- This Wednesday, the President of the Republic revealed to the social partners the evolution of the rules for compensation for partial unemployment, which are tightening.
- Two systems will now coexist: on the one hand, partial unemployment under ordinary law, less generous from October 1; and on the other hand the long-term partial activity, which retains the same levels of compensation, but subject to agreement with the unions.
- The Elysée, on the other hand, has not made any announcement on the evolution of the rules of unemployment insurance, a priority subject for the unions. Because of the crisis, they claim to reverse the reform, which has started to apply since November 2019.
These announcements were as dreaded as expected. This Wednesday, Emmanuel Macron received the social partners to reveal to them the new rules for compensation for partial unemployment. While the economic situation is of unprecedented severity, this device has enabled companies to get through the first phase of the crisis without laying off workers.
Trade unions and employers alike feared a too brutal drop in partial unemployment, that is to say from July 1, and finally get a little bit of respite, according to information transmitted by the Elysée to the press upstream of This meeting.
From 84% to 72% of the net
It is only from October 1 that the “classic” partial unemployment, which millions of workers know today, will go down a notch. Up to now, the employees concerned have received a minimum of 84% of their net salary for non-working hours. In the fall, the minimum to be paid will drop to 72% of net salary from 1.3 times the minimum wage (but will remain at 100% at the minimum wage). For higher remuneration, the base to which this rate will be applied will be capped at 4.5 times the minimum wage.
On the employer side, the State will take care of 60% of these allowances, against 85% as it had been since the beginning of June, and 100% from March to May. This support will last three months, renewable once, and provided jobs are maintained.
Long-term partial unemployment with conditions
To escape these less favorable compensation conditions, another system will exist in parallel, starting July 1. The long-term partial activity will be used to treat companies that have been weakened by the crisis for a long time, such as the automobile and aviation industries. It may last up to two years, in phases of six months renewable. In this case, the compensation conditions will be broadly the same as today: 100% at the minimum wage and at least 84% of the net hourly rate per non-working hour from 1.15 minimum wage. The State will also cover the educational costs of the training provided during this period.
However, access to this device will be subject to conditions. On the one hand, public aid will not go beyond a 40% reduction in working time: no more high-level, unconditional support for companies that are completely shut down . On the other hand, to have access to this compensation, the company will have to conclude an agreement with the unions before October. Or assert a branch agreement, if it exists.
If the unions will be able to take advantage of this to negotiate (or not) firm commitments to maintain jobs, in any case, the State does not require any condition in the last resort. In other words, a long-term partial activity agreement may coexist with redundancies. This flexibility is, according to the executive, a condition for companies to decide to use partial activity. The stake is not to avoid all the dismissals but to limit the breakage as much as possible, explains in substance the Elysée.
No announcements on unemployment insurance
While arbitrations were also hoped regarding unemployment insurance, no announcement was made despite the crisis and the 900,000 job cuts expected by the end of the year, according to Unédic. Since November 2019, the conditions of access to unemployment benefits have been tightened, with the transition to a minimum of 6 months worked in the last 24 months to claim rights, against 4 months out of 28 months previously.
No word either on the evolution of the method of calculating the daily reference salary as well as on the degressive compensation of executives, which the executive had postponed to September, given the confinement. For the unions, unanimously worried about the consequences of these rules on the most precarious workers, the lobbying work is therefore still far from finished.
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- Elysium
- Economic crisis
- Unemployment
- Economy