France Suspension (Mise à Pied) vs Dismissal FAQ

In French employment law, mise à pied (suspension) is a tool, not an outcome. It exists in two distinct forms — conservatoire (precautionary, pending investigation) and disciplinaire (disciplinary, as a sanction). Confusing the two is one of the most common procedural errors and frequently leads to dismissal being annulled by the Conseil de Prud’hommes (CPH). This FAQ disentangles the two regimes and clarifies their relationship to dismissal.

Q1. What is a mise à pied?

A measure by which the employer suspends the employee from their duties. The employee does not come to work; the employee may or may not be paid; the employment contract continues. Two regimes:

• Mise à pied conservatoire — precautionary, pending disciplinary procedure, not itself a sanction
• Mise à pied disciplinaire — a disciplinary sanction in itself, with its own procedure

Statutory basis: Code du travail articles L.1331-1 et seq. (sanctions disciplinaires); L.1332-1 to L.1332-4 (procedure).

Primary source: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/texte_lc/LEGITEXT000006072050/

Q2. What is mise à pied conservatoire?

A measure to remove the employee from the workplace temporarily while the employer investigates and runs a disciplinary procedure. Typically used when:

• The conduct is so serious that the employee’s continued presence would harm the company, colleagues, or investigation (e.g., violence, theft suspicion, harassment)
• The employer needs time to establish facts and procedure

Mise à pied conservatoire must be:

• Notified in writing to the employee
• Followed by a disciplinary procedure (convocation à entretien préalable) within 2 months (article L.1332-4) — and in practice within days, not weeks
• Paid (employee retains salary unless conduct is later found to amount to faute grave or lourde, in which case salary during suspension can be retained — see Q5)

Reference: https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1759

Q3. What is mise à pied disciplinaire?

A disciplinary sanction of suspension from work, without pay, for a defined period — usually 1 to 5 days (or up to convention collective limit, often 7 days).

Key features:

• Must be permitted by the règlement intérieur (internal regulations); without it, mise à pied disciplinaire is invalid
• Must follow the disciplinary procedure (entretien préalable, written notification)
• Must respect the proportionality principle — mise à pied is a heavy sanction, justified only for significant conduct

Mise à pied disciplinaire is not the same as dismissal — it is a less severe sanction. After the suspension, the employee returns to work.

Q4. Is dismissal a mise à pied?

No — dismissal is rupture du contrat (termination of contract). Mise à pied (in either form) preserves the employment relationship.

The connection: mise à pied conservatoire is often the precursor to dismissal for faute grave, when the employer needs time to establish facts and run the procedure.

Q5. What happens to salary during mise à pied conservatoire?

Salary during mise à pied conservatoire is paid as normal unless the subsequent dismissal is for faute grave or faute lourde. In that case:

• The employer may withhold salary for the suspension period (no salary owed because the conduct made continued employment impossible)
• The employee can dispute this in CPH — many disputes turn on whether the underlying conduct truly amounts to faute grave

If the conduct is requalified as faute simple or without cause real and serious, salary during suspension must be paid.

Q6. Can mise à pied be ordered without a règlement intérieur?

For mise à pied conservatoire — yes, it derives from the employer’s general management power.

For mise à pied disciplinaire — no, the règlement intérieur (mandatory in companies of 50+ employees per article L.1311-2) must list mise à pied as a possible sanction. Otherwise, the sanction is null.

Q7. How long can mise à pied conservatoire last?

There is no statutory maximum, but case law (Cour de cassation) requires:

• Reasonable promptness — convocation to entretien préalable must follow shortly after the suspension begins (typically within days)
• Proportionality — extended suspension without procedural progress can become abusive

A mise à pied conservatoire of more than 2-3 weeks without active procedure is at risk.

Q8. What is the procedure for mise à pied disciplinaire?

Under articles L.1332-1 to L.1332-3:

1. Convocation to entretien préalable (LRAR or hand-delivered, min 5 working days before)
2. Entretien préalable — informal meeting where employer states intent and employee responds
3. Notification of sanction (LRAR or hand-delivered, min 2 working days after entretien, max 1 month after)
4. The sanction letter must specify the duration of suspension, the dates, and the underlying conduct

The procedure is the same as for dismissal — only the sanction (mise à pied vs licenciement) differs.

