THE LAW IN ACTIONS AND QUESTIONS…
Law No. 2025-989 of October 24, 2025 initially aimed to transpose two national inter-professional agreements relating to the employment of experienced employees and the evolution of social dialogue concluded on November 14, 2024.
However, it also allowed the transposition of a measure of the agreement relating to unemployment insurance of November 15, 2024, of the amendment of May 27, 2025 relating to the bonus-malus on unemployment insurance contributions and of the national inter-professional agreement on transitions and professional retraining of June 25, 2025.
This law results from a bill presented to the council of ministers on May 7, 2025, which was then adopted by Parliament.
This law mainly concerns experienced employees, but it also targets various categories of employees: elected representatives of the social and economic committee, employees wishing to make a professional transition, employees new to unemployment insurance, etc.
Discover the full text of Law No. 2025-989 of October 24, 2025 transposing national inter-professional agreements in favor of the employment of experienced employees and relating to the evolution of social dialogue (1):
UNSA LEGAL explains the reform and your rights…
ANY QUESTIONS!?
– Can I serve more than three successive terms as an elected official on the social and economic committee?
Yes, the law removes the limit of three successive mandates maximum for elected officials of the social and economic committee, and therefore an elected official can be re-elected an unlimited number of times. Article L.2314-33 of the labor code which provided for this limit is amended, as is article L.2143-3 of the labor code which provides for the designation of the union delegate in companies with more than fifty employees. The details of application will be made by decree. The texts are not greatly altered by the reform and remain coherent. This reform strengthens the stability and experience of elected officials.
– Is my company obliged to negotiate on “employment of seniors”?
It all depends on your company’s workforce ! Indeed, according to the new article L. 2242-2-1 of the labor code, if your company has at least 300 employees, your employer must engage in negotiations at least once every four years on employment, work and the improvement of the working conditions of experienced employees, taking into consideration their age. This periodicity is of public order. However, in the absence of a collective agreement setting a specific periodicity, this negotiation must take place every three years (article L.2242-13 of the labor code).
You are a tone company has not reached the threshold of 300 employees, this negotiation is optional.
However, a sector agreement may provide for an action plan for companies with fewer than 300 employees and your employer will be able to apply it, subject to respecting the procedural framework (see next question).
– And what about the negotiation on “employment of seniors” at the level of my professional branch?
Your branch must negotiate once every four years on the employment and work of experienced employees, taking into consideration their age (article L.2241-1 of the labor code). This periodicity is of public order.
The agreement of branch may include a standard action plan for companies with less than three hundred employees.
Thus, if at the end of a negotiation on the employment and work of experienced employees, taking into account their age, with the representative employee union organizations in the company, no collective agreement could be concluded, the employer may decide to apply the action plan provided for by the branch agreement by means of a unilateral document, after having informed and consulted by all means the CSE (if there is one in the company) and the employees (article L.2241-2-1 of the labor code).
– What are the themes of negotiation on the employment and work of experienced employees, taking into account their age?
Each negotiation is preceded by a diagnostic and then covers themes such as the recruitment of experienced employees, their retention in employment, end-of-career planning, in particular modalities of support for gradual retirement or part-time work, the transmission of their knowledge and skills, in particular mentoring, tutoring and skills sponsorship missions (article L.2241-14-1 of the labor code).
Negotiations can also concern the development of skills and access to training, the effects of technological and environmental transformations on the professions, the methods of personnel management, the methods of listening, supporting and supervising these employees, occupational health and the prevention of professional risks, the organization of work and working conditions. (article L.2241-14-2 of the labor code).
– What new measures does the law make available to me to better prepare for the “second part” of my career?
The law provides for a professional career interview (articles L.6315-1 and L.6315-2 of the labor code). She wishes to erect the professional interview into a central tool for management and development of the employee’s career.
This interview differs from an interview relating to the evaluation of the employee’s work.
The law establishes that this interview is devoted to: the employee’s skills and the qualifications used in their current job as well as their possible development with regard to the transformations of the company, their professional situation and career, with regard to developments in the professions and employment prospects in the company, training needs, whether linked to their current professional activity, the evolution of their employment with regard to the transformations of the company or a personal project, wishes for professional development, activation by the employee from his personal training account, contributions to this account that the employer is likely to finance and professional development advice.
This interview must be offered from the employee’s first year of employment, then every four years, with a review interview every eight years. A career interview must be organized within two months following the mid-career medical examination. If the employee’s first professional career interview takes place during the two years preceding his or her sixtieth birthday, it will be necessary to address the conditions for maintaining employment and the possibilities for end-of-career adjustments, in particular the possibilities of switching to part-time work or gradual retirement.
It must be planned by the employer and implemented by a superior or a representative of the company’s management. It must take place during the employee’s working time.
In the companies with less than three hundred employees, the employee can benefit from professional development advicein order to prepare for this interview.
– And to facilitate my end-of-career arrangements?
First of all, decrees after the national inter-professional agreement on the employment of seniors allowed lowering the progressive retirement age from 62 to 60 (decree n°2025-680 and decree n°2025-681 of July 15, 2025).
This is excellent news for workers, who will be able to look more confidently at the end of their career and the transition to retirement.
