Civil servants whose occupational disease is recognized as being linked to asbestos exposure may stop working at the age of 50. As in the private sector.
Civil servants, both permanent and contractual, whose occupational disease is recognized as being linked to exposure to asbestos, may stop working at the age of 50. Thanks to a decree published this Thursday in the Official Journal (JO), these employees see their plan align with that of the private sector.
While they could not previously benefit from early retirement in these circumstances, this decree extends to “civil servants and contractual agents who so request, the benefit of an early termination of activity and the specific allowance of early cessation of related activity, once they have been recognized as suffering from an occupational disease caused by asbestos ”, specifies the text.
3,000 deaths each year
More precisely, the agents concerned will be able to stop working at the age of 50 while continuing to receive remuneration equivalent to 65% of that, on average, received during the last 12 months. They will then benefit from the civil servant pension scheme according to their professional situation (from 62 years on average).
Banned since 1997, asbestos is responsible for more than 3,000 deaths each year. According to health authorities, this insulating material could cause up to 100,000 deaths by 2025, with illnesses occurring up to 40 years after exposure.
The prejudice of anxiety recognized
As a reminder, this announcement is not the first victory of the year for asbestos victims. On March 3, the Council of State recognized the prejudice of anxiety for a state worker exposed to asbestos, thus rejecting the appeal of the Ministry of Defense and confirming the previous decision. This will set a precedent for the others. The State will have to pay the sum of 1,800 euros to the complainant.
Asbestos-related cancers are on the decline
According to figures from the “Occupational Risks” branch of Health Insurance published at the end of 2015, asbestos-related diseases are very present in French registers: 7% of the working population is affected. Cancers are far from episodic in this case: those attributable to this insulator are very predominant (81%), although they mark a decline.
But the trend is rather reassuring in the face of other tumors of occupational origin, which stand out by an increase of 10.3% compared to the previous year. In this category, bladder cancers are the most common, followed by those caused by wood dust.
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