🇫🇷 Salary in France

Oyster policy is denoted in purple.

Statutory

Minimum Wage

The minimum wage in France depends on the location of employment and is increased at least once a year, every year. The minimum wage may be calculated as an hourly rate or a monthly rate (based on a 35 hour work week). The rates below are effective August 1, 2022.

Employers are required to meet or exceed the statutory and/or applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) minimum wage requirements. Typically, CBA compensation requirements are based on professional categories of employment. Oyster follows the requirements set out by the tertiary sector CBA. Since Oyster’s CBA currently (beginning of July 2022) provides for some minimum wage requirements which are lower than the national minimum wage, the applicable minimum requirement will be the highest of the two.

Additionally, most workers (excluding Executives with work schedules computed in days) are entitled to overtime compensation (financial and/or extra paid time off).

Although there are generally no requirements in terms of payment dates, employers are required to make salary payments monthly within the same time frame (either at the end of the month or the beginning of the month). Salaries are typically paid in 12 monthly installments.

Pay equity and Transparency

Private law employers in France are legally required to ensure that male and female employees receive equal pay for equal work or work of equal value. “Equal pay” includes the basic or minimum wage and all accompanying advantages and accessories paid, in cash or in kind, by the employer to an employee. “Equal value” is considered work that requires comparable professional knowledge as established by title, education, professional practice, or acquired experience. Disparities in pay between employees who perform the same work or work of equal value must not be based on the fact that an employee is of a different gender.

In order to fight such disparities, the French Labor Code expressly addresses the gender pay gap with the objective of eliminating it. Each year, employers with at least 50 employees must publish indicators relating to the gender pay gap and actions taken to eliminate it. If a company does not meet a specific level as set out by decree, measures aimed at eliminating the gender pay gap while also increasing the quality of life and working conditions must be taken during the negotiations between employers and representative trade unions (which occur every four years).

Customary

Most French companies, including Oyster, are subject to Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) which typically set additional compensation requirements based on professional levels of employment.

Best in Class

Many best in class companies use compensation ranges to establish upper and lower limits on what they offer as initial starting wages. They typically have multi-factor criteria set for determining what, for any given candidate, is the fair starting offer, within compensation ranges, upon employment.