State civil service: agreement on improved insurance cover signed

This agreement follows a previous interministerial agreement on supplementary social protection for health of 26 February 2022 in the public service of the State to improve the coverage of costs incurred in connection with maternity, sickness or accident. It deals with the risks resulting fromincapacity for work, of theinvalidity and the death.

What are the State’s commitments under this new agreement?

The agreement signed on 20 October provides for a evolution of regulatory provisions on the conditions for access to the long-term sick leave (LSW), including the possibility to benefit from a CLM even where long-term leave (CLD) has been granted for the same pathology, after a recovery.

It also provides for a improvement of pay conditions during CLM.

In order to ensure that contract staff have level of protection equivalent to that of officials, the conditions for granting and recharging entitlements, the levels and maximum periods of remuneration for sick leave and for serious illness shall be aligned with those for regular and long-term sick leave of officials.

In case ofinvalidity, the State undertakes to replace the current scheme for the retirement of officials on grounds of invalidity with a new scheme characterized by payment of compensation the loss of working capacity caused by the disability up to 2 years before the minimum statutory retirement age.

The amount of the invalidity compensation benefit, the basis of which will include the premiums and allowances, will vary according to whether the invalidity enables the staff member to carry out an activity or not and obliges him to use theassistance of a third party to perform the ordinary acts of life.

This mechanism will enable officials to form pension entitlements, whether or not they are capable of carrying out an activity.

The agreement also provides for a improvement of guarantees granted to the beneficiaries of an official or of a contract worker who has died by the introduction of the following provisions:

• deleting age requirements and service life for the payment of the death capital;
• creating a education pension intended to contribute to the financing of the schooling of the children of the deceased official;
• creating a life annuity for staff with disabilities with a permanent incapacity rate of 50 %.

In addition to these " employer guarantees , the State undertakes to strengthen the arrangements for maintaining and returning to employment, in particular by making it possible to benefit from a training or a skills assessment during sick leave or by facilitating the mobilization of arrangements for working hours and workstations available to employers.

What is the timeline for implementing these “employer warranties”?

“Employer Guarantees” for Disability and Death Risk to be put in place current 2024.

"Employer guarantees" for disability risk will be in place by 1^er january 2027.

Additional guarantees are also provided for

The ‘employer guarantees’ which will result in a change in the regulatory provisions will be supplemented by the additional guarantees in respect of incapacity, invalidity and death.

The agreement of 20 October 2023 thus provides that the employer administrations will propose, from 1^er january 2025, collective provident contracts to which active staff employed and remunerated will be able to join.

These contracts will include a set of interdepartmental provident guarantees, identical to all State employers, which will complement the ‘employer guarantees’ for CLM remuneration, disability compensation and death capital.

They will also include additional guarantees These will include regular sick leave and CLM.

The State will contribute €7 per month per staff member to the financing of the interministerial provident guarantees.

The additional guarantees will be the sole responsibility of the agents.