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Resignation and unemployed workers: a right to unemployment under conditions since the entry into force of the "Professional Future" law
As a reminder, an employee could only receive unemployment benefit when his or her employment contract was terminated by redundancy or contractual termination. However, when an employee resigned, they could not expect to receive this allowance. Law No. 2018-771 of September 5, 2018, extended unemployment insurance benefits to workers who resigned and had a retraining project. Furthermore, it should be noted that the law establishes the principle of extending unemployment compensation to self-employed workers, who will be paid, under certain conditions, in the event of involuntary cessation of their activity. Two implementing decrees were published in the Official Journal: – Decree No. 2019-796 of July 26, 2019, concerning new entitlements to compensation, various measures relating to unemployed workers, and the pilot program for a job search log; – Decree No. 2019-797 of July 26, 2019, concerning the unemployment insurance system. In the event of an employee's resignation, Decree No. 2019-797 of July 26, 2019, stipulates that the resigning employee must meet certain conditions to be eligible for unemployment insurance: – be fit for work; – actively seek employment; – meet specific prior employment requirements; – pursue a serious professional retraining project requiring training or a project to create or take over a business. Article 2 of the Decree of July 26, 2019, concerning the unemployment insurance scheme, states that "have right to the return to work assistance allowance for employees whose job loss is involuntary. This condition applies to employees whose job loss results from: – dismissal; – the end of a fixed-term employment contract, including a contract for a specific purpose, or a temporary work contract; – the early termination of a fixed-term employment contract, including a contract for a specific purpose, or a temporary work contract, at the employer's initiative; – a termination of the employment contract resulting from one of the causes listed in Article L. 1233-3 of the French Labor Code. The retraining project must be genuine and serious, as certified by the regional joint interprofessional commission, established in each region specifically to provide financial support for professional transition projects. The employee must therefore submit an application to the commission by any means that provides proof of the date of submission.The commission will decide on the seriousness of the request, based on various criteria. If the decision is positive, the employee has six months to apply for unemployment benefits. Regarding the requirement concerning prior employment: The employee must demonstrate a period of affiliation corresponding to periods of employment completed in one or more companies. This period must be at least 1,300 days worked during the 60 months preceding the end of the contract. Regarding the job search undertaken by the resigning employee: During the retraining project, to meet the job search requirement for unemployment insurance benefits, the worker simply needs to be registered as a job seeker and take the necessary steps to implement their project. These steps will be monitored by Pôle emploi (the French public employment service) no later than six months after retraining, which may decide to remove the beneficiary from the register if no genuine job search is taking place. Finally, regarding the duration of compensation: The compensation period giving rise to the payment of the allowance cannot be less than 182 calendar days or more than 730 calendar days. For the unemployed employees aged at least 53 and under 55 on the end date of their employment contractThis limit is increased to 913 calendar days. For unemployed workers aged 55 and over on the date their employment contract ended, this limit is increased to 1,095 calendar days. The following are deducted from this number of calendar days: days falling outside a period during which the individual had an employment contract, corresponding to: – maternity leave and periods of compensation granted to the adoptive mother or father; – maternity leave compensated under supplementary insurance; – periods of sick leave exceeding fifteen consecutive days; – periods of work-related accidents and periods of occupational illness; – periods of professional activity not declared by the job seeker. This law aims to secure career paths and provides individuals with the means to reinvent themselves in their career choices and projects.
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