The retirement age, both in its legal and effective dimension, is an issue. This is a subject that the President of the Republic works a lot: he campaigned, in particular, on the reform he intends to lead in this regard and today advocates a gradual postponement from 62 to 65 years of age. The question is so important that the Head of State has committed, before the legislative elections, to a particularly rapid entry into force: he wants to modify the parameters for the cessation of activity from the summer of 2023. Things could, however, change: failing to have been able to achieve an absolute majority in the National Assembly, it will be necessary to deal with the opposition groups and consider certain compromises.
However, it is important to remember that the re-elected president is not the only one to campaign for a delayed retirement age. Agirc-Arrco, the supplementary pension fund for private sector employees and executives, has put in place several measures to encourage French women and men not to retire too early. Among these are carrots: a temporary bonus system for the most diligent. But there is also the other side… The malus.
The malus system set up by Agirc-Arrco differs from that which prevails for the general scheme in that it only concerns the pension from the supplementary scheme and that it is temporary. It aims to sanction private sector employees and executives who do not postpone their retirement age by one year after reaching the age to claim the full rate. In short, anyone who leaves before the age of 63 is theoretically exposed to an incomplete supplementary pension.
The amputated amount corresponds to 10% of the amount normally paid. It applies for three years, up to a maximum of 67 years in the absence of reform in this regard.
The penalty imposed by Agirc-Arrco constitutes, recently explained the economist Philippe Crevel in our columns, an “age measure”. “The simplest option to circumvent it is therefore to … continue to work”, continued the specialist. But is it not possible, as long as you can justify a certain number of terms, to avoid such an inconvenience?
Unfortunately, Notre Temps informs on its site, the number of quarters which it is possible to justify turns out to be quite secondary in this matter: it does not make it possible to escape the Agirc-Arrco penalty, even if one would considerably exceed the required contribution period.
In certain cases, however, it is possible to reduce the impact of the penalty or not to have it imposed… but this implies fulfilling a certain number of specific and often difficult to access criteria (incapacity, gradual retirement, AAH, exemption from CSG, etc.).
Some recently announced the end of the penalty set up by Agirc-Arrco in 2019. The latter, indeed specifies the magazine Pleine Vie on its site, is proving too ineffective to justify its sustainability. “The balance sheet is nil. It brings in almost nothing, barely a few hundred thousand euros,” explained Michel Beaugas, Confederal Secretary of Force Ouvrière, during an interview with Le Figaro.
It is at the end of 2022 that the question will finally be settled since the negotiation of the new national interprofessional agreement (ANI) will then take place. The latter will cover the period 2023-2026.
