Procedure · Work and leaving a job

Challenging your dismissal at the employment tribunal (prud'hommes): deadlines and steps

Do you think your dismissal was unjustified, or that the procedure was not followed? You have 12 months from notification to bring a claim before the employment tribunal (conseil de prud'hommes). Here are the steps, from asking for details of the reason to the judgment and appeal, and what the judge can award you.

At a glance

Who: Any private-sector employee who has been dismissed and disputes the reason or the procedure.
When: Within 12 months of notification of the dismissal; 5 years for harassment or discrimination.
Where: At the employment tribunal for the place of your workplace, where the contract was signed or the company's head office (your home if you work from home or outside any workplace).
Cost: A tax stamp bought online when you file (amount on service-public), unless you have legal aid; a lawyer is not compulsory.
How long: 12 months to act; then a conciliation hearing, followed by a judgment if it fails, and one month to appeal.

Employee claim form for the employment tribunal, cerfa no. 15586 (service-public.gouv.fr)

Step by step

Note the notification date. The 12-month deadline for going to the employment tribunal runs from notification of the dismissal. Keep the letter, the envelope and the acknowledgement of receipt: they prove the date.
Ask for details of the reason. Within 15 days of notification, you can ask the employer to clarify the reason, by recorded-delivery letter or handed over against a receipt; they have 15 days to clarify it if they wish. Do it if the letter is vague: without this request, an insufficiently precise reason does not on its own make the dismissal unjustified and only entitles you to one month's salary at most. It is the reason in the letter, as clarified, that you will challenge.
Check the procedure and gather your evidence. Check whether the employer followed the steps: at least 5 working days between the notice to attend being presented and the preliminary meeting, the option of being accompanied, a letter sent at least 2 working days after the meeting (1 month at most for a disciplinary reason). Gather whatever contradicts the reason: emails, appraisals, statements from colleagues, payslips.
Get help. A union defender (défenseur syndical) can assist or represent you free of charge; a lawyer is not compulsory, and you can apply for legal aid if you hire one. Allô Service Public and the local justice and law centres (maisons de justice et du droit) give free information.
Estimate what you could obtain. Dismissal without real and serious cause: the judge can propose your reinstatement or award compensation within a scale, based on your length of service and the company's headcount (the official simulator gives the range). Void dismissal (discrimination, harassment, maternity protection…): you can ask to be reinstated, or else receive compensation of at least your last 6 months' salary in the cases set by law. Procedure irregular only: at most one month's salary.
File your claim. Write it on plain paper or on form cerfa no. 15586, which you can fill in online, dated and signed: your details, the employer's, what you are asking for, a short statement of the grounds and all your claims (amounts sought). Attach your evidence with a list, one copy per defendant plus one for the court office, and post it or hand it in at the court office (greffe), with the tax stamp bought online.
Attend the conciliation hearing. The conciliation and referral panel (bureau de conciliation et d'orientation) summons you and the employer and looks for an agreement. If you reach one, the dispute ends and a record is drawn up; otherwise, the case goes to the judgment panel. At this stage it can already order documents to be handed over (employment certificate, payslips, France Travail certificate) and advance payments on wages and termination pay.
The judgment, and appeal. The employment tribunal rules on the case and notifies each side of its decision, by recorded letter or through a commissaire de justice (bailiff). An appeal goes to the court of appeal within one month of notification (15 days for an urgent-procedure order), and you must be represented by a lawyer or a union defender. No appeal is possible when your total claims do not exceed the threshold shown on service-public, or for a claim only about documents: the remaining route is then an appeal to the Cour de cassation.

Documents to prepare

The dismissal letter, the envelope and the acknowledgement of receipt (notification date)
The notice to attend the preliminary meeting and your notes from it
Your employment contract, your payslips and the name of your collective agreement
Your evidence: emails, appraisals, written statements, disputed warnings
Your end-of-contract documents (employment certificate, final settlement, France Travail certificate)
The list of documents attached to your claim

Pitfalls to avoid

Letting the 12 months go by: after that, your claim is time-barred, even if the dismissal was unjustified.
Forgetting the tax stamp: if it is not paid within the following month, your claim is inadmissible and has to be filed again.
Signing the final settlement without reading it: for the amounts on it, you only have 6 months to challenge them.
Mixing up the deadlines: unpaid wages can be claimed within 3 years, but the dismissal itself must be challenged within 12 months.
Turning up without a file: your claim must set out all your requests and come with your evidence.

Letter asking for details of the dismissal reason (in French)

[Prénom Nom]
[Adresse]

[Nom de l'entreprise]
À l'attention de [Prénom Nom du destinataire], [fonction]
[Adresse de l'entreprise]

[Ville], le [date]

Lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception (ou remise en main propre contre récépissé)

Objet : demande de précisions sur le motif de mon licenciement

Madame, Monsieur,

Par lettre du [date de la lettre de licenciement], reçue le [date de réception], vous m'avez notifié mon licenciement du poste de [intitulé du poste] que j'occupais depuis le [date d'embauche].

En application du Code du travail, je vous demande de bien vouloir préciser le ou les motifs énoncés dans cette lettre, en particulier [points à préciser : faits reprochés, dates, éléments sur lesquels vous vous fondez].

Je vous remercie de me répondre dans le délai prévu par le Code du travail.

Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées.

[Signature]

Letter asking for details of the dismissal reason (in French): replace each part in square brackets, proofread, date and sign. The letter is in French because it goes to a French employer or administration.

Every letter template

What Nego does for you

Write your request for details of the dismissal reason
Prepare your employment tribunal claim and your list of documents
Work out your statutory redundancy payment and your unemployment rights
Explain your dismissal letter and the procedural points to check

Nego follows the checked steps on this page, does the calculations with the site's tools and drafts your letters. It does not replace the administration: the procedure is completed on the official service.

