Labor court: how to claim unpaid hours and expenses as a truck driver
Updated on 13 June 2026
When dialogue with the employer is no longer enough, the labor court (Conseil de Prud'hommes) is the route to recovering unpaid overtime or road expenses. Here, step by step, is what you need to know and prepare.
The Conseil de Prud'hommes is the court that settles disputes between an employee and their employer: salary, overtime, expenses, termination of contract… In road transport, cases involving overtime hours and unpaid road expenses are among the most common.
1. First, try the amicable route
Before going to court, the first step is to write to your employer (ideally by recorded delivery) detailing the amounts you believe are owed and requesting their regularisation. This approach leaves a paper trail, demonstrates your good faith, and sometimes resolves the situation without going further. Keep a copy of everything.
2. The limitation period: 3 years to act
Claims for salary payment are in principle subject to a 3-year limitation period. You can claim amounts owed over the last three years, and if your contract has been terminated, over the three years preceding the termination. In other words: the longer you wait, the more older claims you lose. This is the primary reason not to delay.
3. The evidence to gather
For overtime, you do not have to prove everything on your own: you must present sufficiently precise evidence of the hours you claim to have worked, after which it is for the employer to respond with their own evidence. The stronger your file, the more solid your case. Gather in particular:
- 💳Your driver card data and discs/records (driving and duty times).
- 📄Your payslips for the relevant period.
- 🗓️Your schedules, route sheets, and mission orders.
- ✉️Written exchanges (SMS, emails) showing your working hours or instructions given.
- 📊A clear breakdown of hours/expenses claimed, month by month.
4. How the procedure unfolds
- Filing with the competent Conseil de Prud'hommes (application setting out your itemised claims).
- Conciliation: a first phase seeking an amicable settlement.
- Judgment: if no agreement is reached, the case is decided on the merits based on each party's documents.
- You may represent yourself alone, be assisted by a trade union representative or a lawyer (not compulsory but often useful).
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