End-of-contract documents in France: work certificate, final settlement, France Travail attestation (letter template)

Quick answer

However your contract ends, the employer must hand you three documents: the work certificate (art. L1234-19 of the Labour Code), the final settlement receipt (solde de tout compte, art. L1234-20) and the France Travail attestation (former Pôle emploi), essential for your unemployment benefit. These are collectible documents (quérables): the employer keeps them available and need not post them. If they refuse or drag their feet, serve a formal notice by registered mail, then go to the labour tribunal — delivery can be ordered under penalty payments, with damages.

1. The three mandatory documents

• Work certificate (art. L1234-19): dates of entry and exit, the job(s) held, any continuation of the health cover (portability). It may contain nothing discriminatory or unfavourable.
• Final settlement receipt (art. L1234-20): an inventory of the sums paid on termination (last salary, paid-leave indemnity, notice pay, severance…). Drawn up in duplicate.
• France Travail attestation (former Pôle emploi): it lets you claim unemployment insurance; the employer also sends it directly to France Travail.

2. "Collectible" documents

The employer is not obliged to post them: they must keep them available at the workplace. In practice many mail them, but you cannot demand postal delivery — you may come and collect them.

If, however, they refuse to deliver them or delay abusively, they are at fault: this is where the formal notice and then the judge come in.

3. Request / formal notice letter template

Subject: Delivery of end-of-contract documents

Dear Sir or Madam,

My employment contract ended on [date] ([resignation / dismissal / end of fixed-term contract / trial-period termination]). To date, I have not received the following documents, which you are required to hand over: the work certificate (art. L1234-19 of the Labour Code), the final settlement receipt (art. L1234-20) and the France Travail attestation.

I hereby give you formal notice to keep them available to me or send them to me within 8 days of receipt of this letter.

Failing that, I will bring the matter before the labour tribunal, where appropriate in fast-track proceedings, seeking delivery under penalty payments and damages, notably for the harm caused by the blocking of my unemployment benefit.

Yours faithfully,

[Date — Signature]

To give your demand a certain date, MaisonMail can print and dispatch your letter through an available registered service. Origin market, delivery times, tracking and the proof-of-receipt slip are confirmed before payment. See also: writing a formal notice.

4. Beware the final settlement receipt

• A signed receipt only waives the sums expressly listed on it.
• It can be challenged within 6 months of signature, by reasoned registered letter.
• If sums seem missing (overtime, bonuses, indemnities), sign with the words "subject to my rights" — or do not sign and claim the breakdown first.
• An unsigned receipt keeps only informational value: you retain all your rights within the limitation period.

5. If things stall

1. Formal notice by registered mail (template above).
2. Labour tribunal, often fast-track: delivery of the documents under penalty payments (a sum per day of delay) and damages — case law compensates in particular the harm linked to a late unemployment attestation.
3. France Travail: report the missing attestation; a mechanism sometimes lets your file be processed despite the employer's default.

6. Common mistakes

• Signing the final settlement without reservation while sums remain due.
• Waiting for a postal delivery you have no right to: the documents are collectible.
• Neglecting the France Travail attestation, without which your benefit is blocked.
• Letting the 6-month window lapse to challenge the final settlement.
• Not writing: without a dated formal notice, no proof and no starting point for the tribunal.

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In short: three documents are due at the end of any contract — work certificate, final settlement, France Travail attestation. They are collectible, but a refusal is sanctioned: formal notice by registered mail, then the tribunal with delivery under penalty payments and damages. And never sign an incomplete final settlement without the reservation "subject to my rights".