New Union Agreement On Unemployment Benefits

On March 22, 2014, employer and employee unions agreed to a new agreement on unemployment benefits (Accord National Interprofessionnel) which must be approved by the French government before becoming effective. This agreement impacts the extent to which an employee's unemployment benefits are accumulated when starting new employment and also extends the period of time before which an employee is able to receive unemployment benefits if he/she received a termination payment which exceeded the amount legally required to be paid on termination.

Specifically, the new agreement allows job-seekers to carry over their rights to unemployment benefits when they find new employment. Under the current system, employees starting a new position can partially lose their unemployment benefits when they start new employment until such benefits are reaccrued.