France Travail sanction or removal from the register: ten days to reply, two months to appeal

In what order do you appeal, and what expires at each step?

None of these steps replaces the one before it. Skipping the first costs you the only moment when the administration can still drop the sanction without a judge being involved.

1. 1

   Reply to the notice within ten days

   The letter announcing a sanction opens ten days to submit written observations or to ask to be heard, assisted if you wish by a person of your choice. Silence leaves the agency version alone on the file.

   When: within ten days of receiptBasis: Labour Code, article R5412-7Form: a dated written reply, or a request for a hearing
2. 2

   Document the legitimate reason

   Breaches are sanctioned only "sauf motif légitime" (unless there is a legitimate reason). A sick note, a clashing appointment, a documented connection failure, a letter that never arrived: the document does the work, not the sentence.

   When: before you writeBasis: Labour Code, article L5412-1Documents: the appointment notice, a dated proof, your applications
3. 3

   Read the notified decision line by line

   The competent officer decides within fifteen days after the observation window closes or after the hearing. The decision is reasoned, states the duration and sets out the routes and time limits for appeal: those mentions decide what follows.

   When: on receiptBasis: Labour Code, article R5412-7-1Check: reasons, duration, appeal routes
4. 4

   File a claim with your France Travail agency

   France Travail asks you to start with a réclamation (claim) to the agency, through your personal online space or by post. The mediator only handles claims that have already been through the services.

   When: without waiting for the deadlineChannel: personal online space or letterBasis: Labour Code, article L5312-12-1
5. 5

   Start the compulsory prior mediation

   Removal from the register, benefit suspension, benefit withdrawal and warnings are on the list of decisions that cannot be challenged in court without a mediation first. The competent mediator is the regional France Travail mediator, and contacting them interrupts the appeal time limit.

   When: inside the two-month appeal windowBasis: Labour Code, article R5312-47Cost: borne by the administration
6. 6

   Bring the case to the tribunal administratif

   The administrative court for the place of the agency that took the decision rules on the legality of the sanction. The time limit restarts when the mediation is declared over, and a lawyer is not compulsory for a benefit dispute.

   When: the time limit restarts after mediationBasis: Administrative Justice Code, article R421-1Lawyer: not compulsory, article R431-3

Which letter did you receive, and which step does it open?

Four answers, with the letter in front of you. The result is a category of action to check against your own notice, never a personal date and never a forecast.

France Travail says a sanction is coming: how long do I have to reply?

Ten days from receipt of the letter. You can reply in writing, ask to be heard, or both, and you may be assisted by a person of your choice. Under French law, before any decision the administration notifies the facts held against you, the sanction being considered and the ten-day window to submit written observations or ask for a hearing, by any means giving a certain date of receipt (Labour Code, article R5412-7). That window is not an appeal deadline: it is the moment when the sanction is still only being considered, before the decision is taken.

La personne compétente notifie préalablement à l’intéressé les faits qui lui sont reprochés, la sanction envisagée et le délai de dix jours dont il dispose pour présenter des observations écrites ou, s’il le souhaite, demander à être entendu, le cas échéant assisté d’une personne de son choix.Labour Code, article R5412-7 (French original, extract)

What sanctions can France Travail impose in 2026?

At least 30% of the benefit suspended for one to two months on a first breach, then suspension or withdrawal for one to four months if it persists or repeats. Four months of full withdrawal means removal from the register. Since décret n° 2025-478 of 30 May 2025, in force on 1 June 2025, a breach of the attendance, active participation and job-search obligations written into the contrat d’engagement (engagement contract) is sanctioned by a suspension of at least 30% of the benefit for one to two months, then, if it persists or repeats, by suspension or withdrawal of at least 30% for one to four months (Labour Code, article R5412-1). Two refusals of a reasonable job offer bring full withdrawal for two months with removal from the register, rising to four months on repetition (article R5412-3).

Can one missed appointment really cut my benefit?

Not if you had a legitimate reason. Attendance is one of the engagement contract obligations, but the text expressly reserves the case where the absence can be explained. The benefit is suspended or withdrawn "sauf motif légitime" (unless there is a legitimate reason), according to the breaches recorded, how often they occur and the nature of the benefit received; the obligations covered are attendance, active participation in the actions of the action plan, and taking positive and repeated steps to find work (Labour Code, article L5412-1, I). There is no closed list of legitimate reasons: it is proved by a dated document, a sick note, a clashing appointment or evidence of an obstacle.

What makes a breach "repeated", and why does that change everything?

It is a breach recorded within twenty-four months of the notification of the decision that sanctioned the first one. It moves you into the one to four month bracket. The rule is dated and precise: a breach is repeated when it is recorded within twenty-four months from the day the decision sanctioning the first breach was notified, and persistence is assessed when the previous sanction expires (Labour Code, article R5412-3-4). A new orientation decision resets the count to the first breach sanctioned after that reorientation. The date on your first notification is therefore a fact in the file, not a detail.

The decision has arrived: which appeal comes first?

A claim to your agency, then mediation with the regional France Travail mediator. That mediation is what opens the door to the administrative judge, failing which the claim is inadmissible. Compulsory prior mediation applies to challenges against removal from the register, decisions suspending or withdrawing the benefit, warnings, and decisions recovering overpaid benefit taken by France Travail (Labour Code, article R5312-47). The competent mediator is the territorially competent regional mediator of France Travail (article R5312-48), and complaints to the mediator must have been preceded by steps with the services concerned (article L5312-12-1).