Going further

Redundancy pay calculator Unemployment benefit simulator Redundancy pay Final pay settlement Unemployment benefit Notice period

Frequently asked questions

What is the deadline for challenging a dismissal?

12 months from notification of the termination. It rises to 5 years for moral or sexual harassment or discrimination. Unpaid wages, for their part, can be claimed within 3 years.

Do I need a lawyer at the employment tribunal?

No. You can represent yourself, or be assisted or represented by a union defender (free), an employee or employer from your industry, your spouse, civil partner or cohabiting partner. If you hire a lawyer, you can apply for legal aid.

How much can I get for an unfair dismissal?

The judge sets the compensation between a minimum and a maximum that depend on your length of service and the company's headcount; the service-public simulator gives this range for your situation. The statutory redundancy payment is not deducted from it.

Can I file an employment tribunal claim online?

Service-public gives two routes: posting the claim to the court office, by recorded delivery or not, or handing it in there. The cerfa form, however, can be filled in online on service-public, then printed and signed; the tax stamp, for its part, can only be bought online, by bank card.

What happens at the conciliation hearing?

The conciliation and referral panel hears each side and looks for an agreement. If you agree on everything, the dispute ends with a written record; otherwise, the case goes to judgment. Some claims go straight to the judgment panel, such as a constructive dismissal claim (prise d'acte) or turning a fixed-term contract into a permanent one.

What if it is urgent?

The tribunal's urgent applications panel (référé) can quickly order measures that are not seriously disputed, for example payment of wages that are owed.

Official sources

Rules checked on 27 October 2026 against the sources above. This page explains the procedure; it replaces neither the administration nor legal advice.

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Challenging your dismissal at the employment tribunal (prud'hommes): deadlines and steps

At a glance

Who

Any private-sector employee who has been dismissed and disputes the reason or the procedure.

When

Within 12 months of notification of the dismissal; 5 years for harassment or discrimination.

Where

At the employment tribunal for the place of your workplace, where the contract was signed or the company's head office (your home if you work from home or outside any workplace).

Cost

A tax stamp bought online when you file (amount on service-public), unless you have legal aid; a lawyer is not compulsory.

How long

12 months to act; then a conciliation hearing, followed by a judgment if it fails, and one month to appeal.

Step by step

Note the notification date. The 12-month deadline for going to the employment tribunal runs from notification of the dismissal. Keep the letter, the envelope and the acknowledgement of receipt: they prove the date.

Ask for details of the reason. Within 15 days of notification, you can ask the employer to clarify the reason, by recorded-delivery letter or handed over against a receipt; they have 15 days to clarify it if they wish. Do it if the letter is vague: without this request, an insufficiently precise reason does not on its own make the dismissal unjustified and only entitles you to one month's salary at most. It is the reason in the letter, as clarified, that you will challenge.

Check the procedure and gather your evidence. Check whether the employer followed the steps: at least 5 working days between the notice to attend being presented and the preliminary meeting, the option of being accompanied, a letter sent at least 2 working days after the meeting (1 month at most for a disciplinary reason). Gather whatever contradicts the reason: emails, appraisals, statements from colleagues, payslips.

Get help. A union defender (défenseur syndical) can assist or represent you free of charge; a lawyer is not compulsory, and you can apply for legal aid if you hire one. Allô Service Public and the local justice and law centres (maisons de justice et du droit) give free information.

Estimate what you could obtain. Dismissal without real and serious cause: the judge can propose your reinstatement or award compensation within a scale, based on your length of service and the company's headcount (the official simulator gives the range). Void dismissal (discrimination, harassment, maternity protection…): you can ask to be reinstated, or else receive compensation of at least your last 6 months' salary in the cases set by law. Procedure irregular only: at most one month's salary.

File your claim. Write it on plain paper or on form cerfa no. 15586, which you can fill in online, dated and signed: your details, the employer's, what you are asking for, a short statement of the grounds and all your claims (amounts sought). Attach your evidence with a list, one copy per defendant plus one for the court office, and post it or hand it in at the court office (greffe), with the tax stamp bought online.

Attend the conciliation hearing. The conciliation and referral panel (bureau de conciliation et d'orientation) summons you and the employer and looks for an agreement. If you reach one, the dispute ends and a record is drawn up; otherwise, the case goes to the judgment panel. At this stage it can already order documents to be handed over (employment certificate, payslips, France Travail certificate) and advance payments on wages and termination pay.

The judgment, and appeal. The employment tribunal rules on the case and notifies each side of its decision, by recorded letter or through a commissaire de justice (bailiff). An appeal goes to the court of appeal within one month of notification (15 days for an urgent-procedure order), and you must be represented by a lawyer or a union defender. No appeal is possible when your total claims do not exceed the threshold shown on service-public, or for a claim only about documents: the remaining route is then an appeal to the Cour de cassation.

Documents to prepare

The dismissal letter, the envelope and the acknowledgement of receipt (notification date)

The notice to attend the preliminary meeting and your notes from it

Your employment contract, your payslips and the name of your collective agreement

Your evidence: emails, appraisals, written statements, disputed warnings

Your end-of-contract documents (employment certificate, final settlement, France Travail certificate)

The list of documents attached to your claim

Pitfalls to avoid

Letting the 12 months go by: after that, your claim is time-barred, even if the dismissal was unjustified.

Forgetting the tax stamp: if it is not paid within the following month, your claim is inadmissible and has to be filed again.

Signing the final settlement without reading it: for the amounts on it, you only have 6 months to challenge them.

Mixing up the deadlines: unpaid wages can be claimed within 3 years, but the dismissal itself must be challenged within 12 months.

Turning up without a file: your claim must set out all your requests and come with your evidence.