The rules will be relaxed to benefit from unemployment rights.
This is still a very sensitive subject. Unemployment – especially benefits paid when one is not working – is often the subject of a political battle between the government and employers on one side, and the unions on the other. At a time when it is more a question of increasing working hours, a tightening of the rules for obtaining remuneration from France Travail was feared. Ultimately it won’t be the case.
It is even the opposite that will happen since, in a few weeks: the rules will be relaxed. It will be “easier” to receive unemployment than currently. Good news for the French who have a series of short and precarious contracts in particular.
Currently, to qualify for unemployment benefits in France, it is necessary to have worked at least six months in the last two years. These benefits, paid monthly, partially compensate for loss of salary, provided that the termination of employment is involuntary. Thus, only the end of a fixed-term contract (CDD), a conventional termination or dismissal gives rise to unemployment. In certain exceptional cases, resignation may also provide access, but this remains subject to very strict conditions.
In 2025, the rules for receiving unemployment should change. If, currently, you must have worked six months over the last two years, this will be relaxed from 1er January. The new provisions provide that a person who has worked five months (or more than six) over the last two years can now have access to unemployment. A slight relaxation which comes after a much tougher first project, planned by the former government (having worked 8 months in the last 20) but abandoned with the dissolution.
These new provisions are the result of a compromise reached between all employers’ organizations and trade union organizations. All this has not yet been officially and definitively recorded – some marginal negotiations are still ongoing – but there is (very) little doubt that these future rules will come into force as soon as the year 2025 changes.
On the other hand, to receive unemployment, it will always be necessary to justify that the situation is suffered and not wanted. Thus, only the end of a fixed-term contract, a conventional termination or dismissal allows you to become unemployed. In some cases, it is also possible to resign and receive it, but many special conditions must be met.