The Barème Macron: How Much Does Unfair Dismissal Cost in France?

What Is the Barème Macron?

The Barème Macron (Macron Scale), introduced by Ordonnance n° 2017-1387 of September 22, 2017, established a statutory scale that caps the compensation a labor court can award to an employee who has been unfairly dismissed. Codified in Article L.1235-3 du Code du travail, this scale provides both minimum and maximum indemnity amounts based on the employee’s seniority and the company’s size.

Before the Barème Macron, French labor judges had unlimited discretion in setting unfair dismissal damages, creating uncertainty for employers. The reform was specifically designed to give foreign investors and employers predictability in calculating the cost of employment disputes — a key concern for international companies entering the French market.

The Compensation Scale: Minimum and Maximum Amounts

The Barème Macron establishes two scales — one for companies with fewer than 11 employees and one for companies with 11 or more employees. Indemnities are expressed in months of gross salary.

Companies with 11 or more employees

Companies with fewer than 11 employees

The minimum amounts are lower for small companies. For example, an employee with 1 year of seniority has a minimum of 0.5 months (versus 1 month for larger companies), while the maximum remains the same. This reflects the legislator’s intention to protect small businesses.

What the Barème Covers — and What It Does Not

The Barème Macron only applies to indemnité pour licenciement sans cause réelle et sérieuse — compensation for dismissal lacking genuine and serious cause. It is critical to understand that the scale does not cap damages in several important situations:

The Constitutionality and Conformity Debate

The Barème Macron has been the subject of intense legal debate since its introduction. Several labor courts initially refused to apply the scale, arguing it violated ILO Convention No. 158 and the European Social Charter, which require « adequate compensation » for unfair dismissal.

However, the Cour de cassation (French Supreme Court for civil matters) definitively ruled in a series of decisions on May 11, 2022, that the Barème Macron is compatible with international commitments and must be applied by all courts. The Conseil constitutionnel had already validated the scale in its decision of March 21, 2018. Foreign employers can therefore rely on the scale with confidence.

Calculating Your Maximum Exposure

For foreign employers, the Barème Macron allows you to calculate the worst-case financial exposure of a dismissal dispute. The total cost of an unfair dismissal includes:

Worked Example

An employee with 8 years of seniority and a gross monthly salary of EUR 5,000 is unfairly dismissed by a company with 50 employees. Maximum exposure:

– Severance pay: (1/4 x 5,000 x 8) = EUR 10,000
– Notice period (2 months): EUR 10,000
– Barème Macron maximum (8 months): EUR 40,000
– Total maximum exposure: approximately EUR 60,000 (plus paid leave balance and pro-rata bonuses)

Strategic Implications for Foreign Employers

The Barème Macron has significantly changed the cost-benefit analysis of employment disputes in France. For foreign employers, the key strategic implications are:

First, litigation risk is now quantifiable, which makes it possible to provision for dismissal costs accurately. Second, the rupture conventionnelle remains an attractive alternative — the negotiated severance in a mutual termination often falls within the Barème Macron range, avoiding the uncertainty and cost of litigation. Third, even with capped damages, null dismissals remain uncapped — so employers must be especially careful about discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims.

Need help navigating French employment law? DAIRIA Avocats specializes in advising foreign employers operating in France. Contact us at s.coly@dairia-avocats.com or try DAIRIA IA, our AI-powered legal assistant at dairia.ai