A new measure could well further tighten the conditions of access to unemployment insurance.
If being unemployed is an uncomfortable situation, it risks becoming more and more difficult to live with in the coming years. Indeed, an additional constraint could well arise for those who find themselves unemployed in the years to come. If the bad news is confirmed, it will be more necessary than ever to avoid layoffs, and even conventional terminations.
While the government continues to refine the unemployment insurance reform, several measures are being considered to tighten the conditions of access to benefits. Among those which will almost certainly be implemented, we find in particular the reduction of the duration of compensation and the extension of the working time necessary to benefit from unemployment insurance. The measures adopted will come into force on July 1, 2024.
In addition to these two new rules, the Minister of Labor, Catherine Vautrin, mentioned during a recent meeting with the unions a new line of thought from the government which could also be applied from July 1. A measure that Sophie Binel, general secretary of the CGT, describes as “perhaps more violent than the savings requested during the previous negotiation”.
The measure in question concerns the specific deferred compensation. This system provides that in the event of dismissal or conventional termination, unemployment compensation does not begin immediately upon the end of the contract. A waiting period is calculated based on the amounts received during the transaction, or when the termination compensation is greater than the legal or conventional minimum. Currently, this period is capped at six months, but the government is considering either extending it to eight months or more, or returning to the method allowing the number of days of delay to be calculated, or even integrating other bonuses into the calculation, such as non-competition clause compensation.
Concretely, this new measure means that certain people who have been made redundant or have signed a contractual termination will have to wait longer before being able to benefit from unemployment benefits. By postponing the triggering of compensation, the government wants to encourage job seekers to find work more quickly, because without other resources, they will be forced to draw on the money received from their employer when they leave. This measure also aims to prevent some from combining legal severance pay and unemployment benefit.
