France CDI Employment Contract: Scrib🐮

TL;DR: Scrib🐮's M2 Guided Preparation wizard walks you through preparing a CDI (contrat à durée indéterminée) employment contract for France — covering convention collective identification, période d'essai, and mandatory clauses under the Code du travail.

The Challenge

A French CDI (open-ended employment contract) must comply with the Code du travail, the applicable convention collective (collective agreement), and any enterprise-level agreements that apply to the employer's sector. The convention collective is critical: France has over 700 sectoral conventions collectives, each covering minimum salaries, notice periods, sick pay, working time, and severance entitlements that often exceed the Code du travail minimums.

Employers who draft a CDI without identifying the applicable convention collective risk contracts that do not provide legally required minimum benefits. The URSSAF (the social security collection body) and the labour inspectorate (Direccte) can impose penalties for non-compliance. More practically, an employee can claim the benefits of the applicable convention collective even if the contract is silent — leaving the employer exposed to retroactive claims.

Finding the applicable convention collective (identified by IDCC code) and understanding its provisions requires sector knowledge that most founders and HR teams do not have. Professional HR consultants charge €800–€2,000 for a CDI package with convention collective analysis.

How Scrib🐮 M2 Guided Prep Solves It

Scrib🐮's M2 wizard for French CDI preparation begins with convention collective identification and builds the contract from there.

Phase 1 — Convention collective identification:

The wizard asks for your company's main business activity (NAF/APE code). It maps the NAF code to the applicable convention collective(s) and provides a plain-French description of each convention collective's most important provisions: minimum salary for the employee's classification, notice period, sick pay, and working time rules. You confirm which convention collective applies. The wizard provides the IDCC code that must appear in the employment contract.

Reference: The legifrance.gouv.fr database of conventions collectives (https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/conv_coll/list/) is the authoritative source.

Phase 2 — Employee classification:

Under the applicable convention collective, classify the employee using the coefficient or level system defined in the convention. The wizard translates the employee's role description into the appropriate classification and shows the minimum monthly salary for that classification. Your contracted salary must meet or exceed this minimum.

Phase 3 — Core CDI terms:

The wizard collects:

• Employee name, nationality, and place of birth (required for DPAE — Déclaration Préalable à l'Embauche)
• Job title and position description
• Lieu de travail (place of work), including télétravail (remote work) provisions if applicable
• Durée du travail (working time): 35 hours/week standard, or higher with overtime provisions (heures supplémentaires) or forfait jours for executive-level (cadre) employees
• Rémunération: base salary, any variable component (bonus), benefits in kind (avantage en nature — meals, car, accommodation)
• Période d'essai: the convention collective sets maximum probationary periods (typically 1–4 months for non-cadre, 3–6 months for cadre, renewable once if the convention permits)

Phase 4 — Mandatory clauses:

The wizard generates mandatory clauses including: non-discrimination statement, data protection (RGPD) clause, confidentiality obligations during and after employment, and intellectual property assignment (for employees who create IP in the course of their employment under Article L113-9 of the Code de la propriété intellectuelle).

Phase 5 — DPAE and administrative declarations:

The guide explains the DPAE (Déclaration Préalable à l'Embauche) requirement: this declaration must be made to URSSAF (https://www.urssaf.fr/) no later than 8 days before the employee's start date. The wizard generates a DPAE checklist and links to the URSSAF online declaration system.

Phase 6 — Export:

Generate the complete CDI document in French (with English translation if needed) plus the DPAE checklist and a post-hiring administrative checklist covering: registration with mutuelle (complementary health insurance, mandatory since 2016), prévoyance (disability insurance, mandatory for cadre), and workplace accident insurance.

Scrib🐮 is a document preparation service. For advice on French employment law and convention collective classification, consult a conseil en droit social or expert-comptable.

What's Included in Your Scrib🐮 Pass

Pricing: From $149/month — all menus, all countries, unlimited documents.

Why Scrib🐮 vs DIY or Traditional Services

DIY risk: The most dangerous French CDI mistake is drafting the contract without identifying the applicable convention collective. An employee in IT, covered by the Syntec convention collective, has significantly different entitlements to notice periods and sick pay than an employee in retail. An employer who pays Syntec-minimum salary for a non-cadre role but fails to apply Syntec sick pay provisions is exposed to retroactive claims.

Expert-comptable or HR consultant: French CDI preparation by an HR consultant or expert-comptable typically costs €800–€2,000, including convention collective analysis. The Scrib🐮 wizard covers the same convention collective mapping and contract generation at a fraction of the cost.

Scrib🐮: The wizard identifies your applicable convention collective from your NAF code, shows you the minimum provisions, and generates a CDI that meets both Code du travail and convention collective requirements. The same pass covers lease agreements and company formation documents if you need them simultaneously.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the DPAE and when must it be filed?

The Déclaration Préalable à l'Embauche (DPAE) is a mandatory declaration to URSSAF that must be made no later than 8 days before the employee's start date. It can be made online through the URSSAF portal (https://www.urssaf.fr/). Failure to file the DPAE within the required timeframe constitutes dissimulation d'emploi salarié (undeclared employment), which carries significant penalties.

Q: What is the difference between a CDI and a CDD?

A CDI (contrat à durée indéterminée) is an open-ended contract with no fixed end date. A CDD (contrat à durée déterminée) is a fixed-term contract that can only be used for specific reasons defined in the Code du travail (replacement of an absent employee, seasonal work, exceptional increase in activity). Using a CDD in circumstances that do not meet these criteria exposes the employer to requalification as a CDI by the Conseil des Prud'hommes. Scrib🐮 covers both CDI and CDD preparation.

Q: Does Scrib🐮 cover the forfait jours regime for cadre employees?

Yes. The wizard includes an optional forfait jours section for cadre employees where the applicable convention collective permits it. The forfait jours regime (Article L3121-58 of the Code du travail) allows cadre employees to be managed on the basis of a fixed number of working days per year rather than hours per week. It must be explicitly agreed in writing with the employee.

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