For a couple of seasons now I’ve been lucky enough to work under a French contract, which means my social contributions are paid in France. A benefit of this is that if I injure myself – as happened this winter season – I can get treatment here in France instead of being moved on to ‘Chalet Gatwick’ and the lottery of the NHS.
It also means you get lots of lovely and incomprehensible paperwork when your contract expires at the end of a season, an important piece of which is your ATTESTATION ASSEDIC. This is a summary of your earnings and contributions paid over the course of your employment and every employer is obliged to give you one. It’s a P45 in many respects, except this is France so it’s an A4-sized piece of paper.
Assédic is a hangover from the old system and you’ll still hear it used in the same way Brits refer to ‘the dole’, but due to recent restructuring all official paperwork now refers to the new combined unemployment benefit office and jobseeker centre network called the Pôle Emploi. Unlike many reforms in the UK however, more was changed than just the departmental stationery. A crucial element of the reforms was an alteration of the qualifying criteria for unemployment benefit. Previously, someone had to have worked a minimum of so many hours or so many months in a set time frame, which essentially worked out at six months and so ruled out many season workers, especially first time ones. The new limit for joining is four months, so, after four months working on a French contract under which you (and your employer) have paid contributions you are entitled to register as a job seeker and receive unemployment benefit.
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