Glossary of useful French terms and expressions to survive the wilderness that is the French administrative jargon

Contract types:

• CDD - Contrat à Durée Déterminée : Fixed-term, or Temporary, Contract
• CDI - Contrat à Durée Indéterminée : Permanent Contract.
• CDU - Commission des Usagers : Within healthcare establishments, the CDU (Users' Commission) has a dual mission: contributing to improving the quality of reception and the care for sick people and their relatives.
• CDII - Contrat à Durée Indéterminée Intermittent : The intermittent employment contract (CDII or CD2I) allows the employee to alternate periods of work and periods of unemployment. It can be concluded, under specific conditions, in sectors experiencing significant fluctuations in activity.

Contract duration:

• Temps-plein : Full-time position.
• Mi-temps / à mi-temps : Part-time position, 50% of a full time position.
• Temps partiel : Part-time position, anything under 100% of a full-time position.

Job-related:

• Bulletin de salaire/Feuille de paye : Pay slip, wage slip.
• Mutuelle/Assurance santé : Insurance policy for medical costs.
• Arrêt maladie : Sick leave.
• Rupture Conventionnelle : Mutually-agreed termination/severance of contract.
• Faire la grève : To be on strike.

Benefits:

• Tickets-restaurant / Chèque resto : Lunch voucher. You can use them to pay for meals taken outside of work, and for some of your food groceries too (limited to two tickets per shopping receipt, check in-store).
• Congés : 1) Holiday, vacation, time off. 2) End of a contract.
• Jour férié : Public/Bank holiday
• Faire le pont : Long week-end. If, for example, a public holiday lands on a Thursday, usually the following Friday also becomes a public holiday.
• RTT (Réduction du Temps de Travail) : TOIL day, Compensatory Time.