UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. A reform of the unemployment insurance fund has already been carried out, and a new one is about to see the light of day. Here is what concretely awaits you, regardless of whether you are an employee or an employer.

​[Mise à jour du jeudi 10 novembre 2022 à 12h03] The use of the a-case form becomes clearer. “Employers are asking legitimate questions and we will answer them in detail with a decree very soon,” Olivier Dussopt said this morning at Sud Radio’s microphone. The Minister of Labour confirmed that company managers will be encouraged to notify Pôle Emploi in the event that an employee twice refuses to convert his CDD or his temporary assignment into a CDI. “Pôle Emploi today has no way of knowing if an employee has previously rejected a position on a permanent contract, it is therefore necessary to reorganize the information transmission system”, hammered the tenant of rue de Grenelle, specifying that a “simple system ” will be introduced to avoid “administrative overload” for employers.

These statements come as of last Wednesday, MPs and senators who initially opposed the text eventually managed to reach an agreement on the unemployment insurance reform under a joint joint commission (CMP). This version still needs to be voted on, on November 15 in the National Assembly and on November 17 in the Senate, to be finally adopted. The Labor Minister has indicated that the text “will not change”.

The right-wing Senate had toughened the text of the presidential majority with a measure that provided for the deprivation of unemployment benefits for employees who refuse three times to convert their CDD to CDI. They had also excluded temporary workers who do not accept a CDI offered to the position filled as part of a temporary assignment from unemployment benefits.

At the end of the consultation, Senator LR, draftsman of the text in the Senate, Frédérique Puissat, told AFP, “the government did not want it, but we did not bend”. According to the senator, the compromise reached after arbitration in Matignon aligns the two scenarios: precarious benefits and unemployment benefits will be abolished for employees who twice refuse to convert their fixed-term contract or their temporary employment to CDI. For the LR Group, “unemployment insurance is and must remain an insurance system to alleviate life’s difficulties; it can no longer be a window that opens rights that can be recharged and used at will”.

On the Senate website, a press release states that the Joint Joint Committee has also officially opened Validation of Acquired Skills (VAE) to anyone whose experience is related to that certification. Now regarding the possibility that the executive board can modulate the parameters of the unemployment insurance by decree, the agreement established in the joint joint committee, on the other hand, goes back to the deadline of December 31, 2023, which was voted in the national assembly. The senators had pushed it back to August 31, which would have left less time for consultations, according to the majority.

What is the purpose of the a-cashier form?

This new legislative phase comes as the government has begun discussions with the social partners on the reform of unemployment insurance. In addition to the expansion of the compensation rules as a result of the 2019 reform, the project must allow the government to to adjust the plan depending on the situation. The heart of the project is based on decree graduation of the conditions for receiving unemployment insurance according to the economic situation. Clearly, you need to ensure that the unemployment insurance system is “stricter when too many jobs are unfilled, more generous when unemployment is high” to address recruitment problems in many sectors (construction, hospitality-recovery…), explained Emmanuel Macron during presidential campaign.

The whole difficulty now lies in determining the criteria for changing the unemployment insurance system according to the economic situation (conditions for granting unemployment benefits, duration of compensation, etc.). The final meeting of the negotiations will take place on November 21, for an application of the decree “as soon as possible”, had insisted on the cabinet of Olivier Dussopt.

What is unemployment insurance for?

Unemployment insurance is a benefit paid to private sector employees who have lost their jobs. The right to compensation is calculated on the basis of the unemployed person’s previous salary. Unemployment insurance plays two roles: it helps an unemployed person financially to cope with his loss of employment by maintaining his purchasing power and living conditions. It also offers a solution to return to work through personal support. The allowances are paid during periods of education, business establishment or retraining. A reform was initiated in 2019, and a new one should see the light of day before the end of 2022.

Unemployment insurance reform: what has already changed for Pole Emploi beneficiaries?

The A-cashier form has been in operation since 2019, but new changes have been implemented in 2021 and 2022. Here are the four main points in the A-cashier form:

• recalculation of the allowance;
• reduction of unemployment benefits (degressivity) for high incomes;
• bonus-malus on the unemployment benefit;
• change of the minimum working hours to receive unemployment benefits.

This reform allows compensation for self-employed and resigning employees with a retraining project under certain conditions. The minimum duration of work to receive unemployment benefits is increased from 4 months to 6 months of work during the 24 months preceding the end of the last contract.

A-kasse and compensation, how does it work?

Unemployment insurance or ARE (back to work money) is calculated from the income of the past 12 months, taking into account the days worked. The A-cashier reform contains new calculation rules that determine an average monthly income including working days and periods of inactivity. For high salaries, a degressivity may apply to the size of the allowance, with a reduction of 30% after 8 months of compensation.

Private unemployment fund, for whom?

Private unemployment insurance is insurance that makes it possible to compensate for the drop in income after a loss of work. It is aimed at business managers as a main insurance, the latter not benefiting from Pôle Emploi support. It can also be about employees who want help in addition to the traditional social security fund.

Connection to the a-kassen

Unemployment insurance is compulsory for all employees in the private sector and is financed by them in the form of salary deductions. All private employers must join the social security fund. Solidarity, the allowance makes it possible to best support former employees with low incomes, who are favored over those who benefit from a high salary.