Parliamentarians lost an hour of debate. On Monday, October 27, within the framework of the first debates of the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) 2026, the deputies of the Social Affairs Commission of the National Assembly restored the employer contribution on conventional severance and retirement compensation to its initial rate of 30%.
In article 8 of the bill, the Government wanted to increase this rate to 40%, with the aim of putting an end to the abusive recourse to this method of terminating an employment contract which, in addition to giving the right to significant compensation calculated based on seniority in the company, allows outgoing workers to subsequently benefit from unemployment insurance.
More than 500,000 conventional completions in 2024
In 2024, 514,627 conventional termination agreements were concluded, while in 2014 there were only 310,477. An increase of 65% in the space of ten years.
If these methods of terminating an employment contract are increasingly popular among employees who want to move elsewhere without having the intention of simply resigning, employers also take advantage of conventional termination when they wish to part ways with an employee, while protecting themselves from the risk of litigation before the Labor Court.
Confusion in the Social Affairs Commission
However, the restoration of 30% of the business contribution to conventional dismissal and retirement compensation is quite surprising.
Indeed, on Monday in the commission, voices were raised not to suppress article 8 of the Social Security budget because it contained two divisive measures: on the one hand, the increase in the corporate contribution rate to 40% on conventional compensation for dismissal and retirement, and on the other, the establishment of a social package of 8% on salary supplements such as restaurant vouchers, gift vouchers or vacation vouchers.
“We have two topics in the same article, which is a bit annoying because I think we can have a different approach on these two topics,” said the general rapporteur of the PLFSS and right-wing Republican deputy for Meurthe-et-Moselle, Thibault Bazin. Regarding conventional layoffs and retirements, the latter also stressed that the increase in the business contribution to 40% “is still much lower, for the employer, than if he had the usual rate of all contributions that are planned at 47%.”
Somewhat surprised that these two measures appear in the same article, the Social Affairs Committee first preferred to adopt a compromise amendment, presented by general rapporteur Thibault Bazin: this only eliminates the 8% social package on salary supplements, without modifying the increase in the employer contribution to 40% on conventional dismissal and retirement compensation.
However, later, the Social Affairs Commission adopted, thanks in particular to the support of the National Rally (RN) which called for the complete abolition of Article 8, an amendment by Sandrine Rousseau, an environmentalist deputy from Paris, who proposed restoring the corporate contribution rate to 30% in the event of conventional dismissal and retirement compensation.
As a result of the elections, the effect is similar to that of an outright deletion of Article 8, although rejected an hour earlier. It remains to be seen whether the result of this article will be similar in a public session: as a reminder, deputies will examine in the chamber the initial copy of the Social Security budget for 2026 presented by the government. The version modified by the Social Affairs Committee only indicates the balance of power in the text.
Source: BFM TV
