To achieve 40 billion euros in savings, the government could reduce its contribution to work stoppages via Health Insurance.
According to “Les Échos”, the salary coverage ceiling could be revised downwards.
Enough to undermine the purchasing power of sick employees? Not necessarily.
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The first steps of the Barnier government
What if the rules for compensation for sick leave were tightened? While the government of Michel Barnier (new window) will present its draft budget in the coming days, one thing is already certain: the executive must find 60 billion euros, including 20 billion by increasing taxes (new window) and 40 billion by lowering public spending, to improve the country’s accounts (new window). In this context, the compensation received by an employee during a work stoppage could suffer a reduction.
In any case, this is the current thinking, say this Friday, October 4 The Echoes (new window). According to the newspaper, Health Insurance could compensate less for downtime. According to current rules, from the fourth day of shutdown, the State covers 50% of the gross daily salary, within the limit of 1.8 SMIC (new window)or around 52 euros maximum. This limit is in the sights of Michel Barnier and his government: it could be lowered to 1.4 SMIC, indicates the newspaper.
An additional burden for businesses?
Concretely, Health Insurance contributes up to 50% of gross salary during sick leave for all employees receiving up to 3,180 euros gross per month. If the government decides to modify the rule, the 50% support would only be valid for people receiving a maximum of 2,473 euros gross. For employees whose remuneration is between 2473 and 3180 euros gross, this would therefore represent a loss of income compared to the current situation…
… Unless companies and insurers compensate. According to collective agreements, employers regularly compensate the remainder of the salary not paid during sick leave, sometimes helped by insurance. The measure could therefore go unnoticed for the employees affected by the reduction in the ceiling, a little less for company funds and the insurance sector.
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According to The Echoesthis plan could bring 600 million euros into the state coffers next year. Which is equivalent to 1.5% of the 40 billion less public spending planned for 2025. The savings will therefore not stop there.
