The two main French employer organizations protested this Friday against possible “sanctions” for “bad practices” against companies in the employment of older people, mentioned by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne as part of the pension reform project.
“When a company hires apprentices, will it be penalized because it will lower its percentage of seniors? Is it a bad practice?” asked in a tweet the president of Medef Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, whose organization opposes the establishment of a mandatory index on the percentage of older people in each company. “Yes, companies have to make an effort, but the index doesn’t work!” says Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux.
“Putting SMEs under surveillance using the threat of sanctions would in no way solve the problem” of a lower employment rate for the elderly in France than in other European countries, estimates the Confederation of SMEs (CPME). in a press release.
“It is to be feared that dogmatism will now prevail over pragmatism”
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne declared Thursday night on France 2 that “companies whose index shows that they do not have good practices regarding the elderly, must implement an action plan that will obviously be negotiated within the company.” “If they do not do it, or if there are no effects to correct the bad practices, then there may be sanctions,” warned the head of government before the start of the revision of the text of the National Assembly in session on Monday.
For the CPME, “small companies cannot and should not be used as an adjustment variable in the current parliamentary debate. And this, all the more so since it is evident that voluntary departure plans that encourage older people to leave the company do not concern them, ”says the organization. The CPME protested a possible extension of the senior citizen index to companies with more than 50 employees, while the implementation of this indicator only affected companies with more than 300 employees in the initial pension reform project presented by the Government.
“The CPME cannot therefore explain the setback of the executive, who ruled in favor of this index relative to companies with more than 50 employees. It is to be feared that dogmatism now prevails over pragmatism”, concludes this employer.
Source: BFM TV
