Between retirement and active life, some workers go through the pre-retirement box. This is a period of paid inactivity preceding retirement. An employee in pre-retirement is an employee whose employment contract has been terminated or whose working time has been reduced. The worker then benefits from a replacement income until retirement age without having to justify the search for a job.

Early retirement can be financed by the unemployment insurance scheme or by the State in the event of early departure for hardship. This concerns people exposed to asbestos, in a situation of disability, incapacity or who have carried out heavy work during their professional career. Otherwise, early retirement can be fully or partially funded by the employer. This is particularly the case for employees caught in the system of a job protection plan (PSE).

Since the promulgation of the pension reform, employees who have left their company thanks to a contractual termination have been worried: will they have to work longer?

A former team leader in the metallurgy testifies to Capital. Born in 1964, he benefits from the long career scheme and left his company in 2021 via a collective contractual termination. He was to remain in the workforce until March 1, 2024, when he will turn 60. But, since the passage of the reform, he fears having to wait another year: 61 years being the new legal starting age for long careers. Will he be forced to return to work for a year or will he be unemployed?

Christophe Le Bars, Deputy Managing Director of Sup des RH, told Capital: “Classically, in this type of system, if there is a regulatory reform of the pension, the extension of a few quarters is borne by the employer. .” However, in practice, the reform is not systematically mentioned in contractual terminations.

According to a group of HRDs contacted by Capital, company managers “are in the process of negotiating with the social partners and do not wish to reveal for the moment what they intend to put in place.” But then what fate awaits early retirees falling under the pension reform? Will the company support this period added by the reform?

Three scenarios present themselves to employees depending on the conditions of their early retirement according to Capital. In the first case, the possibility of a reform that would push back the retirement age is already taken into account by the company and specified in the termination. The employee can then find common ground with his employer.

In the second case, the termination specifies that the employee will be retired at the end of the system. The worker can then negotiate with his employer.

In the last case, without details in the termination contract and without a given departure date, the employee will find himself unemployed for the time added by the reform. The company has no obligation to include her in its workforce.