This is one of the emblematic measures of the 2022 amending budget, at the same time as one of the most controversial.
During the examination of this text, the executive and the right passed several modifications which allow the French to work more to earn more, according to the famous adage of Nicolas Sarkozy and widely shared by Emmanuel Macron.
Among these, the takeover of RTT by employers will affect several million French people.
Le Figaro
takes stock of this file.
Takeover of RTT: what does the law say?
Today, it is already possible to convert RTT into salary, but in a limited number of cases, underlines the report of the Senate Finance Committee.
Three situations are listed: first, “
employees on fixed-rate days
” can transform “
their rest days into a salary increase
”, in agreement – in writing – with their employer.
However, the increase is not tax-exempt.
Next, employees with a time savings account (CET) can "
accumulate rights to paid leave or benefit from immediate or deferred remuneration, in return for periods of leave or rest not taken or amounts that [they] [have] affected it
”.
But only an agreement or a convention can benefit from it.
Finally, last case, employees who have not been able to take their RTT because of their employer can transform them into
a "salary increase
".
This is a special, less common case.
Read also“It’s almost vital for my health”: these young people who refuse to work full time
In view of the three cases provided for by law, the possibility of converting RTT into salary is therefore limited.
In 2017, less than 15% of employees were on a day plan, and, the same year, 22% of employees had a CET.
However, for certain political groups, the current context pleads for an extension of this system.
What has Parliament proposed?
In the Assembly, the deputies LR, Horizons and Renaissance made several amendments aimed at allowing “
employees, with the agreement of the employer, to convert their RTT not taken into salary
”.
These have been validated with the consent of the government.
On leaving the Senate, which slightly remodeled the proposed system, the text indicates that "
the employee, regardless of the size of the company, may, at his request and in agreement with the employer, waive all or part days or half-days of rest acquired
"since January 1, 2022. The deputies had set a deadline of "
December 31, 2023
", but the Senate removed it, perpetuating this device.
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In addition, the economic interest for the employee who would take the decision to return one of his RTT is reinforced by a “
wage increase at least equal to the rate of increase for the first overtime hour applicable in the company
”.
The increase will be a minimum of 10% in the event of a company or branch agreement, and 25% without an agreement.
Finally, the increased salary "
is subject to social and tax exemptions
", within the limit of 5,000 euros per year and 7,500 euros in 2022. There is "
no ceiling
" provided for by the text on the amounts that can be obtained, it is specified in Olivier Dussopt's cabinet.
A good deal for the employee, therefore, on the condition of being willing to work more.
Who is concerned ?
The modification validated by the Assembly then opened a little more by the Senate allows a greater number of employees to have the choice of monetizing their RTT.
Remember that this is a strictly voluntary approach but that the company is entitled to refuse the monetization of these days.
Indeed, it can require employees to put down their RTT so as not to destabilize its cash flow.
In concrete terms, only private sector employees are concerned, not those in the public sector.
In addition, the situation does not change for those who have, in the private sector, a CET via their company or who are already on the day plan.
Difficult to know the precise number of employees concerned: for the time being, the Ministry of Labor is content to recall that 45% of employees had RTT in 2011, but that a good part of them had a CET or were on a day pass.
What are the arguments for and against?
For the promoters of the measure, it is above all a question of giving flexibility to both employers and employees.
The LR deputies thus see it as a means of "
better rewarding work and merit and of increasing the net salaries of the French
people ", at the same time as a way of combating labor shortages, by allowing those who wish to work more.
A particularly useful provision in sectors under pressure, such as hotels and restaurants, judged the deputy (Renaissance) Mathieu Lefèvre, in public session, seeing it as a “
measure of common sense
”.
Read alsoThe unions are standing up against the plan to take over the RTTs
Opposite, the left rises against a measure deemed dangerous for the balance and the health of employees.
“
It is not necessary to work more to earn more [...].
Everything is done to avoid the central question, which is the revaluation of salaries
, ”criticized the rebellious deputy Adrien Quatennens.
Same mixed report for the unions, which accuse the government of calling into question "
working time without attacking it head-on
", in the words of the CGT.
Still, this measure supported by the right and the majority should, unless surprised, be validated during the last stages of the examination of the amending budget in Parliament, in the coming hours.
