In 2023, leaving one’s office will be equivalent to resigning

This is a major employee change that will take effect in 2023. Leaving the position will now be treated as a resignation.

This is a measure proposed in the context of the law on the reform of layoffs, definitively voted on November 17 and promulgated on December 21, 2022 and which worries labor law specialists. Why does it violate employee rights?

Quitting is simply when an employee no longer shows up for work. “prolonged or repeated” and without giving a reason. Leaving the post is therefore not a way to break the contractunlike resignation, dismissal or conventional termination.

Currently, the employer is required to send a formal warning. In the event of no response, the employee may be summoned for a preliminary dismissal interview, which will entitle him to receive an indemnity.

The issues raised by the presumption of resignation

So, concretely, what will change for the affected employee? Unlike dismissal, resignation does not give rise to any entitlement to unemployment benefits. For the parliamentarians who defended the measure, it is a question of maintaining the opening of rights for workers who have suffered the loss of their jobs.

As Me Marie-Océane Gelly, whom we interviewed in October 2022, reminded us, resignation must be “of clear and unequivocal intention to terminate the employment contract”not a presumption. This measure “raises questions about the notion of consent in the context of employment relationships”. Furthermore, it is based on the idea that leaving work would be frequent and would profoundly upset the life and balance of companies. Indeed, there is no figures to attest to the abuse by employees who leave their jobs. On the other hand, it could also be about looking at who his employees are leaving their positions and reasons to do so.

The only protection provided by law to challenge the presumption of resignation is the possibility for the worker to do so “seize the labor court, which will have to decide within a month. »

And that’s not the only thing that worries about the redundancy fund reform: from 1 February 2023 the unemployment benefit and its duration will be calculated on the basis of the state of the labor market. The text also provides that refusing two CDIs in the same year for the same position when you are on a fixed-term contract or an interim contract will be synonymous with loss of compensation.

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