The law strengthens the regime for justifying the employer’s refusal to transition to progressive retirement.
Whereas previously the employer just had to justify an incompatibility of the working hours requested by the employee with the economic activity of the company, the employer’s refusal must now also take into account the consequences of the reduction in the requested working hours on the continuity of the activity of the company or service as well as, if they involve recruitment, the difficulties in carrying out this on the position concerned (articles L.3121-60-1 and L.3123-4-1 of the Labor Code).
Furthermore, the law authorizes a company or establishment agreement or, failing that, a sector agreement or agreement to allow retirement compensation to be used to compensate for loss of income linked to the transition to part-time or reduced time (article L.1237-9 of the Labor Code).
Finally, for encourage the use of combined employment and retirement, the law expressly specifies that the rules on retirement now also apply to employees who have already reached full retirement age at the time of their hiring (articles L.1237-5 and L.1237-5-1 of the labor code).
– What is the Experience Valorization Contract (CVE)? How do I know if I am eligible for this contract?
The Experience Valorization Contract (CVE) is an indefinite-term contract, which was created on an experimental basis for the five years following the promulgation of this law, in order to promote the recruitment of seniors, in particular by offering employers an exemption from the 30% employer contribution normally due on the amount of retirement compensation excluded from the social security contribution base..
To be borneligible for this contract, all conditions must be met following:
1° To be at least sixty years oldor at least fifty-seven years if an agreement or an extended branch agreement so provides;
2° To be registered on the list of job seekers mentioned in 3° of I of article L.5312-1 of the labor code;
3° Not being able to benefit from a basic retirement pension of your own at full rate from a legally obligatory schemewith the exception of those allocated under the schemes mentioned in 1° to 3° of Article L.161-22-1-2 of the Social Security Code or in application of Article L.6 of the Civil and Military Retirement Pensions Code;
4° Not having been employed in this company or, where applicable, in a company belonging to the same group, during the previous six months.
This contract provides the opportunity to contribute to the enhancement of the experience of senior employees, while securing their retirement.
– What is the retraining period? How can I benefit from it?
The retraining period is a system applicable from January 1, 2026, allowing any employee to benefit from professional mobility internal or external to the company, aimed at acquiring one of the qualifications provided for in 1° and 3° of article L.6314-1 or one or more blocks of skills. The retraining period can also facilitate the acquisition of the knowledge and skills base mentioned in articles L.6121-2 and L.6323-6 (article L.6324-1 of the labor code).
The law inserts a new chapter relating to the retraining period in Title II of Book III of Part Six of the Labor Code. This new chapter brings together articles L.6324-1 and following.
If you want a internal retraining within the company, the organizational arrangements for this period, in particular its duration, must be the subject of a written agreement with your employer.
During the retraining period, your employment contract is maintained and you will receive your remuneration without modification (article L.6324-3 I of the labor code).
If you want a reconversion external to the companyyour employment contract is suspended. A written agreement with your employer must determine the terms of suspension of the contract, in particular its duration as well as the terms of a possible early return in the event of termination of the trial period in the host company.
This period of retraining in another company must take the form of a permanent contract or a fixed-term contract of at least six months, which specifies the terms of organization of the retraining period and governs the trial period (article L.6324-3 II of the Labor Code). If the trial period is successful, your suspended contract will be terminated (conventional termination or mutual agreement depending on the type of contract), but if it is not conclusive, you will return to your original company (article L.6324-17 of the labor code).
– How long is a retraining period?
Training can last between 150 and 450 hours, spread over a maximum of twelve months, with exceptions. However, by company or sector agreement, training can last up to 2100 hours over thirty-six months (article L. 6324-4 of the labor code).
– How will my retraining period be financed?
In principle, the cost of training is covered by the skills operator.
However, it is possible to co-finance the training by mobilizing your personal training account, with your agreement. The law states that for an internal retraining, the amount of rights mobilized cannot exceed half of the rights registered in the employee’s personal training account and for a period of external retraining, the amount of rights mobilized is not limited (article L.6324-10 of the labor code).
A company agreement or a unilateral decision by the employer may provide that the employee’s remuneration and additional training costs will be covered by the skills operator (article L.6324-10 of the labor code).
- Regarding unemployment insurance, what changes if I am a first-time entrant?
If you are a first-time entrant (person who has never benefited from unemployment benefit or who has not benefited from it for a defined number of years), you will need five months of affiliation and no longer six months to gain rights and then benefit from unemployment insurance (article L.5422-2-2 of the labor code).
– Is it true that certain layoffs will no longer be taken into account in the calculation of my employer’s unemployment insurance contribution rate?
It is expected that the contribution rate of each employer may be reduced or increased depending on the number of terminations of the employment contract. And indeed, the law now provides for excluding the consideration of dismissals for incapacity resulting from a non-professional illness or a non-professional accident, for serious misconduct and for gross negligence (article L.5422-12 of the labor code). Thus, the unemployment insurance bonus-malus reform therefore serves to exclude from the calculation of the contribution rate breaks which are not within the control of the employer.
UNSA National Legal Sector.
For any comments, legal@unsa.org
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