How long do I have to go to the administrative court?

Two months from notification. But that limit binds you only if the decision set out the appeal routes and time limits, and the mediation must be started inside the same window. The administrative judge is seized within two months of the notification of the contested decision (Administrative Justice Code, article R421-1), and time limits bind you only if they were stated, together with the appeal routes, in the notification (article R421-5). The compulsory mediation starts inside that same window, and the notice must state that obligation and give the mediator contact details (article R213-10). Contacting the mediator interrupts the time limit (article R213-11); a claim filed without mediation is rejected but sent on to the mediator, who is deemed seized on the date the claim was registered (article R213-12).

La notification de la décision mentionne cette obligation et indique les coordonnées du médiateur compétent. A défaut, le délai de recours contentieux ne court pas à l’encontre de la décision litigieuse.Administrative Justice Code, article R213-10 (French original, extract)

I am on RSA: who decides the sanction and where do I challenge it?

The président du conseil départemental (head of the county council) decides; France Travail only proposes. The challenge starts with a compulsory administrative appeal to that president, within two months. Any challenge to a decision concerning the revenu de solidarité active must, before any court claim, go through an administrative appeal to the président du conseil départemental (Social Action and Family Code, article L262-47). That appeal is sent to him within two months of the notification of the contested decision, and the claimant must give reasons (article R262-88). A withdrawal of payment can only be decided after the opinion of the équipe pluridisciplinaire (multidisciplinary panel), before which you are given the chance to present observations.

Do I get the withheld money back if I comply again?

For the RSA, yes: the code provides for payment of the withheld sums, capped at the last three months. For unemployment benefit, the text provides only for the suspension to end early. Where an RSA recipient complies with the obligations whose breach founded the suspension, the sums withheld during the suspension, or during the last three months if it exceeded three months, are paid at the end of the period (Social Action and Family Code, article L262-37, VI). On the unemployment benefit side, the text provides that the suspension ends when the jobseeker complies, on terms agreed with the referring adviser, with all or part of the obligations that were breached (Labour Code, article R5412-1): your own notification states what applies to your benefit.

France Travail is also claiming an overpayment: do I have to pay?

Not automatically. Deductions from your future instalments assume that you are not disputing that the sum is undue. Disputing it in writing stops that automatic deduction. To recover benefit paid in error, France Travail may deduct from future instalments "si le débiteur n’en conteste pas le caractère indu" (if the debtor does not dispute that the sum is undue), and the amount of those deductions is capped by regulation (Labour Code, article L5426-8-1). Decisions about that recovery are themselves on the list of decisions subject to compulsory prior mediation (article R5312-47). Where declarations were deliberately inaccurate and led to undue payments, a separate penalty may be imposed, capped at 3,000 € (article L5426-5).

Which documents should I gather before writing my observations?

The notice itself, the appointment notice or request you are said to have ignored, your dated proof, your job applications and your exchanges with the adviser. The decision must give reasons, state the duration of the sanction and set out the appeal routes and time limits (Labour Code, article R5412-7-1): the notice is therefore the first document in the file, including through what it leaves out. The duration and the share of benefit withheld are set according to the number and nature of the engagement contract obligations that were breached (article R5412-1), which makes every document showing the obligations you did meet worth attaching.

When is Julie enough and when do I need a lawyer?

Julie places the breach in the scale, drafts the observations and prepares the claim. A lawyer earns their place in court, even though one is not compulsory for a benefit dispute. Claims seeking payment of a sum must in principle be filed through a lawyer, but that requirement does not apply to disputes about pensions, benefits, allowances or rights granted in favour of unemployed workers or under social assistance (Administrative Justice Code, article R431-3). You can therefore file at the tribunal administratif on your own; in an emergency, a référé-suspension (urgent application to suspend a decision) requires you to show urgency and a serious doubt about the legality of the decision (article L521-1), which is an argument to be made.

What does the observations letter look like?

A useful observations letter fits on one page and does three things: it dates the facts, it attaches a document to every assertion, and it asks for the written decision if the sanction is maintained.

[Your first name and SURNAME]
[Your address]
[Postcode, town]
Identifiant France Travail : [your France Travail reference number]

France Travail, agence de [town]
[Agency address]

Lettre recommandée avec avis de réception
[Town], le [date]

Objet : observations sur la sanction envisagée, votre courrier du [date of the notice]

Madame, Monsieur,

Par courrier reçu le [date received], vous m’informez d’une sanction envisagée pour [the breach you are accused of]. Je présente mes observations dans le délai de dix jours prévu par l’article R5412-7 du Code du travail.

[What actually happened: the date, the fact, the reason, in three or four sentences.]

Ces circonstances constituent un motif légitime au sens de l’article L5412-1 du Code du travail. Je joins :
- [document 1]
- [document 2]

Je vous demande en conséquence de renoncer à la sanction envisagée. Si vous mainteniez votre position, je vous prie de me notifier une décision motivée mentionnant la durée retenue ainsi que les voies et délais de recours, conformément à l’article R5412-7-1 du même code.

Je demande également à être entendu(e), assisté(e) le cas échéant d’une personne de mon choix.

Je vous prie d’agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l’expression de mes salutations distinguées.

[Signature]

What this page is built on

What should you check before continuing?

What this page does, and what it leaves to your own notice.