The Macron scale at the labour court: pricing an employer's risk

Quick answer. The so-called "Macron" scale (article L1235-3 of the French Labour Code) sets, in months of gross salary, the minimum and maximum compensation the labour court can award an employee dismissed without real and serious cause. The cap runs from 1 month (one year of service) to 20 months (from twenty-nine years). This scale, upheld by the Cour de cassation on 11 May 2022, lets you price an exposure range, provision the risk and weigh a settlement. It does not apply where the dismissal is void: compensation is then at least six months, with no cap.

Introduced by the 2017 ordinances, the article L1235-3 scale caps the compensation a court awards for a dismissal without real and serious cause. After years of challenges before labour courts, the Cour de cassation, sitting in full bench on 11 May 2022, confirmed its conformity with France's international commitments and ruled out any case-by-case departure by the judge.

At Hayot Expertise, we use this scale not as a threat but as a steering tool. Before starting a sensitive termination, knowing how to read the possible compensation range turns a vague worry into a figure. That objectivity is what allows a calm decision between securing the procedure, negotiating a settlement or stepping back.

The scale concerns one precise situation: a dismissal found to be without real and serious cause. It sets compensation, in months of gross salary, between a floor and a cap that depend on the employee's length of service and the company's size.

This compensation is distinct from the statutory or contractual severance pay (article L1234-9), which is owed in any dismissal, justified or not. The scale is added to that base pay where the judge finds the dismissal unjustified. For companies with at least eleven employees, the employer may also be ordered to reimburse France Travail for the unemployment benefit paid, up to six months (article L1235-4).

Here are the scale's key figures, in months of gross salary. The minimum is 1 month at one year of service, then 3 months from two years in companies of at least eleven employees; companies with fewer than eleven employees have a reduced minimum for the first ten years.

The "month of salary" means gross pay, usually reconstructed from the average of recent months. The judge sets the amount within the range based on the circumstances (age, situation, loss suffered). For an official simulation, the public service provides a dedicated calculator.

The cap is set aside where the dismissal is void. In that case, if the employee does not seek reinstatement (or it is impossible), the compensation cannot be less than the last six months' salary, with no cap (article L1235-3-1).

These void cases radically change the exposure: that is why a dismissal touching a fundamental freedom or a protected situation must be examined with particular care.

The scale turns uncertainty into an estimate. The method we apply is simple:

1. Determine the length of service at the date the dismissal letter is sent.
2. Read the matching range in the scale (minimum and maximum in months).
3. Convert into euros from the reference gross monthly salary.
4. Weight by the probability that the dismissal is found unjustified, given the strength of the grounds and the procedure.
5. Add the statutory severance pay and, where relevant, the reimbursement of unemployment benefit.

Where the risk is probable and the amount can be estimated reliably, it should be recognised as a provision for risks in the accounts (accounting prudence requires recognising a probable charge, even if its timing or amount remain uncertain). This quantified reading is also the starting point of a negotiation: it sets the upper bound beyond which a settlement no longer makes sense. Our outsourced finance function builds these provisions into the steering.

• Less than one year of service. The scale sets a specific cap for short service; exposure stays limited, but the grounds must still be genuine.
• Company with fewer than eleven employees. The minimum is reduced for the first ten years of service, lowering the negotiation floor.
• Combined indemnities. The scale compensation adds to the statutory severance pay and, in case of a procedural irregularity, to any distinct indemnities, within the applicable maximum.
• Economic dismissal. The scale also applies to an economic dismissal found without real and serious cause: it complements the analysis of the economic dismissal procedure.

• Confusing the scale with severance pay. The scale compensates the lack of cause; statutory severance is owed in any case. The two combine.
• Forgetting void cases. Discrimination, harassment, fundamental freedom: the cap disappears and the floor rises to six months.
• Underestimating the unemployment reimbursement. In companies with at least eleven employees, up to six months of benefit can be reclaimed from the employer.
• Neglecting the provision. A probable, quantifiable risk must be provisioned, on pain of distorting the true and fair view of the accounts.

Recently, an owner hesitated to dismiss an underperforming employee, fearing a "ruinous lawsuit" whose order of magnitude he had no idea of. We set out the figures: seven years of service, a known gross salary, a scale range of three to eight months. In euros, the maximum exposure if the dismissal were found unjustified became perfectly bearable, and far below the catastrophic picture he imagined. The decision could be taken on rational grounds.

Our conviction, as chartered accountants and statutory auditors, is that the scale is first a risk-management instrument. It never removes the need to secure the grounds and the procedure, but it puts a price on error. An owner who knows that price negotiates better, provisions accurately, and avoids both impulsive terminations and giving up out of fear of the unknown.

Hayot Expertise tip. Before any sensitive termination, set out the scale range in euros, weighted by the strength of your file. Compare it with the cost of a negotiated settlement. If the grounds are fragile and service is long, a settlement is often the cheapest route; if the file is solid, the scale bounds your risk and gives the confidence needed to proceed.