chomage after 'contract seasonale'

[pol123]

I'm on my third contract determinee and  my contract states work is 'seasonal' due to being in the leisure industry despite the fact I've done 18 months full-time on the trot.  Work is has become really unpleasant and I want to look for another job but my contract states this is not allowed during my employment. The company has high staff turnover, quite a few people were on contract determinee's now the company has offered contract indeterminees to most of them...this would usually be a good thing but not here! I want to finish work at the end of my contract and look for another job. I'm pretty confident that I can get another job quickly but as a safety net want to check i can get chomage (dole) if it takes a little while. I understand that i can claim chomage at the end of my contract even if  a permanent job is offered due to the existing contract between me and the company ending...but i wondered if the fact contract states 'seasonal' makes any difference. I've worked every day, each week , every month for 18 months so hardly seasonal - i have been paying my social charges etc directly through my salary.

Pol

[Clair]

Let's clarify a few things first:

You say it's your 3rd CDD .

The rules on the CDD are very strict and technically these can only be renewed once. After the 1st renewal, the contract becomes "à durée indéterminée" (CDI). Have you checked this is the same job description?

You say your job is decribed as saisonnier.

The reason (from your employer's point of view) is that, with any other CDD, he has to pay an indemnity of a CDD is not renewed. However, this does not apply to "emplois saisonniers", so he's looking after his pocket by offering you a "contrat saisonnier".

You'll find more info here:

http://www.leparticulier.fr/vdq/vieprof/index.asp?id_index=8

http://www.pratique.fr/vieprat/emploi/contrat/daf3103.htm

http://www.infotravail.com/contrat-de-travail_560_68-p.html

[pol123]

Hi Clair

When i signed my second contract the job description had changed a little. On the last renewal, the job description didn't change at all - infact i did not sign a 'whole' new contract, simply a mini contract stating the last terms and conditions of my contract would remain the same and that this 'new' contract would run with the same terms as the last one for six months. I dont have the contract infront of me but i think there was some mention of my employer needing to pay 10 percent to me if contract does not continue. 

[Clair]

So your employer has renewed your last contract and if this is "renewed" again, it becomes in effect a CDI and different rules will apply regarding ending it.

The 10% you mention are probably paid instead of holiday pay (congés payés), as is usually the case for CDDs.

You say you do not want this CDD to be renewed:

You do not have to accept a new CDD. If you do not accept a CDD or CDI, you will most probably not qualify to receive ARE (allocation d'aide au retour à l'emploi = unemployment benefit), which is paid if unemployment is involuntary.

"L'allocation

d'aide au retour à l'emploi est versée aux salariés qui ont été

involontairement privé d'emploi et qui remplissent un certain nombre de

conditions."

The "allowance of assistance to the return to employment" is paid to employees who are involuntarily deprived of employment and who fulfill a certain number of conditions.

But it can be paid at the end of a CDD. So the idea would be for you not to be offered a CDI or new CDD in order to be able to receive unemployment benefit.

BUT (big BUT!), there are other conditions to fulfill to qualify for unemployment benefit...

more basic info in French here:

http://www.leparticulier.fr/vdq/vieprof/lire_fiche.asp?id_index=46&oparent_index=8&id_fiche=426

and on the official website (shortened link)

http://tinyurl.com/7r69m

[pol123]

Thanks for your kind help Clair. The current contract is a CDD I think as it has a definate finish date of end of February.

[pol123]

I just wondered whether partners' work is taken into consideration when chomage is applied for? My partner works part-time. I have a French friend who works full time and her husband gets chomage at a percentage of his old salary even though his wife is working but I don't like to probe further.

Applying for chomage seems complicated and I think I it would take so long to sort out that hopefully I'll have another job before its refused or granted...but I'm just a bit worried about what happens if I dont find a job as quickly as  I think i will.

In effect the company will not offer me another CDD (which i have checked yesterday and is the sort of contract I'm on). When the CDD finishes they will offer me a CDI which I do not wish to accept for proper reasons (new wage hardly covers rent, rent here has gone up and I am having some other troubles at work which mean i want to seek a new job which im not able to do if i am working for this company). I'm hoping that 'fin de contract' will be enough to entitle me to chomage for a month or so and the fact a cdi was offered wont be entered into...but will it?      

[Tourangelle]

no, what your partner has or does not have will not be taken into

account.  Unemployment benefit (I am NOT talking about RMI) is not

means tested, it is your right to claim it if you are unemployed having

worked, it has nothing to do with what somebody else in the family

might or might not do.