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Unemployment benefit


Lou
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Hi

Just wondering if anyone has any recent personal experience they can share. I'm trying to work out what unemployment benefit I would be entitled to.

I'm currently working full-time but my boss is going to ask me to change to half-time due to the economic crisis. Before I say yes, I'm trying to compare what I would earn part-time with what I might get if I were to say no and be made redundant.

I think I've established that I'd be entitled to be paid for 2 years, but someone I know suggested that the initial amount (roughly 75 % of my salary) is reduced on a sliding scale over that period - ie I wouldn't get the equivalent of 75% salary for the full 2 years, I've searched on Google and read stuff on the service public and pole emploi websites but can't find anything about this.

Any help would be appreciated.

I am fluent in French so French website links also welcomed.

Also, does anyone know if I can contact pole emploi just for advice - the website just talks about signing on, which obviously is not relevant (yet)

Thanks

Lou

 

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This might help re "how much": http://poleemploiactu.fr/are-allocation-aide-retour-emploi/

As far as advice is concerned, it is worth a try, but I have found that the willingness to inform has decreased drastically since the ANPE and ASSEDIC meshed a couple of years ago. The centralised number means you never speak to the same person and the person you speak to is often unwilling to go outside the normal script.

If you choose to ask them for advice, make it face-to-face.

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http://www.pole-emploi.fr/candidat/le-montant-de-votre-allocation-@/suarticle.jspz?id=4125

http://droit-finances.commentcamarche.net/faq/282-chomage-le-calcul-des-indemnites-assedic

You will have to be careful that you are not thought to have sought to be dismissed.

As in other countries there are moves to make the receipt of benefits dependent on accepting 'formation'

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Before Mr Clair had a FT job, he would work 9 months on the trot for Manpower, then sign on for 3 months until Manpower would offer him the same position again. This went on for several years.

I had been advised early on by an ASSEDIC person to keep him signed on as "unemployed" during the 9 months when he would be partially employed, to keep the file open in case Manpower decided not to keep him. This meant  that he (I) had to sign on online every month, declaring the numbers of hours he'd worked as well as how much he'd earned that month .

When the number of days worked was lower than the number of working days in the month (21 days out of 25 for instance), he would get unemployment benefit to make up the difference, at whatever his daily rate had been calculated as.

Signing on whilst being employed (even employed part-time) also meant that he was using up his annual allowance (the number of weeks he could claim unemployment benefit for, even if he was not actually getting any benefit), which meant he (I) had to re-apply every year, having to prove his entitlement all over again, even though he (I)'d been declaring the hours he'd worked over the previous 9 months...

Crazy loop...

It was a bleeding nightmare...

The newly-formed Pôle-Emploi (ASSEDIC+ANPE) office would send a letter demanding attendance at appointments set at 9am, which meant a 1-hr drive in freezing road conditions at sparrow's-fart o'clock. The letter stated non-attendance without justifiable reason would result in the loss of benefits, but it was impossible to get a reply on what was a justifiable reason.

I once emailed them using the link on their website, and followed up with a letter, to let them know Mr Clair had found a job and ask if he really needed to be there at 9am when he was working nights... No reply. When he turned up at the appointed hour, he was told he should have let them know, then was sent on his way...

This did not happen just once. There was no semblance of communication between whoever answered the phone on 3949 and the Pôle-Emploi employee who was following of Mr Clair's file, but there was no way of contacting this person directly either.

My advice to whoever has to deal with Pôle-Emploi is to keep note of every single communication, whether by phone, mail or email, whether instigated or received. Arm yourself with immense patience and leave all logic at the door.

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"Signing on whilst being employed (even employed part-time) also meant

that he was using up his annual allowance (the number of weeks he could

claim unemployment benefit for, even if he was not actually getting any

benefit), which meant he (I) had to re-apply every year, having to prove

his entitlement all over again, even though he (I)'d been declaring the

hours he'd worked over the previous 9 months...

Crazy loop..."

I know that one!.

I had several CDDs which amounted to 9 months a year on average.

As Clair says each time I was between contracts I was using up my allowance, so when I finished my final contract I was only eligible for a reduced period (6 months I think) instead of the two years..

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[quote user="NormanH"]I had several CDDs which amounted to 9 months a year on average.

As Clair says each time I was between contracts I was using up my allowance, so when I finished my final contract I was only eligible for a reduced period (6 months I think) instead of the two years..[/quote]

I know that one too!

