Charles Touboul has just passed a great oral which he will remember. Director of legal affairs for social ministries, it was mainly he who defended the government’s position on Thursday, June 10, during a hearing at the Council of State devoted to the reform of unemployment insurance. During a little more than three hours of debates, the senior official crossed swords with the lawyers of seven unions and four organizations of guide-lecturers who had seized in summary the high court in order to obtain the suspension of the decree of March 30, relating to compensation for job seekers. With three other members of the administration, he also had to face the very specific questions of Anne Egerszegi, the president of the session: a test, at times, since the magistrate went so far as to say that she was “A little dubious” on some of the responses provided by executive representatives.
Thursday’s hearing is the umpteenth episode in a two-year-old clash between the government and the workers’ centers. At the origin of the dispute, there is the will of the power in place to save money while fighting the proliferation of short contracts, which would be favored by some of the rules of unemployment insurance. With this in mind, a decree was published in July 2019: it fundamentally modifies the method of calculating the daily reference wage (SJR) – the parameter used to determine the amount of the allowance paid to job seekers. The measure leads to a substantial drop in the sums granted to people alternating odd jobs and inactivity, compared to what they would have received before the reform: a choice justified by the fight against “permittence” – these situations where employees work continuously. intermittently. The device is coupled to another mechanism called ” bonus Malus “ : it reduces the contributions of companies with a stable workforce and increases the contributions of employers who frequently separate from their employees.
Initially scheduled for 1er April 2020, the entry into force of the new SJR was postponed due to the health crisis. Then the Council of State got involved, following an appeal initiated by four unions (CFE-CGC, CGT, FO, Solidaires): the high court annulled, in November 2020, the provisions on the modalities calculation on the grounds that they wore “Breach of the principle of equality”, with deviations that can go “From simple to quadruple” between two individuals with the same number of working hours. This is why another decree, dated March 30, was taken: it intends to correct the situation thanks to a floor which mitigates the reduction in benefits.
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