.svg)
The "occupational hardship" scheme is based on the assessment and monitoring of workers' exposure to factors of exposure, on the "occupational hardship account" and the points and rights workers accumulate within this framework, as well as on measures for the prevention of occupational hardship that must be implemented. Until now, the general process was as follows:
- ASSESSMENT of employee exposure
- DOCUMENTATION of results on individual records
- SUBMISSION of results to the administration
Since the January 2014 pension reform law, an employee exposed to one or more occupational hardship factors is entitled to an occupational hardship account on which they accumulate points, granting rights: access to training for less arduous positions, the option to work part-time (without loss of pay), and finally, early retirement can be considered.
Law No. 2015-994 of August 17, 2015, on social dialogue and employment (known as the "Rebsamen Law") amends, as announced several months ago, this scheme, particularly regarding the methods for assessing exposure and the documentation of results that contribute to the occupational hardship account.
1) Abolition of the exposure prevention record (known as the "occupational hardship record")
The "Rebsamen Law" replaces the individual occupational hardship prevention record with an employer's declaration to the managing body of the personal occupational hardship prevention account. Employers must now directly declare employee exposure to occupational hardship factors, via the annual social data declaration (DADS), without first creating a record.
As a reminder or for your information, the Nominative Social Declaration (DSN) will mandatorily replace the Annual Social Data Declaration (DADS) starting January 1, 2016. The managing bodies of the personal occupational hardship prevention account (CARSAT/CNAV/MSA) must record the points corresponding to the data declared by the employer and inform the employee annually of the points accumulated.
2) Validation of extended industry agreements and approval of professional benchmarks
Under the current scheme, employers have the option to determine their employees' exposure:
- Either by evaluating exposure directly based on the factors as defined in the Labor Code (Article D. 4161-2 of the Labor Code);
- Or by relying on "typical work situations" corresponding to exposure beyond the arduousness thresholds as defined within the framework of extended collective branch agreements.
To facilitate this evaluation of employees' exposure to arduousness using professional guidelines, it is now provided that:
- branch agreements can directly determine which occupations are exposed to arduousness factors with regard to exposure thresholds, taking into account individual and collective protections;
- that in the absence of an extended branch agreement, positions, occupations, or work situations exposed beyond the arduousness thresholds can also be defined by a professional branch guideline, provided that it is approved by ministerial decree.
To safeguard approved professional guidelines and extended branch agreements, the legislator specified that an employer who applied them to declare the exposure of their workers would not be subject to either the penalty for inaccurate declaration, nor the penalties and late payment surcharges for the regularization of basic or additional contributions. As of the writing of this article, no agreement or guideline has yet been published. This work is, depending on the sector, a truly long-term endeavor...
3) Contributions for the arduousness prevention account
The floor rate of the additional contribution paid by employers to the fund responsible for financing the rights linked to the personal arduousness prevention account is lowered:
- Reduced from 0.3% to 0.1% of remuneration or earnings for employees exposed to an arduousness factor,
- Reduced from 0.6% to 0.2% of remuneration or earnings for employees who have been simultaneously exposed to several arduousness factors.
The maximum rates remain unchanged. Note that companies are exempt from their basic contribution in 2015 and 2016. Furthermore, the appeal period for an employee in case of a dispute regarding the acquisition of points on their account is reduced from three years to two years. Finally, the period during which the managing bodies of the personal arduousness prevention account can make an adjustment to the account is reduced from 5 years to 3 years (after the end of the year for which points were or should have been credited). All these changes came into effect on August 19, 2015.