Collective agreement minimum pay in France: how to find yours

The SMIC is the floor for almost every employee. But most private-sector employees are also covered by a collective agreement, negotiated for their sector, which sets a minimum salary by job, level and sometimes length of service. That minimum is often higher than the SMIC, and it is worth checking. Here is how to find yours and what to do if it is not respected.

SMIC or agreement minimum: the higher one wins

Since 1 June 2026, the SMIC (France's minimum wage) has been €1,867.02 gross a month for full time, about €1,456 net according to the site's engine. Your collective agreement usually sets, for your classification, an agreement minimum salary. The rule is simple:

• If your agreement's minimum is higher than the SMIC, the employer must pay at least that minimum.
• If it is lower, which happens after a rise in the SMIC until the sector has renegotiated its grid, the employer pays a top-up to reach the SMIC.

To check the SMIC, you count base pay, benefits in kind and productivity-related bonuses; you leave out expense refunds, overtime premiums, incentive and profit-sharing payments, seniority, attendance or working-conditions bonuses, and holiday or year-end bonuses unless they are paid monthly. For the agreement minimum, the agreement itself often says what counts. The SMIC guide gives the hourly and annual amounts.

Finding your collective agreement

1. Look at your payslip. The name of the applicable agreement must appear on it, often with its IDCC number, the identifier that pins it down without ambiguity. Your employment contract often mentions it too.
2. Use the official tool. The Code du travail numérique finds the agreement from the company's name or SIRET number, and shows its main rules (in French).
3. Read the text on Légifrance. Extended agreements, binding on every company in the sector, are published there with their amendments; the others appear in the official bulletin of collective agreements. The employer must also keep an up-to-date copy available to employees.

Reading the pay grid

The grid sits in an article or appendix on “classifications” and “minimum salaries”, often updated by a separate amendment. It ranks jobs by levels, positions, coefficients or steps, each with a definition (autonomy, technical skill, responsibilities) and a minimum. There are two formats: an amount in euros per level, or a point value to multiply by your coefficient.

1. Find your classification on your payslip or contract, then read its definition: does it match what you actually do? A classification set too low is the most common mistake, and the most expensive one.
2. Check the date of the amendment: only the grid in force counts, and a recent grid only binds the whole sector once it has been extended by ministerial order, unless your employer belongs to a signatory organisation.
3. Look at the unit: monthly or yearly, for which working hours, with or without seniority bonus or a thirteenth month built in.

An example with a made-up grid that sets €2,000 gross a month for your level, full time: that is €24,000 gross a year and, according to the site's engine, €1,561 net a month before tax for a non-cadre employee. Part time, the minimum is prorated: for 28 hours a week, or 80% of full time, it falls to €1,600 gross and €1,245 net a month. To convert your own grid line, the gross-to-net converter does the maths monthly or yearly.

If your pay is below it

1. Do the sums month by month, in gross terms, with only the items your agreement counts for the comparison. Keep your payslips, the grid page and the dated amendment.
2. Write to HR or your manager: your classification, the minimum set, the gap you found, and a request to put it right. A dated letter or email beats a corridor conversation.
3. If there is no answer, talk to the staff representatives if there are any, or to the labour inspectorate, which can remind the employer of the rule.
4. As a last resort, the conseil de prud'hommes (employment tribunal) can order the back pay. The claim can cover the last 3 years, or the 3 years before the contract ended if it has: beyond that, the money is lost.

Finding your grid with Nego, and aiming higher

Agreements are long and their amendments scattered. Ask Nego, the site's agent, to find the grid of your agreement from its name or IDCC number: it quotes its sources so that you can check the text yourself on Légifrance, and the site's code does the conversions. For a question that puts your contract at stake, a union or a lawyer remain the right people to ask.

And remember that the agreement minimum is a floor, not a price: it says how low the employer cannot go, not what your work is worth on the market. For that, the What am I worth? analysis starts from your CV and the salaries in your occupation, and the guide to negotiating your starting salary helps you aim above the grid.