DIFFICULTY AND REFORM OF PENSION. The hardship criteria could change if the 2023 pension reform comes into force. More people concerned, a compulsory medical examination and obtaining retraining leave are at the heart of the debates.
[Mis à jour le 18 janvier 2022 à 14h36] The criteria for hardship at work could change over the coming weeks, in particular thanks to the government’s consultations with the opposition. “We must better recognize the impact of other constraints on the health of workers, in particular the carrying of heavy loads or painful postures” declared Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. First, access to C2P (professional prevention account) will be extended to more employees, more than 60,000 per year, to allow as many people as possible to benefit from its advantages. This account could, in the future, make it possible to obtain a retraining leave, to change jobs more easily. A compulsory medical examination at age 61and fairer device for caregivers should also appear if the pension reform comes into force in the summer of 2023.
The professional prevention account (C2P) makes it possible to determine and reference the occupational risk factors of exposure of a worker beyond certain thresholds. In this case, the employer establishes a declaration in a dematerialized way. Depending on his exposure to these risks, the employee accumulates points on his C2P according to six hardship criteria:
- Night work
- Work in alternating successive teams
- repetitive work
- Activities in a hyperbaric environment
- extreme temperatures
- The noise
The occupational risk factor(s) are characterized by employee exposure beyond certain thresholds. This exposure can leave lasting, identifiable and irreversible traces on health. To be taken into account, exposure to an occupational risk factor must exceed certain thresholds. They must have a minimum intensity and duration. These minimum values are assessed taking into account the means of collective or individual protection implemented by the employer. For example, for night work, the minimum intensity is one hour of work between midnight and 5 am. The minimum duration is 120 nights per year.
Precisely, the pension reform will activate certain levers to widen access to C2P and support employees heavily exposed to certain risks, in particular night workers. The number of nights worked per year taken into account in the C2P could also go from 120 to 100. Also, the thresholds triggering a job as “difficult” will be lowered and the number of cumulative points will be capped. Currently, the ceiling is set at a gain of 8 points per year. Then, the account will fund a retraining leave, so as to change professions during their careers for certain professions extremely subject to certain risks, which was not possible before the reform. For civil servants, the “active categories”, namely the police, firefighters and caregivers will retain their right to early departure.
The carrying of heavy loads, painful postures and mechanical vibrations, three criteria of arduous work which had been abandoned in 2017, have finally not reinstated as the unions would have liked. Nevertheless, the employees concerned will be offered a “reinforced medical follow-up“ from mid-career. On medical advice, these same employees may obtain an adaptation of their position and/or working time. They will also be able to benefit from enhanced access to retraining. In the most critical cases, a early departure from age 62 can finally be offered to them. Also, a “investment fund in the prevention of occupational wear and tear” of one billion euros will be created. A second fund will be created for hospital staff, retirement homes and medico-social establishments.
Also, to take into account the many choppy careers, the periods validated under the old-age insurance for stay-at-home parents (AVPF), in particular because of a parental leave, could be part of the long career system. The persons concerned could therefore validate up to four additional quarters in this situation. Periods which would also be counted in the calculation of the increased minimum pension. This should increase the amount of small pensions for some women, forced to put their career on hold to take care of their child(ren). Same thing for the quarters spent in community work.
The conditions for early departure for people affected by systems for recognizing disabilities will be preserved, in the same way as for disability, incapacity and exposure to asbestos. If an employee is the victim of an accident at work, or an occupational disease, he can always retire two years before the legal retirement age, i.e. at 62 ans with the new reform. The conditions of access to this early departure will be relaxed. Here is the new legal age for early retirement which could apply in certain very specific cases in the event of the implementation of the pension reform in 2023:
- Disability recognition : 55 years old at full rate
- Disability : 62 years old at full rate
- Incapacity : 62 years old at full rate
- Asbestos exposure : 50 years at full rate