What is a "société de portage"?

Portage salarial

This is a three-way contractual relationship between a "portage" company, an "porté" employee and clients. In concrete terms, this means that the employee signs a contract with the "portage" company, which gives him or her the status of an employee, while exercising his or her activity in a totally independent manner. For its part, the "portage" company signs a commercial contract with the employee's customers.

Since 2015, the status of ported employee is no longer reserved exclusively for executives. However, they must be able to demonstrate the know-how and expertise required to negotiate and execute the assignments of their choice. They must also have achieved a sufficient degree of autonomy to build up a clientele on their own.

The role of the freelance administration company

It handles the administrative, financial and accounting management of your business.

It is considered your employer. It pays you a monthly salary (based on the assignments you've carried out) and deducts a percentage from your sales to cover its management costs. These represent almost all of its remuneration, since the order of April 2, 2015 relating to wage portage clearly states that "the portage company must carry on this activity on an exclusive basis". This percentage is generally between 5% and 10% of your sales before tax.

The employment contract between a freelance administration company and a freelance employee

This contract can be either open-ended (CDI) or fixed-term (CDD).

Open-ended contract (CDI)

It must include the general clauses governing the relationship between the company and the employee, i.e. :

• the length of the trial period ;
• paid leave (acquisition, taking and payment);
• details of the pension fund and provident fund;
• the frequency of reports to be submitted by the employee to the "société de portage";
• the method for calculating the remuneration of the ported employee, as well as the terms of payment;
• the method for calculating the business contribution allowance, the various social security and tax charges, management fees and any professional expenses, and how they are deducted.

Fixed-term contract (CDD)

This document must include all the provisions of the French Labor Code relating to the trial period, compensation for paid vacations, and the conditions that will apply in the event of early termination of the contract. The contract may be renewed only once, and its total duration may not exceed 18 months. However, the contract can be extended for a further 3 months, bringing the maximum duration to 21 months.

In addition to the general clauses of an open-ended contract, a fixed-term contract must include at least :

• the duration of the service and the nature of the element that will determine the end of the contract;
• customer company details ;
• details on the performance of the freelance administration service (e.g. the client company's responsibility for the conditions under which the work is carried out).

The commercial contract between the umbrella company and the employee's clients

This document sets out all the elements that have been negotiated between the client company and the ported employee. It also includes :

• the contact details of the ported employee and his or her qualifications for carrying out the service;
• a description of the service to be provided;
• the price agreed between the company and the ported employee for this assignment;
• if applicable, the equipment to be made available, including personal protective equipment;
• the identity of the insurance company for the freelance administration company's civil liability, as well as the number of this contract.

Advantages for the ported employee

You can combine freelance administration with another salaried activity. This enables them to minimize financial risk by testing out an entrepreneurial project in complete security, since freelance administration guarantees :

• a monthly salary ;
• social protection ;
• a company mutual ;
• benefit from unemployment insurance between two assignments ;
• the possibility of making voluntary payments into aretirement savings account.

In return, he must take charge of his own prospecting, as the "portage" company is not obliged to provide him with work or to pay him if he does not perform any services.

Collective bargaining agreement for freelance workers, March 22, 2017