1 – Part-time contracts
2 – Pôle Emploi questionnaire for company managers
3 – New contract request form
1 – Distribution of the working hours between the days of the week or the weeks of the month for part-time contracts
The employment contract of a part-time employee is a written contract which must mention the weekly or monthly working hours and the distribution of the working hours between the days of the week or the weeks of the month (C. trac., art. L. 3123-6).
A recent decision of the Court of Cassation confirms this obligation (Cass. soc., Nov. 17, 2021, n° 20-10.734). It explains that the employer may not derogate from the obligation to mention, in the part-time employment contract, the planned weekly or monthly working hours, and the distribution of the working hours between the days of the week or the weeks of the month.
If a part-time contract does not mention the distribution as explained above, in case of dispute with the employee, the latter can claim the requalification of the contract as full-time due to the absence of contractual mention of the distribution of the working time.
It will be up to the employer to justify before the Conseil des Prud’hommes that the employee was not unable to foresee the rhythm of his work and that he did not have to be constantly at his disposal.
As an example, a part-time contract that provides for the distribution of the working hours between the days of the week would take the following form:
Article 5.1: Weekly working hours
The weekly working hours of the employee will be 24 hours.
Article 5.2: Daily distribution of working hours
The employee’s monthly working hours will be distributed at the rate of 24 hours per week, distributed as follows:
- Monday: 8am – 12pm / 2pm – 4pm
- Tuesday: 8am – 12pm / 2pm – 4pm
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: 8am – 12pm / 2pm – 4pm
- Friday: 8am – 12pm / 2pm – 4pm
- Saturday : Rest
- Sunday: Rest
The employee’s working hours for each day worked will be communicated to the employee by means of a schedule and posted on the company’s notice boards.
2 – Pôle Emploi Questionnaire : Companies, check the unemployment insurance rights of your managers, partners or employees with a family link to the manager
Company managers or partners, or employees with a family link to the company manager, who can prove that they have an employment contract, in addition to their function, can benefit from unemployment insurance coverage and general reductions in employer contributions (“Fillon reductions”), provided that the three criteria of an employment contract are met:
- the performance of technical tasks ;
- the existence of a remuneration corresponding to the performance of technical duties ;
- the existence of a legal relationship of subordination allowing the employer to direct and control the employee (the relationship of subordination will not be established if you have power of attorney over the company’s bank accounts).
It is advisable to ask Pôle Emploi to study your situation or that of the manager or partner in order to:
- determine your or his or her liability to unemployment insurance ;
- make sure of your or his or her rights to unemployment insurance benefits, in case of job loss;
- verify eligibility for the general reduction in employer contributions known as the “Fillon Reduction”.
FBA can accompany you and prepare the questionnaire with additional documents for Pôle Emploi in order to study your situation.
=> If you are concerned by this questionnaire, do not hesitate to contact us so that we can review your situation.
3- New contract request form
In order to detect any impact related to unemployment insurance coverage as well as general reductions in employer contributions, the contract application form has been updated.
In this new form, you will find new questions relating to the relationship with the manager, the company shares as well as on the corporate mandate.
⚠ If this information is missing in the transmitted information sheet, failing that, the hired employee will be considered as a classic employee (application of Pôle Emploi contributions and Fillon reductions). We therefore draw your attention to the importance of filling in this information in order to avoid, in case of URSSAF control, an adjustment on the Fillon reduction which would have been wrongly applied.
