The Conseil de Prud’hommes (France’s labour tribunal) rules on individual disputes arising from private-sector employment contracts, whether between an employee and their employer or between employees themselves. In 2024, these tribunals registered 117,100 claims on the merits or for interim relief, according to the Ministry of Justice — a volume up 9% year-on-year, but still 36% below the 2015 level, reflecting the growing use of mutually agreed termination (rupture conventionnelle).
Lighter formalities for initiating proceedings
Until now, a claim was filed with the Conseil de Prud’hommes either on plain paper or using the official Cerfa form No. 15586-09, sent to the court registry by registered post together with all supporting evidence. The employee had to attach to their claim every document listed on their schedule of exhibits.
The decree of 27 July 2026 removes this requirement to submit evidence immediately. From 1 October, only the summary schedule of exhibits will need to accompany the claim: the documents themselves will no longer be required at the point the case is filed.
The last payslip as the baseline document
The claim cannot, however, be filed without any supporting document at all. The decree requires the production of the last payslip relevant to the dispute or, failing that, any document that identifies the employer’s line of business. This minimum requirement is designed to identify the company being sued quickly, without overloading the initial case file.
Evidence still essential, but submitted later
The removal of the initial requirement does not do away with the underlying evidence. The employee will still have to disclose the documents to their employer so that the latter can review them, and then provide a copy at the conciliation and case-management hearing or at the trial hearing itself. The same rule applies to the employer for any evidence it intends to rely on in its defence.
The summons sent to the employee will carry an explicit warning: should they fail to attend without a legitimate reason, the tribunal may rule solely on the basis of the evidence submitted by the other party. The formal requirement is thus shifted in time rather than removed, and neither party is relieved of its evidentiary obligations.
Towards fully electronic filing
By limiting the number of documents accompanying the claim, the decree paves the way for the wider rollout of online filing. The public platform justice.fr currently remains limited to filing as a civil party and to applications before the guardianship judge or family court judge. Only lawyers currently have electronic access to the Portalis portal, which has been open to all Conseils de Prud’hommes since April 2026 but remains in a pilot phase — as illustrated by the trial launched in October by the Paris Conseil de Prud’hommes for its Management (“Encadrement”) division. Since March 2026, filing a claim has also carried a €50 court fee, except for those receiving legal aid.
A direct issue for hospitality employers
The hotel sector is among the activities most exposed to employment tribunal litigation, owing to a high incidence of claims and high staff turnover, as already highlighted by a recent Court of Cassation ruling clarifying dismissal on grounds of unfitness for work. Simplifying the filing procedure does not change the substance of the law, but it may speed up the initiation of proceedings by lowering the initial administrative barrier.
For HR departments, the challenge shifts towards managing the timetable for disclosing evidence, rather than simply compiling it. This development comes against a backdrop in which the very nature of evidence is itself changing under the influence of connected devices, reinforcing the need for greater vigilance over the formalities of the employment relationship.
