Minimum gratuity for a student or pupil in a company
Verified 01 January 2026 - Entreprendre Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Are you a student or pupil in a company? Does your employer have to pay you financial compensation for your internship? If so, do you have to pay social security contributions? We explain the conditions of payment of an internship bonus minimum gratification if you are entitled to it.
It depends on your situation before your internship, if you are a student intern or a student of the second degree of agricultural education:
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You are a student intern
You are not considered an employee of the company.
You do not receive any salary, remuneration or compensation.
However, a bonus is paid to you if, during the same school or university year, the duration of your internship exceeds:
- Either 2 consecutive months (equivalent to 44 days to 7 hours per day)
- Either from 309e time Internship even if your internship is done non-continuously.
Below these duration thresholds, your internship host organization is not required to pay you a bonus.
Please note
If you are a student intern from a country of the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) , you have the same obligations and rights as a French trainee.
You are a secondary school student in agricultural education
You are not considered an employee of the company.
You do not receive any salary, remuneration or compensation.
However, you do receive a reward mandatory after 3 months presence at your host internship organization according to the following conditions:
- Either your internship is for a duration of more than 66 days attendance or not, for a schedule of 7 hours per day
- Either your internship is for a duration of more than 462 hours the same presence on a non-continuous basis, on the basis of a different daily duration.
Below these duration thresholds, your internship host organization is not required to pay you a bonus.
Please note
If you are a pupil who is a national of a the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) , you have the same obligations and rights as a French trainee.
Warning
this obligation concerns only trainees students and students in the context of an introductory period, initial training or additional initial vocational training. For continuing vocational training trainees bound by an employment contract, other rules shall apply.
To calculate the amount of your gratuity, your internship host organization must deduct the number of hours of actual attendance that you have completed during your internship.
FYI
If you are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave, or other leave of absence during your internship, it is not mandatory to take into account the amount of your gratuity during your days of absence.
The amount of your bonus must be included in your internship agreement.
The hourly rate of the gratuity is equal to at least €4.35 per training hour, corresponding to 15% the hourly limit of social security (i.e €29 x 0.15).
Public bodies may not pay bonuses in excess of the legal minimum amount, failing which the internship agreement will be reclassified as an employment contract.
In certain professional branches, the amount of the bonus is fixed by branch agreement or extended professional agreement and may be greater than €4.35. The employer must verify this in the collective agreement.
A calculation simulator allows employers to calculate the minimum amount due based on the actual hours of attendance of the trainee:
Calculate the minimum bonus amount for an intern
Please note
The social security ceiling shall be amended each year on 1er January. If this change occurs during the internship (e.g. for an internship scheduled between 1er december and 15 february), the agreement must explicitly provide for an increase in the value of the gratuity according to the change of the 1er January.
The bonus is paid at the end of each month and not at the end of the internship.
It is due from the 1ster internship day.
Example :
For a full-time internship (7 hours per day) from 1er January to March 31, 2026:
- January: 147 hours worked (21 days x 7 hours)
- February: 140 hours worked (20 days x 7 hours)
- March: 154 hours worked (22 days x 7 hours)
The amount of the total gratuity due is 441 hours, or €1,918.35.
The bonus can be paid in 2 different ways:
- Either according to the actual number of hours worked per month
- Either by smoothing by month all the hours worked during the internship
Period | Actual Hours | Smoothing (=€1,918.35/3) |
|---|---|---|
January | €639.45 | €639.45 |
February | €609.00 | €639.45 |
March | €669.90 | €639.45 |
Total | €1,918.35 | €1,918.35 |
Any internship temporarily interrupted shall be readjusted on the basis of the actual number of hours worked.
Any definitively interrupted internship is subject to an overall regularization according to the number of hours worked.
If the hourly amount of the bonus does not exceed €4.35, you are exempt from charges (the CSG: titleContent and the CRDS: titleContent are not due).
Conventional gratification greater than €4.35 on the other hand, is subject to social contributions and contributions.
Please note
the gratuity is exempt from income tax up to the annual amount of the Smic: titleContent.
Health coverage
You remain affiliated to your social security scheme of health insurance during the duration of the internship as aright holder from your parents' diet.
Cotization
In terms of occupational accidents and diseases (AT/PM) risk, you are attached to the CPAM: titleContent of your place of residence during your internship.
The declaration and payment of the AT/MP contribution are managed by the host organization of your internship.
Excluded contributions
You are not an employee of the company. You do not pay unemployment insurance contributions.
For the obligation to pay for the traineeship
Minimum amount
Urssaf Caisse nationale (ex-Acoss)
Ministry of Labor