The Macron scale (article L.1235-3 of the French Labour Code) caps the compensation due where a dismissal is without real and serious cause. Expressed in months of gross salary, the caps run from 1 to 20 months and the floors from 0.5 to 3 months, depending on length of service and the company's headcount.
For each level of length of service, the scale sets a floor and a cap on compensation. The maximum cap reaches 20 months of gross salary for the longest lengths of service. The court sets the amount within the applicable range; save in exceptional cases, it cannot go below the floor or above the cap.
In companies with fewer than eleven employees, the floors are reduced: 0.5 months' salary at one year of service, against 1 month in larger companies, where the floor reaches 3 months from two years. Below one year, there is no floor. This reduced floor ceases to apply beyond ten full years of service (Cass. soc., 29 April 2025, no. 23-23.494). The cap, for its part, remains the same whatever the size of the company.
The amount retained depends on concrete factors: the employee's age, difficulties finding new employment, length of service, personal situation. The best way to estimate a realistic amount is to compare the case with recent decisions involving similar profiles, rather than mechanically aiming for the cap.
The scale does not apply where the dismissal is void: harassment, discrimination, breach of a fundamental freedom, in particular. In those cases the minimum compensation is at least six months' salary, with no cap. The Court of Cassation also confirmed the scale's compliance in two full-bench rulings of 11 May 2022 (no. 21-14.490 and 21-15.247), which closed a long period of uncertainty.
Cross-referencing length of service, headcount and comparable case law for each case takes time. Plato produces this estimate and ties it to real decisions. See also assessing employment-tribunal risk.
What is the maximum amount under the Macron scale?
20 months of gross salary, reached from 29 full years of service. The floor drops to 0.5 months for one year of service in companies with fewer than eleven employees; below one year, no floor applies.
Is the Macron scale still applicable in 2026?
Yes. The Court of Cassation confirmed its compliance in two full-bench rulings of 11 May 2022 (no. 21-14.490 and 21-15.247). It remains the rule for dismissal without real and serious cause.
In which cases does the scale not apply?
Where the dismissal is void (harassment, discrimination, breach of a fundamental freedom). Compensation is then at least six months, with no cap.
Can the court set the compensation freely?
No, it must stay within the range of the scale, between the floor and the cap corresponding to length of service, except in cases of nullity.
How do you quickly estimate compensation?
A vertical tool such as Plato cross-references length of service, headcount and comparable case law to propose a sourced estimate.