French Labour Code
In forceI.-In companies not subject to the provisions of article L. 321-4-3, the employer is obliged to offer each employee whose redundancy is being considered for economic reasons the benefit of a personalised redeployment agreement enabling him or her to benefit, after the termination of his or her employment contract, from psychological support, guidance, support, assessment of professional skills and training designed to promote redeployment.
Notwithstanding the provisions of article L. 933-6, these actions may be implemented and financed by using the remaining rights that the employee has acquired at the date of the termination of his contract, under the individual right to training provided for in article L. 933-1. The duration of the rights corresponding to this balance, capped at twenty hours per year of seniority and one hundred and twenty hours over six years, is doubled. However, only a sum corresponding to the training allowance provided for in article L. 933-4 is payable.
The employee is placed under the status of vocational training trainee during the execution of the personalised redeployment agreement.
If the employee agrees, the employment contract is deemed to have been terminated by mutual agreement of the parties. This termination of the employment contract, which does not include a notice period or compensation in lieu of notice, entitles the employee to the compensation provided for in article L. 122-9 and, where applicable, to the balance of what the compensation in lieu of notice would have been if it had been for a period of more than two months. An employee whose legal notice period as provided for in Article L. 122-6 is less than two months will receive, as soon as the employment contract is terminated, a sum equivalent to the compensation in lieu of notice that he would have received if he had refused. The social security and tax regimes applicable to these sums are those applicable to the notice period.
An agreement concluded and approved under the conditions set out in article L. 351-8 defines the terms and conditions for applying the provisions of the previous paragraphs, in particular the formalities and deadlines for the employee's response to the employer's proposal for a personalised redeployment agreement, the duration of this agreement and the terms and conditions for adapting it to the specific characteristics of the companies and situations of the employees concerned. It also determines the content of the psychological support, guidance, assessment, accompaniment and training actions, the terms and conditions under which they are financed, in particular under the individual right to training, and implemented by one of the bodies mentioned in articles L. 311-1 and L. 311-10, the obligations of the beneficiary of the agreement as well as the amount of the allowance paid to the beneficiary by the institution mentioned in article L. 311-7 on behalf of the body mentioned in article L. 351-21. The employer contributes to the funding of the allowance by making a payment to the bodies responsible for collection mentioned in article L. 351-21 equivalent to at least two months' salary for the person concerned, provided that the statutory period of leave provided for in article L. 122-6 is at least equal to two months.
The agreement also defines the conditions under which the body managing the unemployment insurance scheme and the employers participate in the financing of the actions provided for in the previous paragraph. It may stipulate the length of service required of the employee in order to benefit from the provisions of this article.
In the absence of an agreement or the approval of such an agreement, the measures for the application of this I and the terms and conditions for its funding are set by decree in the Conseil d'Etat.
Within the framework of an agreement signed with the body mentioned in article L. 351-21, the State contributes to the financing, in particular under the individual right to training, of expenses relating to actions undertaken within the framework of the personalised redeployment agreement.
II - Any employer not subject to the provisions of article L. 321-4-3 who dismisses an employee for economic reasons without offering him or her the benefit of a personalised redeployment agreement must pay the bodies responsible for collection mentioned in article L. 351-21 a contribution equal to two months' average gross salary over the last twelve months worked.
