Section 3: Breach of contract.

The employer and employee may jointly agree on the terms and conditions of termination of their employment contract. A contractual termination cannot be imposed by either party, and cannot be used as an alternative to dismissal or resignation. It results from an agreement signed by the parties to the contract. It is subject to the provisions of this section designed to guarantee the freedom of consent of the parties.

The parties to the contract agree on the principle of a contractual termination during one or more meetings at which the employee may be assisted: 1° Either by a person of his choice from the company’s staff, whether an employee holding a trade union mandate or an employee who is a member of a staff representative institution or any other employee; 2° Or, if there is no staff representative body…

The termination agreement defines the terms and conditions of the termination, in particular the amount of the specific termination indemnity, which may not be less than that of the indemnity provided for in article L. 1234-9. It sets the date of termination of the employment contract, which may not take place before the day following the date of approval. From the date on which it is signed by the two…

At the end of the cooling-off period, the earliest party shall send a request for approval to the administrative authority, together with a copy of the termination agreement. An order of the Minister for Employment sets the model for this application. The administrative authority has a period of fifteen working days from receipt of the request to ensure that the conditions set out in this section are met and that…

Employees benefiting from the protection mentioned in articles L. 2411-1 and L. 2411-2 may benefit from the provisions of this section. Notwithstanding the provisions of article L. 1237-14, the contractual termination is subject to authorisation by the Labour Inspector under the conditions set out in Chapter I of Title I of Book IV, Section 1 of Chapter I and Chapter II of Title II of Book IV of Part Two….

This section does not apply to terminations of employment contracts resulting from : 1° Agreements resulting from the negotiations mentioned in articles L. 2242-20 and L. 2242-21 ; 2° Employment protection plans under the conditions defined by Article L. 1233-61 ; 3° Collective agreements mentioned in article L. 1237-17.