Organization : French Social Security System
Type of Facility : Unemployment Insurance Scheme
Country: France
Website : http://www.cleiss.fr/docs/regimes/regime_france/an_5.html
Unemployment Insurance Scheme
The unemployment insurance scheme is the product of an agreement between the “social partners” (the two sides of industry).
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The freedom of the social partners to negotiate is however constrained at two levels:
** by the law, which determines the structure of the system,
** by the provisions for enforcing the law, which are agreed upon by the social partners. The agreement thus negotiated must be then be approved by government. In the absence of any agreement or approval, enforcement provisions are decided by order of the Council of State.
Organisational structure:
The public employment service is organised around two bodies: the bipartite body UNEDIC (National Professional Union for Employment in Industry and Trade), which will continue to perform its task of administering the unemployment insurance scheme and organising the benefits payment system, and the service for jobseekers (“Pôle emploi”) formed by the amalgamation of the ASSEDIC and the ANPE.
The Pôle emploi brings all employment services under a single body, with a single point of contact for registering, counselling, training, placing and paying benefits to jobseekers.
Financing:
The unemployment insurance scheme is financed through contributions paid on earnings: subject to the limit of four times the social security ceiling (€12,680 per month in 2015).
Since 1st January 2011, unemployment insurance contributions have been collected by the URSSAF.
Applicability:
The scheme is applicable to all employees of companies covered by the agreement.
Benefits:
The amount and duration of benefit payments depend upon the period during which the claimant has contributed to the scheme and total contributions paid.
Entitlement:
To qualify for unemployment benefit (Return to employment benefit or ARE), the claimant must satisfy the following conditions:
** have lost their job further to termination by the employer, the end of a fixed-term employment contract, termination by mutual agreement or resignation for a valid reason,
** be physically employable,
** be registered as a jobseeker with the “Pôle emploi” and comply with a personal return-to-work plan,
** be actively seeking employment,
** have been registered with the scheme for a minimum period (at least 122 days in the last 28 months, or in the last 36 months for jobseekers aged 50 and over) before becoming unemployed,
** be below the legal minimum retirement age (or the qualifying age for a full pension),
** accept “reasonable” job offers (sanctions apply if a jobseeker refuses more than two such offers).
Replacement income:
The daily unemployment allowance is calculated partly on the basis of a daily reference wage. The reference wage is based on earnings subject to contributions during the 12 calendar months prior to the last day of paid work, up to a limit of four times the social security ceiling (€12,680 per month).
The amount of the daily allowance is based on the recipient’s earnings prior to the loss of employment and falls into one of the following 4 brackets:
** 75% of gross salary for earnings below 1,143 €,
** A minimum allowance of 28.58 € per day for earnings between 1,143 € and 1,251 €,
** 40.4% of daily gross salary plus a fixed amount of 11.72 € per day for a salary between 1,251 € and 2,118 €,
** 57% of daily gross salary for a salary between 2,118 € and 12,680 €
The net amount of the daily allowance cannot be lower than €28.38 or higher than 75% of the daily reference wage.
Benefit is paid for every day of the week. On top of a “paid holidays-waiting period” a maximum 75-day waiting period applies in the case of non-statutory separation pay, as well as a seven-day deferred compensation payment.
The duration of benefit payments is based on the principle of “a day of work equals a day of compensation.” Benefits are paid for a minimum period of 122 days and a maximum period of 730 days (24 months) for private-sector employees aged under 50, and 1,095 days (36 months) for employees aged over 50.
Return-to-work incentive measures:
The May 14, 2014, agreement on unemployment compensation set forth measures that encourage jobseekers to return to work, even on a short-term contract. They are applicable from October 1st 2014.
Roll-over entitlements:
This programme allows a jobseeker who is receiving unemployment benefits to take one or more jobs and perform a total of 150 hours or more of work without losing the entitlements s/he had acquired at the time of his/her first application for benefits. This means that the jobseeker can add the new entitlements earned from a short period of employment onto the entitlements that had not been used when employment was resumed.
For more information, visit the UNEDIC website.
Earning a salary while receiving unemployment benefits:
This could already be done before the May 2014 agreement, but the rules have been changed. It is now possible to earn a salary while receiving unemployment benefits on the one condition that the total amount of the salary plus the unemployment benefit not exceed the average gross salary earned prior to registration as a jobseeker.
For any given month, the benefits paid if a salary is being earned at the same time are calculated as follows:
Benefits paid during the month = Benefits that would be due without employment – 70% of the gross monthly salary earned from the new employment.
More information is available on the UNEDIC website