Can a public official receive unemployment benefit if he resigns?

Verified 27 February 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

In principle, you have not entitled to unemployment benefit (return-to-work allowance - ARE) when you resign.

In order to be entitled to unemployment benefit, you must have involuntarily lost your job. When you resign, you are the one who makes the decision to quit your job. As a result, you are not entitled to unemployment insurance.

However, you can to receive unemployment benefits in the 3 subsequent cases :

  • France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi) grants you the ARE, at your request, and after reviewing your situation, if your unemployment extends beyond 121 days (4 months)
  • Or you have a balance of rights to the RARE
  • Or your resignation is considered legitimate.

If your unemployment is prolonged against your will, you can request a review of your situation at France Travail in order to be eligible for unemployment benefit.

You may request this review provided you have resigned for at least 121 days (4 months).

This 121-day period is counted from the date of your removal from the executive ranks, if you were a public servant, or your removal from the workforce, if you were a contract employee.

You must also meet the following conditions required of all jobseekers to be compensated by unemployment insurance:

  • Be registered as a jobseeker
  • To be actively and continuously looking for a job or to complete either a training course registered in your personalized project of access to employment or a training course not registered in this project but financed, in whole or in part, through your personal training account (CPF)
  • Do not meet the conditions to benefit from a full-rate pension
  • Be physically fit for employment
  • Reside on the metropolitan area, in Guadeloupe, Guyane, Martinique or Reunion, in Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin or Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

The request for review must be submitted to the regional joint committee (RJP) of your regional directorate France Travail.

The letter in which you were informed that you were not entitled to the ARE following your resignation contains information on this possibility of bringing the matter before the regional joint body and tells you how to bring it before it.

In support of your request to review your situation, you must provide the regional joint body with evidence of your active job search, any short-term re-employment and your efforts to undertake training.

If the regional joint authority grants you the ARE, the starting point for your rights to the ARE is set at 122e day after your cancelation managers or staff by your former employer administration.

You receive a balance of EI benefits if you were hired into the public service while you were in the process of receiving unemployment insurance.

Your employment suspended your compensation even though you had not exhausted all your rights to the RWB.

In this case, you can benefit from the balance of your rights following your resignation if you complete one of the 3 conditions following:

  • In your last public service job, you worked less than 65 days or less than 455 hours
  • Or your last public service job lasted less than 6 working days
  • Or your last public service job was less than 17 hours a week
  • You have enough outstanding EI benefits to qualify for unemployment benefits until you have the required number of quarters of pension insurance to qualify for a pension full-rate pension up to 67 years of age

You must also meet the following conditions required of all jobseekers to be compensated by unemployment insurance:

  • Be registered as a jobseeker
  • To be actively and continuously looking for a job or to complete either a training course registered in your personalized project of access to employment or a training course not registered in this project but financed, in whole or in part, through your personal training account (CPF)
  • Not qualifying for a full-rate pension
  • Be physically fit for employment
  • Reside on the metropolitan area, in Guadeloupe, Guyane, Martinique or Reunion, in Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin or Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

Your resignation is considered legitimate if it is justified by one of the following reasons :

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You're following your spouse as he changes jobs

Your resignation is considered legitimate and you are entitled to the ARE if you resign to follow your spouse who changes his place of residence in order to take up new employment (employed or not).

The new job may be filled following a transfer to a company or as a result of a change of employer decided by your spouse.

The new job may also be the entry into a new company if your spouse was previously unemployed.

In order to claim this legitimate ground for resignation and to be entitled to the ARE, you must register with the agency France Travail of your new place of residence, and not from your previous residence.

Reminder

If you're a public servant, you can ask for a availability and if you're a contract worker, a leave, to follow your spouse if you are married or past. If you live in a common-law relationship, as a public servant, you can do mobility by change, detachment, making available. If you are contracted in DTA: titleContent, you can perform mobility by making available or request a mobility leave.

