Law No. 2025-989 of 24 October 2025 amends several provisions of the Labour Code to facilitate the recruitment of experienced job seekers and support their continued employment.
Creation of an obligation to negotiate periodically on the employment and working conditions of experienced employees
A new periodic obligation to negotiate with trade unions has been introduced. This obligation concerns employment and improvement of working conditions for experienced employees in view of their age. It must take place at least every four years in companies and groups of companies with at least 300 employees.
New system for career development meetings
The law modifies the system of career meetings, which aim to ensure employees’ employability.
These meetings must take place during the first year following recruitment, and then every four years and cover the following elements:
- the employee’s skills and qualifications used in their current job, but also, from now on, their potential development in light of changes within the company;
- the employee’s situation and career path, in light of changes in the profession and employment prospects within the company;
- the employee’s training needs, which is a new addition. These may relate to their current professional activity, their job in light of changes within the company, or a personal project;
- the employee’s career development aspirations. The meeting can now pave the way for internal or external retraining, a career transition project, a skills assessment or the validation of prior learning;
- the employee’s activation of their personal training account, payments made into this account by the employer, and career development advice.
A summary review of the employee’s career path must take place every 8 years (instead of every 6 years as previously).
This career path meeting is systematically offered to employees who return to work after certain types of leave, such as maternity leave or long-term sick leave, if the employee has not had a career path meeting in the 12 months prior to their return to work.
After the mid-career medical examination. A career path meeting must be organised within two months of the mid-career medical examination. This meeting will cover: the adaptation or adjustment of tasks and the workstation, burnout prevention, training needs and any wishes the employee may have for mobility or professional retraining.
At the end of the employee’s career. During the first career path meeting, which takes place between the ages of 58 and 60, the following topics must be addressed: conditions for continuing in employment and possibilities for end-of-career adjustments (in particular, the possibility of switching to part-time work or gradual retirement).
Creation of the “experience enhancement contract”
The law establishes an “experience enhancement contract” on an experimental basis for the next five years. This is a permanent contract concluded with a person (the following conditions are cumulative) who:
- is at least 60 (or at least 57 if provided for in an extended industry-wide agreement);
- is unemployed;
- is not eligible for a full base retirement pension (with some exceptions);
- has not been employed by this company or, where applicable, by a company belonging to the same group, during the previous six months.
When signing the contract, the employee must provide the employer with a document issued by the pension insurance fund stating the expected date on which they will be entitled to a full pension. If the date of entitlement to a full pension is subsequently revised, the employee must inform their employer and provide them with the updated document.
The employer may, subject to a notice period and in return for compensation at least equal to the redundancy payment, retire the employee when they reach the legal age (between 62 and 64 depending on their generation) or the age at which they become eligible for a full pension (67).
In return, the employer is exempt from the specific employer’s contribution of 30% on the amount of the retirement allowance paid to the employee for allowances paid from the day following the promulgation of the law until the end of the third year after that date.
Progressive retirement: strengthening of grounds for refusal by the employer
Employers who refuse to allow employees to take progressive retirement must now provide more justification for their refusal.
In addition to the incompatibility between the working hours requested by the employee and the economic activity of the company, this refusal must also be justified by:
- the consequences of the requested reduction in working hours on the continuity of the company’s (or department’s) activity;
- the difficulties encountered in recruiting for the position concerned (if the consequences involve recruitment).
Extension of retirement conditions for senior employees
In order to encourage the hiring of senior employees on permanent contracts, compulsory retirement is now possible for employees hired after they have already reached the age required to automatically qualify for a full pension.
