The French Supreme Court requires the employer to inform the expatriated employee of the social protection scheme applicable to him

When an employee is expatriated outside of France, he or she must in principle be affiliated to the social protection scheme of the country in which he or she performs the employment contract.

As a result, the employee is no longer subject to basic or complementary pension contributions, and therefore does not acquire any trimesters for this period.

On the other hand, the employee may voluntarily subscribe to the Caisse des Français de l’Etranger (Foreign French Fund – CFE) so that the trimesters worked as an expatriate can be taken into account in determining the right to a retirement pension.

In a decision dated November 23, 2022, the French Supreme Court ruled that the employer has a duty to inform the expatriate employee of his social protection scheme.

If the employer fails to do so, it may be ordered to compensate the employee for the resulting prejudice, which can quickly turn out to be significant.

This decision calls for caution when expatriating an employee, and confirms the need to fully inform the employee of the fact that§  His activity does not give rise to affiliation to the retirement insurance scheme;

• §  His activity does not give rise to affiliation to the retirement insurance scheme;

  §  It is possible to voluntarily join the Caisse des Français de l'Etranger.