Hundreds of people with disabilities have gathered on Facebook and an association has seized the Council of State to protest against a government decree.
- 2.8 million people of working age (15 to 64 years old) have administrative recognition of a disability or loss of autonomy, according to INSEE (2018 employment survey).
- 43% of people who benefit from administrative recognition of their disability are considered to be active.
- 36% are employed (988,000 people) and 8% are unemployed.
This is the moment of mobilization for a whole category of employees who risk losing their disability pension. More than 400 workers with disabilities have come together in a Facebook group, titled “the forgotten of the 2022-257 reform”to protest against a decree signed last February, as relayed this morning by Philippe Duport in his chronicle “It’s my job” on franceinfo.
Working too much or earning too much leads to the loss of his disability pension
However, this decree allows disabled or sick people to combine the income from their part-time work with their disability pension. The objective is to ensure that people with chronic illnesses or disabilities, who have been declared disabled at a certain level, can find their way back to work with part-time work. However, the problem is that this decree includes a constraint: you must not work too much or earn too much, at the risk of losing your pension.
“The accumulation of the pension and income from activity – for example what one earns by working 60% or 80% of the time – must not exceed the social security ceiling. Almost 44,000 euros gross per year, or 2,750 euros net per month. A disposable income that is very quickly reached if you are a middle manager, or a fortiori a senior manager”, explains Philippe Duport. When the ceiling is exceeded, all or part of the invalidity pension is lost. Consequences: for a whole category of employees, around 8,000 according to estimates, it is not advantageous to find the way back to work.
The FNATH filed an appeal before the Council of State
There is something even more serious for many executives: receiving a disability pension allows them to receive what is called provident insurance, an insurance system provided by the employer. However, the latter often exceeds the pension income. Thus, if the invalidity pension is abolished, the payment of the pension is interrupted most of the time: it is the double penalty.
In response, the National Federation of Injured Workers and the Disabled (FNATH) took up the case and recently filed an appeal with the Council of State. The association reports “dramatic situations” with people who lose a significant part of their income from one day to the next and may, among other things, no longer be able to repay their mortgage.
