The Medal of Honor for Labor rewards the seniority and services rendered by employees or retirees from the private sector who work on the territory of the French Republic for French or foreign employers. It can also be granted under certain conditions to employees who work abroad in a French company or in a subsidiary of a French company.
The labor medal is awarded by order of the Minister of Labor or on delegation of the prefect on 1 st January and July 14 of each year. On the day of the presentation of this decoration, the beneficiary receives a ribbon or a rosette and a diploma retracing the services for which he was decorated. His employer can also pay him a sum of money, but this bonus is in no way compulsory.
It is most of the time provided for by collective agreements or collective company agreements. In which cases can one receive the service medal? What are the requirements to get it? How to request it? Update on this bonus linked to the duration and services rendered at work.
The Labor Medal of Honor aims to reward the seniority of an employee in a company as well as the quality of the initiatives taken in his work. No condition of nationality is required. Active employees or retirees can receive this medal. A deceased employee can also be decorated posthumously if he had the required number of years of seniority at the time of his death. All private sector employees working or having worked in France, whether in a French or foreign company, have the possibility of obtaining the service medal. This is also the case for employees who have worked abroad for a French employer.
On the other hand, employees in the agricultural sector, magistrates, soldiers, state and territorial civil servants cannot claim the medal of honor for work. Each of these categories has its own reward for seniority such as the regional, departmental or municipal medal of honor for territorial employees.
The medal of honor of work has 4 levels according to the minimum seniority of the employee:
If the employee has had several different employers, the durations of seniority are cumulated. In addition to the years of service actually provided, certain periods of absence are assimilated to periods of work and count in the calculation of seniority. These are national service, maternity or adoption leave, paid internships for professional training, apprenticeship, individual training leave, conversion leave, fixed-term contracts provided for by the Labor Code within the framework of employment policies.
Certain circumstances have the effect of reducing the number of years of seniority normally required to obtain the long-service medal, such as periods of activity outside metropolitan territory of French employees who reside overseas or abroad. Disabled workers who have a disability rate of at least 50%, employees whose activity presents a hardship that justifies early retirement, also benefit from a reduction in seniority to obtain the long service medal. /P>
It is the employee himself who must be at the origin of the request for a long-service medal. For employees residing in France, a form (cerfa 11796*01), available on the website of the Ministry of Labor, must be returned, depending on their department of residence, either to the prefecture, or to the sub-prefecture or to the Directorate for Business, Competition, Consumer Affairs, Labor and Employment (Direccte).
Employees residing abroad must complete this different form (cerfa 11797*01) and send it to their embassy. In all cases, the consignment must be accompanied by the following supporting documents:copy of an identity document, copy of the work certificates from each employer, a recent certificate from the last employer, a national service certificate if there is takes place and, for disabled workers, a copy of the statement of their pensions.
Labor medals are awarded each year on the 1 st January and July 14. Requests must reach the departments concerned before 1 st May for the promotion of July 14, before October 15 for that of the 1 st January.
Photo credit: Gillesmourey