Q9. Can the employer go from mise à pied to dismissal?

Yes — mise à pied conservatoire is often used precisely to permit the employer to investigate and serve dismissal. Sequence:

1. Mise à pied conservatoire notified
2. Convocation à entretien préalable for dismissal
3. Entretien préalable
4. Notification of dismissal letter
5. Effective date of dismissal — coinciding with end of mise à pied if for faute grave

Mise à pied disciplinaire as a previously imposed sanction cannot be used to support a later dismissal for the same conduct (non bis in idem under article L.1331-1) — unless new conduct occurs.

Q10. What if the mise à pied conservatoire is challenged?

If the CPH later finds the underlying conduct does NOT amount to faute grave, the employer must:

• Pay salary for the suspension period
• Pay damages where requalified as without cause real and serious (Macron scale, article L.1235-3)
• Pay procedural damages if the suspension exceeded reasonable limits

Q11. Common Mistakes — Gyoseishoshi View

Q12. What is the relationship to other sanctions?

Article L.1331-1 lists permissible sanctions:

• Avertissement (warning)
• Blâme (formal reprimand)
• Mise à pied disciplinaire
• Mutation (transfer)
• Rétrogradation (downgrading)
• Licenciement (dismissal)

Sanctions must be proportionate to conduct. The règlement intérieur often sets the order of escalation.

Q13. Can mise à pied be applied to a CDD employee?

Yes — both forms apply equally to CDD and CDI. For CDD, mise à pied disciplinaire counts as time worked for accrual purposes (no special exclusion). For mise à pied conservatoire leading to faute grave dismissal, the CDD termination procedure under article L.1243-1 applies (early termination only on enumerated grounds including faute grave).

Q14. Mise à pied of trade union representatives

Special protection: under article L.2411-1, dismissal of a protected employee (délégué du personnel, member of CSE, etc.) requires authorisation from the Inspection du travail. Mise à pied conservatoire pending dismissal request remains permitted, but:

• The dismissal procedure cannot proceed without Inspection authorisation
• Mise à pied during the authorisation window must be compensated (subject to faute grave finding)

Q15. International / posted workers

For employees posted to France from abroad, French employment law generally applies if work is performed in France. Mise à pied procedures must respect French law even if the employer is foreign.

Q16. Strategic Implications for Employers

1. Use mise à pied conservatoire judiciously — for genuinely serious situations only; the optics of suspending an employee can affect culture and relationships
2. Update règlement intérieur to list mise à pied disciplinaire as a permissible sanction with maximum duration
3. Calendar procedural deadlines — convocation, entretien, notification windows are unforgiving
4. Document conduct rigorously throughout — every step of the conservatoire suspension must be matched to investigatory progress
5. Pay during mise à pied in case of doubt — easier to recover from employee in restitution than to defend deduction at CPH

Conclusion — Tools, Not Decisions

Mise à pied is one tool in the disciplinary toolkit, alongside warning, reprimand, transfer, and dismissal. The two forms — conservatoire and disciplinaire — serve very different purposes and cannot be used interchangeably. Procedural rigour and clarity of purpose are the key to defensible use.

A Gyoseishoshi cannot represent French employers at the CPH. Scrib🐮 produces compliant mise à pied notifications, règlement intérieur templates listing permissible sanctions, and procedural calendar checklists for both conservatoire and disciplinaire variants.

Create your mise à pied documents with Scrib🐮

¥22,000/month pass for unlimited access to all 18 document types across 7 countries. Start Free Preview →

Disclaimer

Legal information, not legal advice. MmowW Scrib🐮 is operated by a licensed Gyoseishoshi (行政書士) office in Japan. We are not avocats.

Sources

• Code du travail: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/texte_lc/LEGITEXT000006072050/
• Service-public.fr (mise à pied): https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1759
• Travail-emploi.gouv.fr: https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr/droit-du-travail/sanctions-et-procedures-disciplinaires/article/sanction-disciplinaire
• Cour de cassation: https://www.courdecassation.fr/