Work Certificate
Verified 12 March 2026 - Entreprendre Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The work certificate is a document that the employer gives to the employee when the employment contract ends. It specifies a number of elements. It allows the employee, for example, to assert his rights to the medal of honor for work. We're taking stock of the regulations.
Please note
For employees of the individual employer and the childminders, special rules shall apply.
Yes, the employer must issue a work certificate when the employment contract ends regardless of the type of contract (DTA: titleContent, FIXED-TERM CONTRACT: titleContent etc...) and its duration.
It is handed over regardless of the method of termination (resignation, dismissal, ...).
The work certificate is given to the following persons according to the situation:
General case
The employer must give the work certificate to the employee.
With the work certificate, the employee can, for example, assert his rights to a labor medal or show future employers their work experience.
Death of the employee
In case of death of the employee, the employer must draw up a work certificate and issue it to the heirs or to rights holders.
Please note
The employer who uses the TESE: titleContent has no obligation to provide a work certificate.
The work certificate shall contain mandatory particulars. It may also contain optional information.
Mandatory particulars
The work certificate must contain the following information:
- Date of entry of the employee into the company
- Date of exit of the employee from the company
- Nature of the job or jobs successively occupied
- Periods during which the employee has held these jobs
- Free maintenance of the health coverage and foresight.
FYI
In the event of a transfer of the employment contract following a sale of the company, the new employer must indicate as the date of entry the date of employment by 1er employer.
Optional terms
The work certificate may contain the following information:
- Information concerning the employer (name, address and signature in particular)
- Information about the employee (name and surname in particular).
A work certificate template is available:
The work certificate shall not contain any particulars discriminatory or that could harm the employee or concerning the existence a non-compete clause.
The work certificate is issued at the end of the employment contract, i.e. at the end of the notice period.
FYI
If the employee has been exempted from notice, it must be given at the end of the unfulfilled notice. It indicates this date as the end of the employment contract.
No. The employer has no obligation to send the work certificate to the employee.
The work certificate is a document wretched, i.e. the employer must keep it available to the employee in the company.
Employers who submit the work certificate late or fail to do so may be fined.
He may also be ordered to pay damages to the employee.
Criminal sanction
If the employer does not issue a work certificate to the employee, the judge may order the employee to pay a fine of €750.
Civil sanctions
The absence or late delivery of the work certificate by the employer may cause prejudice to the employee.
In this case, the employee may refer the matter to the labor court and obtain damages.
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Administrative information by phone - Allô Service Public
For more information on this subject, you can contact Allô Service Public.
Attention: the service does not have access to users' personal files and therefore cannot provide information on their progress.
He does not respond questions on unemployment compensation and approaches to the France Labor (formerly Pôle emploi), the public servants or contract workers of the fcivil service, the amount or payment of contributions social, wage or employer.
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Delivery of the work certificate
Content of the work certificate
Penal provisions
Benefit from supplementary health insurance and provident insurance free of charge
Document template