Signing a conventional termination agreement does not, in principle, mean that an employee loses the right to claim unpaid overtime hours. Even after the contract ends, the employee can claim overtime hours for the three years before the termination, regardless of when they approach a judge. Overtime hours are part of the reference salary used to calculate the minimum termination indemnity, which is the compensation paid to the employee upon leaving the company. The final settlement receipt only releases the employer from the amounts clearly listed in it. Only a transaction signed after the termination approval can, in principle, definitively settle disputes over unpaid overtime hours. When negotiating a departure, employees often focus on the amount of the indemnity and the end date of the contract, leaving overtime hours from previous years to the background or assuming they are already settled. According to Article L1237-11 of the Labor Code, both the employer and employee can agree on the terms of the termination, but neither can impose it. Legal precedents clarify that a dispute between the two parties at the time of signing does not invalidate the agreement. Additionally, a clause in the agreement that says the employee "waives all recourse" is considered invalid and has no legal effect. It is important to note that an ongoing dispute over unpaid overtime hours does not prevent signing a conventional termination. However, the signature itself does not resolve the dispute. What matters is the actual content of the signed documents, not the impression that everything has been settled. The period during which an employee can claim unpaid overtime hours after termination is three years before the end of the contract, regardless of when the legal action is initiated. A ruling from 11 March 2026 clarified this, stating that after termination, the claim can be made for the three years preceding the end of the contract. In contrast, during the active period of the contract, the claim applies to the three years before the filing. Each month of delay reduces the claimable period by one month. The legal action itself must be initiated within three years from the day the employee became or should have become aware of the unpaid overtime. Unpaid overtime hours affect the termination indemnity because they are part of the reference salary. Article L1237-13 of the Labor Code states that the specific termination indemnity of a conventional termination cannot be less than the legal termination indemnity, which is calculated based on the length of service and the reference salary. According to Article R1234-4, the reference salary is calculated using the formula most favorable to the employee, which is either the average of the last twelve months or a third of the last three months. Article R1234-2 sets the scale: a quarter of a month's salary per year of service up to ten years, then a third of a month beyond that. Since unpaid hours do not appear on pay slips, the reference salary is lower than it should be. The final settlement receipt only covers the amounts mentioned in it. Article L1234-20 of the Labor Code defines this receipt as the inventory of the amounts paid to the employee at the time of termination. Once signed, it can be challenged within six months. After this period, it becomes binding for the employer, but only for the amounts listed. If the receipt mentions an amount for overtime hours, the six-month period applies to this amount. Overtime hours not mentioned in the receipt remain subject to the three-year period for wages. It is also important to note that accepting pay slips without protest does not equate to renouncing the amounts due. A transaction can resolve the issue of unpaid overtime hours if it occurs after the termination approval and relates to the execution of the contract, not its termination. A transaction signed before the approval or related to the termination itself is generally invalid. A minor concession from the employer can also make the transaction contestable. The burden of proof for performed hours is shared between the employee and the employer. According to Article L3171-4 of the Labor Code, the judge forms its opinion based on the evidence provided by both parties. Since a ruling from 18 March 2020, the employee must present sufficiently precise elements regarding the hours they claim to have worked. The employer, responsible for monitoring working hours, must then respond with its own evidence. An incomplete count from the employee is enough to initiate the discussion, and personal records, time-stamped emails, or schedules can help support this.