In the first six months of 2022, 173,000 private sector employment contracts were terminated following dismissal for serious or gross negligence, including 123,000 for abandonment of post. Sergey Nivens / stock.adobe.com
According to Dares, around 50,000 people were laid off for this reason and benefited from unemployment insurance, over the first six months of 2022.
The subject had been debated in Parliament. During the examination of the bill on unemployment insurance, in December, the vote of article 4 opposed the groups between them. At the time, the government and the LR group had proposed to fight against job abandonment, by preventing workers using it from benefiting from unemployment insurance. “An employee who abandons his position has access to more favorable compensation conditions than an employee who resigns”had criticized Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labour.
The government supported this change following massive feedback from business leaders on the phenomenon, but did not have official figures. It is now done: the Dares – the statistical service of the Ministry of Labor – published a study, this Wednesday, returning to this subject. The phenomenon is not anecdotal: in the first six months of 2022, 173,000 private sector employment contracts were terminated following dismissal for serious or gross negligence, including 123,000 for abandonment of post. This even makes it the “first reason before those of a disciplinary nature”, specifies the document. 116,000 of them were also on permanent contracts. And, behind, about 50,000 employees have benefited from unemployment insurance.
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An employee is considered to have abandoned his position when he leaves his job without having informed or obtained the authorization of his employer. For the time being, this situation can give rise to dismissal or early termination of CDD for serious or gross negligence and potentially opens up a right to unemployment insurance.
People who take longer to find a job
The analysis also specifies that in the three months following abandonment, 55% of people register with Pôle Emploi and 37% find a new job at least once. Of these, 30% find a permanent contract. This proportion is identical to that observed for employees terminating their permanent contract through mutual agreement, who are also potentially eligible for unemployment insurance. On the other hand, these 30% are much lower than the proportion of employees who submitted their resignation and then found a permanent contract within three months (69%). And they are not entitled to unemployment insurance.
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Moreover, in the three months following the abandonment of their CDI, 43% of employees apply for unemployment insurance. This is less than people ending their CDI by a contractual termination. The study also specifies that this phenomenon affects all types of sectors but is particularly marked among employees in trade, transport, accommodation and catering. And slightly less in industry and construction.
According to Carole Grandjean, Minister Delegate in charge of Vocational Education and Training, this phenomenon is “constantly increasing”. However, we will have to wait for a second study on the subject to compare the figures.