You resign as a result of your marriage or Civil partnership

Your resignation is considered lawful and you are entitled to the ARE if you resign as a result of your marriage or Civil partnership resulting in a change of your place of residence.

In order for your resignation to be considered legitimate, less than 2 months must elapse between the date of your resignation and the date of your marriage or Civil partnership. It doesn't matter whether your marriage or Civil partnership is concluded before or after you resign.

Reminder

If you are a public servant, you can make a mobility by change, detachment, making available. If you are contracted in DTA: titleContent, you can perform mobility by making available or request a mobility leave.

You follow your disabled child admitted to a reception facility

Your resignation is considered legitimate and you are entitled to the ARE if you resign to follow your disabled child admitted to a reception facility whose removal results in your change of residence.

Reminder

If you are a public servant, you can make a mobility by change, detachment, making available. If you are contracted in DTA: titleContent, you can perform mobility by making available or request a mobility leave.

You have created or resumed a company

Your resignation is considered legitimate and you are entitled to the ARE if you complete the following conditions :

  • You resigned to start or take over a company and did not benefit from the AER
  • And you claim unemployment benefit following the cessation of your company's activity for reasons beyond your control.

You must have completed all the formalities required by law to advertise your company.

Reminder

if you are a public servant, you can ask for a availability, or if you are a contractual person, a leave, for company creation or takeover. You can also request a part-time for company creation or recovery.

You are a victim of domestic violence

Your resignation is considered legitimate and you are entitled to the RARE if you resign because you change your residence due to domestic violence for which you have filed a complaint.

The receipt of the complaint must be attached to the application for the allowance.

Reminder

And if you're a public servant, you can do mobility by change, detachment, making available. If you are contracted in DTA: titleContent, you can perform mobility by making available or request a mobility leave.

You're a victim of a crime

Your resignation is considered to be legitimate and you are entitled to the ARE if you resign because you are the victim of a act liable to be criminal (physical violence, harassment, etc.) for which you filed a complaint.

The receipt of the complaint must be attached to the application for the allowance.

Reminder

As a public official, you can benefit from the functional protection. If you are a public servant, you can make a mobility by change, detachment, making available. If you are contracted in DTA: titleContent, you can perform mobility by making available or request a mobility leave.

You resign after less than 66 days of work

Your resignation is considered legitimate and you are entitled to the ARE if you meet the following requirements :

  • You were hired in the public service after a layoff, a break-up, an end of CSD: titleContent or a mutually agreed breach of your employment contract (in the private sector)
  • You did not register as a job seeker as a result of this job loss
  • You resign from the Public Service during or at the end of a period of up to 65 working days following your date of employment.

You're going to perform a civic service

Your resignation is considered legitimate and you are entitled to the ARE if you resign to conclude a civic service contract.

If you enter into a international solidarity volunteering, your resignation is considered to be legitimate if the volunteering contract is concluded for one or more volunteering missions of a minimum continuous duration of one year.

The interruption of your mission before the end of the minimum period of service originally provided for and specific to each form of civic service does not call into question the legitimacy of your resignation.

You are a protected adult and resign to follow your parent

Your resignation is considered legitimate and you are entitled to the ARE if you complete the following conditions :

  • You are of the age of majority, placed under the protection of justice, guardianship or guardianship
  • And you're resigning for follow your parent designated as a special agent, trustee or guardian.

Reminder

If you are a public servant, you can make a mobility by change, detachment, making available. If you are contracted in DTA: titleContent, you can perform mobility by making available or request a mobility leave.

You are a minor and resign to follow your parents

Your resignation is considered legitimate and you are entitled to the ARE if you complete the the following conditions:

  • You are under 18 years of age
  • And you're resigning for track your ascendants or the person exercising theparental authority.

Reminder

If you are a public servant, you can make a mobility by change, detachment, making available. If you are contracted in DTA: titleContent, you can perform mobility by making available or request a mobility leave.