signing on AND working?

[opas]

I met a neighbour today who I hadn't seen for a while. I asked if he was working as I hadn't seen him around the village. He said no he was still unemployed but in his terms said he was allowed to"touch l`argent"  which I take to mean that he is still registered and claiming his unemployment benifit but was allowed to earn a little too.

I have had a look at assedic website but cannot find anything that relates to that, does anyone on here know?  I am curious at what hours can be worked whilst claiming  this benifit or what amount is allowed to be earned. Not that it will affect me as i do sign on as unemployed but have no right to benifit.

[Will]

We have a friend down south who, having been in salaried employment in France, is eligible for unemployment benefit, which he claims. However, he is registered as an artist (and is a genuine, and good, one too, who holds exhibitions) and he is allowed to earn extra money from sale of art etc. I think it's in the order of 12-15,000€ per annum before his benefits get cut, but don't quote me on that. It's far more than he could realistically achieve from sale of paintings unless he sold a couple every week. Round our way, there are plenty of unemployed, usually those who say they can't work through sickness, who do a lot of odd jobs. They are strictly au noir, argent sous la table though.

[Clair]

It is possible to sign on and work.

Mr Clair has done just that since January 07.

Mr Clair took a job through Manpower in Jan 2006. After about seven months, Manpower said they had to "rest" him from this particular job. He signed on as unemployed and started receiving unemployment benefit.

Manpower contacted him again in Jan 07 and offered him the same job, again for 7 months. He was advised by the ASSEDIC to continue signing on rather than start a new file all over again later on. They knew that his job was through an employemnt agency and was not permanent.

Every month, he declared how many hours he had worked and how much his gross salary was. He also had to send copies of his payslips and if there was shortfall between his salary and his unemployment benefit, the difference was credited to his bank account.

This also works in reverse and if, as has happened, he under-declared his salary (easily done when the payslip are 3 weeks late), he has had to repay any amount overpaid by the ASSEDIC.

[Gemini_man]

 I would have thought opas's neighbour was merely saying that he is receiving benefit - the same for "toucher le R.M.I."

Non?

[opas]

I do underdstand that you can work and sign on as unemployed, I do that myself as I only work by cheques emploi for a few hours a week and would still like some extra work, so i can do this, but I am not eligable for Unemployment benifit. Mr O has also been in the same situation as Clairs husband. The man I spoke to has mentioned before that he is allowed to earn a little legaly and still claim his benefits.........I am curious about how much on top of the Chomager allowance is allowed.

[samdebretagne]

It all depends on how much you get in chômage in the first place.  If you are hired on for a short-term or part-time job for example, and will not be earning as much as you previously did, you are sometimes still eligible for chômage, just not the whole amount.  Let's say Mr. X was getting 800€, and was then hired for a few hours a week to do some yard-work for 200€ a month.  He then still has the option of getting 600€ from l'ASSEDIC. 

They've started doing this more and more recently for a few reasons - one, so that people won't be afraid to declare their odd-jobs for fear that they'll be kicked out of the system, and two, so that they won't turn down a part-time job for fear of losing all of their chômage.