Lost Pay Stubs: A Survival Guide to Saving Your Retirement

A forty-year career leaves its mark… for example, those typewritten pay stubs, with carbon paper on the back that stained your fingers. Come to think of it, what ever happened to them? Now that the time has come to review your career history before receiving the key to your well-deserved retirement, you may find yourself overcome by bouts of anxiety. 

Who would have thought, indeed, that these yellowed pages would prove so valuable in demonstrating that you actually worked—especially if certain years are missing from your record? However, if a haphazard search through boxes that smell of mothballs turns up nothing, rest assured: even if your pay stubs are missing, all is not necessarily lost. There are several ways to reconstruct your work history and assert your rights.
 

Step 1: Check your employment history statement at
Before you start rummaging through the attic, start with the simplest step. Your employment history statement—also known as a RIS (individual status statement)—is available for review at any age, starting from your first job, on the info-retraite.fr website. This cross-system document summarizes all the periods recorded by your various pension funds: the contributions reported by your employers, the wages taken into account, and the quarters credited.
If everything is in order, here’s the good news: no further action is required, and you won’t even be asked to provide your lost pay stubs.
 

However, if you notice any discrepancies (missing years, incorrect earnings, periods not included), you can take action. Starting at age 55, the “Correct My Work History” service on info-retraite.fr allows you to report errors directly to all your pension plans, which are automatically notified. But you don’t have to wait until you reach that age: as of July 1, 2021, insured individuals under 55 can also request corrections to discrepancies by contacting the relevant pension funds (CARSAT, MSA, CNAV, etc.) directly. The process is simply a bit less centralized: you must contact each pension plan individually, rather than using the single online service reserved for those over 55.
 

Reconstructing Your Work History Without Pay Stubs: What Evidence Should You Provide?
If you can’t find your pay stubs for the missing periods, don’t panic. Pension funds accept any reliable and consistent written evidence that establishes the reality of the work performed. Here are the most commonly accepted documents:
• Employer certificates, if the company still exists. Employers are required to keep pay stubs for 5 years in paper form and up to 50 years (or 6 years after your retirement) in digital form. However, they are not legally obligated to provide you with a duplicate.
• Employment contracts, amendments, or letters of hire.
• Employment certificates, issued at the end of each contract.
• Bank statements showing salary transfers received. Banks retain your transaction history indefinitely, although there may be a fee for requesting old statements.
• Annual income tax returns and tax notices, which list your income.
• Certificates from Pôle emploi (now France Travail), in the event of periods of unemployment benefits.
 

Has your company closed? There are options available
If the company associated with your missing pay stubs no longer exists, the situation is more complicated but not hopeless.
 

URSSAF is a valuable resource. This agency collects the nominative social security declarations (DSN)—and, prior to that, the annual social data declarations (DADS)—which all employers are required to submit. This data is retained even after a company closes. You can contact URSSAF in writing (or by calling 39 57), providing your name, social security number, the company’s name, and the time period you are inquiring about.
 

The court-appointed administrator or liquidator who oversaw the company’s closure may also have records on file. Their contact information can be found at the commercial court or on Infogreffe.fr.
Departmental archives sometimes hold documents from companies that have been defunct for decades. This is a last resort, but it can prove useful for very long-standing careers.
Finally, the CPAM (Primary Health Insurance Fund) can provide documentation for periods of sick leave or maternity leave, which count toward the validation of quarters.
 

Losing your pay stubs isn’t a big deal if your employment history statement is complete and accurate. This official document, available for free online, is recognized by all pension funds and carries sufficient probative value to help you assert your rights. Pay stubs are only essential when you need to prove periods of employment that are missing from your career record. In that case, there are several alternatives available. And the sooner you check, the better.

Sources: info-retraite.fr, L'Assurance retraite (lassuranceretraite.fr), Service-public.fr, Agirc-Arrco. Information current as of February 2026.