The rules of the partial activity scheme

The partial activity scheme, commonly known as partial unemployment, is a system that allows the employer to:

• First possible measure: temporarily close all or part of its establishment
• A second possible measure: reduce the working hours practiced in the establishment or part of the establishment below the legal working hours

In this situation, employees will experience a loss of earnings, which will be compensated. This is the mechanism intended to be implemented in the context of the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Which employees are affected by the partial activity scheme?

Any employee bound to their employer by an employment contract, regardless of the nature of the contract (permanent, fixed-term, etc.) or the employee's working hours (full-time, part-time).

Exception: employees who are subject to a fixed-day or fixed-hour scheme are excluded from the second measure of the partial activity scheme, insofar as they are not subject to collective working hours.

They can only benefit from the partial activity scheme in the context of a temporary closure of all or part of the establishment to which they are assigned

Can a single employee be placed on partial activity?

The partial activity scheme is a collective measure that must target an establishment or part of an establishment, such as a department. The employer cannot therefore target a single employee individually.

However, it is possible to implement a rotation system on a service as follows:

• To collectively reduce the working hours of a department and to place employees individually and alternately on partial activity.

Employee compensation and employer's responsibility

• Employee compensation: for hours not worked, the employee receives from the employer, at the normal pay dates, an hourly allowance equal to 70% of his gross remuneration, reduced to an hourly amount based on the legal working hours;
• Employer support: for compensated hours of unemployment, the employer benefits from partial coverage by the State and Unedic:
  • The amount of this support is currently equal to 8.04 euros per compensable hour.

Specifically

Compensated hours of unemployment are those which correspond to the difference between the legal working hours (35 hours) and the hours actually worked by employees.

What about employees on a fixed-day contract?

In this case, only lost working days can be compensated. A full day of closure is equivalent to 7 hours of work, and a half-day to 3.5 hours. For example, if an employee on a fixed-day contract sees their establishment close for a week, i.e., 5 working days of closure, the number of compensable hours is 5 * 7 = 35 hours.

How do we go about benefiting from the partial activity scheme?

Two steps:

• Application for authorization from the Direccte to use the partial activity scheme;
• Once this authorization is obtained, the employer submits a request for compensation under the partial activity scheme.

First step: applying for authorization from the Direccte

First step: you must first justify your request with one of the following reasons:

• The economic situation
• Supply difficulties
• A disaster or exceptionally severe weather
• The transformation, restructuring or modernization of the company
• Any exceptional circumstance

In view of the declarations of the public authorities, the epidemic situation in the country caused by Covid-19 is an exceptional circumstance justifying the use of the partial activity scheme.

Second step: complete the following formalities:

• Prior consultation with the social and economic committee, where one exists;
• A request for prior authorization from the Direccte.

In principle, the application must be submitted to the Direccte (Regional Directorate for Labor, Employment and Vocational Training) before the start of partial activity.
This application is completed entirely online at the following website: https://activitepartielle.emploi.gouv.fr .
The application must specify:

• The reasons justifying the use of partial activity;
• The foreseeable period, which must be between one week and six months; – The number of employees concerned;
• Where applicable, the prior opinion of the employee representatives.

Direccte processing time: The application must be processed by the Direccte within 15 calendar days. This period begins from the moment the application file is deemed complete.
If the Direccte does not respond within this timeframe, the application for authorization is considered accepted.

The second step: the employer's claim for compensation

Once authorized to use the partial activity scheme, the employer must submit a compensation claim electronically on the aforementioned website.

The application must include information enabling the identification of the employer and the employees concerned (the identity of the employer, the list of names of the employees concerned and their registration number in the national register of identification of natural persons, and the nominative statements specifying in particular the number of hours of unemployment per employee).

In principle, the employer is compensated monthly by the Service and Payment Agency (ASP).