6,500 companies will be penalized in September for their misuse of short contracts

This is the last stone of the 2019 unemployment insurance reform. The “bonus-malus” on employer contributions intended to fight against the abuse of short contracts will enter into force in September, but will only concern for its first year 18,000 companies, of which a large third will be penalised.

The “bonus malus” consists of modulating the contribution rate ofcompany unemployment insurance (between 3% and 5.05%) based on their use of short contracts. For this, the State looks at the “separation rate” of companies, that is to say the number of ends of employment contracts (excluding resignations) or temporary assignments accompanied by registration with Pôle emploi, relative to the company’s workforce.

The amount of the bonus or penalty was calculated by comparing the separation rate of companies between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022 and the median rate in their sector of activity.

A limited scope

VSThis measure, strongly opposed by employers, aims to encourage companies to extend the duration of the employment contracts offered, and was presented by the government as the counterpart of the rules tightening unemployment benefits. But its scope is limited. It only targets companies with more than 11 employees in seven major sectors that consume a lot of short contracts (including accommodation and catering, food manufacturing, transport), selected because they had an average separation rate in 2017 -2019 greater than 150%, i.e. more than three short contracts for two permanent contracts, according to the Ministry of Labor.

However, for the first year of application, the companies most affected by the health crisis (in particular in the hotel and catering industry and transport) were exempted from the bonus-malus. In the end, according to the Ministry of Labour, approximately 18,000 companies employing 1.3 million employees will see their contribution modified in September. Among them, 63% are winners and 37% losers.