international employment law firm alliance L&E Global
France

France: September 2022: a month for social reform

Published: © 29-09-2022

Two laws passed on the 16th of August contain numerous social measures to protect the wealth/purchasing power of the French.

Amongst the main innovative measures are the following:

  • creation of a “value-sharing bonus” with no social security charges (up to 3,000 EUR or 6,000 EUR in certain cases) as of the first of July 2022.
  • Incentive measures the aim of which is to get professional branches to renegotiate their agreed minimum wage levels.
  • the opportunity for beneficiaries of employee profit-sharing plans to request the early release of up to €10,000 of their savings to purchase goods or services whilst benefiting from a favourable social and tax regime.
  • a broader scope for the use of meal vouchers. The exemption ceiling for employer contributions allocated to meal vouchers is raised to €5.92 from the 1st of September until the 31st of December 2022.
  • 4% increase in pension and welfare payments.
  • the exemption ceiling for overtime and complementary hours is raised from €5,000 to €7,500.
  • the monetization of the “JRTT” working time reduction scheme from the first of January 2022 to the 31st of December 2025.
  • several measures pertaining to transportation costs.
  • the ability to apply the “partial activity” scheme to employees who are deemed “vulnerable” with respect to hours not worked as of September the first up until a date that is yet to be determined, but which should be no later than the 31st of January 2023.

Where remuneration is concerned, it is important to note that the legal minimum hourly wage level (“Smic”) has been raised as of the first of August 2022, and now amounts to €11.07.

Finally, companies’ internal regulations documents (“règlement intérieur”) must be amended to reflect the obligations arising from the law improving whistle-blowers’ protection.

Author
Joël Grangé
grangé@flichy.com
+ 33 (0)1 56 62 30 00

Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel

From hiring to leave, payroll to employee savings, many areas of labor relations are changing. This will require internal implementation by HR departments.