When Mr Clair's never-ending cycle of CDDs with Manpower actually ended with 1-week notice, he was told he did not qualify for any unemployment benefit, as he had been claiming for too long. When he (I) pointed out that he had just finished a 9-month work period, I was told the file had been closed and he (I) would have to start all over again.

His claim was approved just as he was offered a CDD which was turned into a CDI later.

I forgot to mention the Pôle-Emploi smart-alec who refused to discuss Mr Clair's case with me, for privacy reasons he said, even though Mr Clair had told him he had difficulty understanding him over the phone and he would prefer it if he talked to me instead.

The funny (not really...) thing is that Mr Clair was getting more money when on benefits than he is now, working full-time.

Unemployment benefits are calculated as a % of the previous salary and as Mr Clair was working evening and nights shifts, his hourly rate was enhanced by 25 or 50%, depending on the shift. This made his unemployment benefit substantially higher than his current monthly income.

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[quote user="Clair"]The funny (not really...) thing is that Mr Clair was getting more money when on benefits than he is now, working full-time. [/quote]

And there-in lies the rub ... which is why, explained my young, next door neighbours, they once every so often, when one of them has had their employment ended, take benefits instead for as long as they can as they can bring in more money that way.

What a mad system ... but it seems to exist in the UK too in that you can be better off on benefits due to the add-ons you lose if you are employed full-time.

Sue

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[quote user="suein56"]... you can be better off on benefits due to the add-ons you lose if you are employed full-time.

Sue[/quote]

I don't know about any add-ons...?

Mr Clair's Manpower job had been the same for several years and had it not been for a new broom determined to make his (her?) mark in the factory where Manpower supplies 80% or more of manual labour, I know that Manpower would have been happy to keep sending him there. They did offer other jobs there, but in an other capacity altogether.

As it turned out, 7 out of 10 of the team were Manpower people and all lost their job on the same night.

They were told on the Wednesday that due to a "restructuration", their weekly contract would not be renewed after their Friday night-shift. The 3 actual factory employees must have been "restructured"...

Mr Clair (I) immediately sent his CV for a permanent job, but he never even got a reply (no surprise there, this had been the case every time he had applied).

Then he (we) found out he did not qualify for unemployment benefit...

As things stand now, he gets less money, but better job security and assured working hours.

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="suein56"]... you can be better off on benefits due to the add-ons you lose if you are employed full-time.

Sue[/quote]

I don't know about any add-ons...? [/quote]

Apologies Clair, I was referring to the UK when talking about add-ons, which can then be lost when gainful fulltime employment is secured.

Sue

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I think I may have answered part of my own question at least.

In

case it's useful/interesting for others to know - it seems it used to

be the case that the amount you received as unemployment was reduced by a

percentage every 6 mths or so, however it was changed around about 2008/2009

(as far as I can tell from internet searching) and now remains the same

throughout the period you're entitled to claim.

Speaking to a

friend, it seems that the Pole Emploi are becoming ever more strict

regarding active job hunting, turning down "unsuitable" job offers and

sending you off on training courses. All understandable I suppose,

especially given the potentially high amounts you could be paid

(relative to the UK at least).

Lou

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[quote user="Lou"]... it seems that the Pole Emploi are becoming ever more strict

regarding active job hunting, turning down "unsuitable" job offers and

sending you off on training courses. [/quote]

Last year, my neighbour was sacked from the part-time job she'd held for 30 years in the village shop (she accepted a settlement for unfair dismissal last week). She had to register as unemployed and has shown me the very exciting job offers she's received from Pôle-Emploi:

  • Office cleaner, 1 hour a week, 20km away
  • Bar/hotel cleaner in the village, 45 mn Mon to Sat for 3 months last summer

  • Food waitress in a bar, 11:30 to 14:00, Mon to Fri

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[quote user="Lou"]How much does it cost an employer to offer a job of 1 hour per week? Insane.....

Do employers have to pay to list with Pole Emploi, do they get any benefit in offering these tiny jobs perhaps?[/quote]

I think there is some financial advantage for small businesses to take on unemployed people, in reduced employer's contributions cost or something along those lines.

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Good Luck Francis - are you in or near a large-ish town/city? I would imagine work is a bit easier to come by in that sort of area (I live in a very rural area!), though obviously it depends on what you looking for.

Lou

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