Due to the health crisis, an additional 6 months have been granted for the organization of mandatory professional interviews for employees. Companies now have until June 30, 2021 to carry them out. An order issued on December 2, 2020 sets out the specific provisions for professional training.
Which professional interviews are concerned?
The December 2, 2020 ordinance applies to the employee's career review interviews. As a reminder, this review, which must be carried out every 6 years, verifies that the employee has been able to take advantage of the professional interviews scheduled over the last 6 years, and that he or she has been able to take at least one non-compulsory training course. If this is not the case, the employer must contribute 3,000 euros to the employee's personal training account (CPF) if the company has 50 or more employees.
The measure also applies to the mandatory professional interviews held every 2 years to consider the employee's career development prospects and the training that may contribute to them.
Employers therefore have until June 30, 2021 to carry out these interviews, rather than December 31, 2020, the date initially set by the April 1 ordinance. During this period, the application of legal penalties for failing to carry out the employee's career review interviews on time will be suspended. In other words, the obligation to top up the employee's CPF if the employer fails to do so will not apply again until July 1, 2021.
Easier access to validation of acquired experience
Article 2 of the ordinance authorizes skills operators, regional interprofessional joint commissions and associations known as "Transition Pro" to provide flat-rate funding for validation of acquired experience (VAE), until June 30, 2021. The organizations are free to determine the amount of the lump-sum payment, up to a maximum of 3,000 euros.
In addition, skills operators are authorized, by way of derogation, to mobilize funds earmarked for the financing of work-study schemes or additional contributions earmarked for the development of continuing vocational training.
These provisions are designed to facilitate access to VAE during the health crisis, which makes it difficult to mobilize traditional funding mechanisms such as VAE leave or the skills development plan.
Ordinance no. 2020-1501, presented to the Council of Ministers on December 2, 2020 and published in the Journal Officiel on December 3, 2020, extends the measures relating to the professional interview adopted by the ordinance of April 1, 2020, and provides for a number of measures to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of professional interviews, professional certifications, validation of acquired experience and apprenticeship contracts.