Rupture Conventionnelle (mutually agreed termination) is a procedure introduced in France in 2008 under the Loi de modernisation du marché du travail that allows an employer and an employee on a CDI to end their employment relationship by joint agreement, outside the frameworks of resignation or dismissal. It is available only for open-ended contracts; fixed-term CDDs cannot be terminated this way.
The process requires at least one meeting between the parties to negotiate the terms, a cooling-off period of 15 calendar days after signing the agreement during which either party may retract, and formal approval by the DREETS (regional labour authority). The employee must receive a specific indemnité de rupture conventionnelle (termination payment) that is at least equal to the statutory severance indemnity they would have received had they been dismissed. Importantly, the employee retains full entitlement to unemployment benefit (allocation chômage) through France Travail (formerly Pôle Emploi).
For employers, the rupture conventionnelle is subject to a specific forfait social levy (currently 30 per cent on the amount of the indemnity up to the social-security ceiling). It offers a legally secure way to manage consensual exits without the complexity and risk of litigation associated with a contested dismissal.