0%). Above this entry. 0.90–1.00: 0 rated countries (0%). Above this entry. France 0.00 1.00 every rated country, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more rated countries. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source ILO EPLex · 2019

What the Data Shows for France

Europe. Covered by 2/3 tracked datasets. As an OECD member, it is included in the OECD's long-running historical EPL series. EU membership means its labor rules are also shaped by directives on collective redundancies, transfers of undertakings, and fixed-term work. The most recent ILO EPLex composite score is 0.434 out of 1.0 (2019), summarizing statutory termination rules into a single index. The OECD EPL overall strictness index is 2.68/6.0, where higher values indicate stricter rules on individual and collective dismissal.

Statutory notice periods in France scale with tenure across 7 tiers, reaching 2 months at 20 years of service. Severance pay can reach 5.83 months of salary at 20 years, while redundancy-specific pay is 5.83 months. The maximum probation period allowed by law is 8 months, defining how long employers can assess workers under reduced protection.

The EPLex redress/reinstatement sub-indicator is 0.500/1.0, reflecting how strong remedies are when a dismissal is ruled unlawful. Historically, France's OECD EPL score moved from 2.52 in 1990 to 2.68 in 2019, showing the direction of reform over time. 6 peer comparisons below.

ILO EPLex (2019)
0.434
out of 1.0 · Rank #47
B-READY 2025
-
No data available
OECD EPL
2.68
out of 6.0 · Rank #18
ILO EPLex

Termination Protection Breakdown (2019)

Prohibited Grounds for Dismissal
1.000
Probation Period
0.680
Procedural Requirements
0.250
Notice Periods
0.318
Severance Pay
0.067
Redundancy Pay
0.090
Redress / Reinstatement
0.500

Scale: 0 = no protection · 1 = maximum protection. Source: ILO EPLex 2019.

Max probation period: 8 months

Notice Periods by Tenure

Tenure Notice Period
6 months 1 month
9 months 1 month
2 years 2 months
4 years 2 months
5 years 2 months
10 years 2 months
20 years 2 months

Source: ILO EPLex Notice period is the legally mandated advance notice before termination

Severance and Redundancy Pay by Tenure

Tenure Severance Redundancy
6 months 0 mo 0 mo
9 months 0.187 mo 0.16 mo
2 years 0.5 mo 0.5 mo
4 years 1 mo 1 mo
5 years 1.25 mo 1.25 mo
10 years 2.5 mo 2.5 mo
20 years 5.83 mo 5.83 mo

Values in salary-months. Source: ILO EPLex. Severance = individual dismissal. Redundancy = collective/economic dismissal.

OECD EPL

Historical Protection Score

Year Overall Score Visual
1990 2.52
1991 2.52
1992 2.52
1993 2.52
1994 2.52
1995 2.52
1996 2.52
1997 2.52
1998 2.52
1999 2.58
2000 2.58
2001 2.58
2002 2.58
2003 2.71
2004 2.71
2005 2.71
2006 2.71
2007 2.71
2008 2.58
2009 2.50
2010 2.50
2011 2.50
2012 2.50
2013 2.83
2014 2.81
2015 2.81
2016 2.81
2017 2.79
2018 2.68
2019 2.68

Scale: 0-6 (higher = more protective). Source: OECD Employment Protection Legislation database.

Compare France With...

🇨🇷 Costa Rica 🇹🇯 Tajikistan 🇺🇸 United States 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 🇧🇷 Brazil 🇮🇩 Indonesia

Countries with similar labor-regulation profiles

Two peer sets for France on metrics that vary across the full country corpus, not regional containment. The nearest EPLex block below stays on the ILO composite; these neighborhoods use B-READY, OECD, or statutory-duration axes.

Nearest EPLex peers

Closest ILO EPLex composite scores to France (0.434), not the global top of the list.

🇳🇿 New Zealand 0.431 · Δ 0.003 🇮🇳 India 0.430 · Δ 0.004 🇦🇲 Armenia 0.428 · Δ 0.005 🇬🇪 Georgia 0.442 · Δ 0.008

Read with this France page

Understanding EPL Scores How France's 2/3 source mix maps onto EPLex, OECD, and B-READY. Termination Laws by Country Notice, severance, and dismissal rules that feed France's EPLex composite. Reading Employment Statistics How to read OECD EPL strictness next to France's historical series. Non-Compete Agreements Post-employment restraints outside the EPLex composite for France.

Read with this France roster

New Zealand →India →Armenia (Europe) →Georgia (Europe) →EPLex composite ranking →Europe region →
Data sourced from official OECD, ILO, and World Bank employment-protection datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainEmploy

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from OECD, ILO, and World Bank labor market databases. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Primary sources: ILO EPLex, World Bank B-READY, OECD EPL.

PlainEmploy is rendered directly from the OECD Employment Protection Legislation indicators, the ILO EPLex database, and the World Bank B-READY labor pillar, no number is typed in by an editor. This country's composite scores and comparisons are computed directly from the underlying OECD/EPLex/B-READY tables, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-30.