Unemployment: expungement by France Travail (formerly Pôle emploi)

Verified 08 October 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

As a job seeker registered with France Travail, can you be sanctioned if you do not actively seek a job? Yes, you may be removed from the list of job seekers. To avoid that, you have an obligation to take certain steps. We're giving you the regulations to know.

Effective and active job search

As a jobseeker immediately available in order to hold a job, you need to go through regular job search procedures as part of your personalized project for access to employment (PPAE).

Your job search must be effective and active.

You must be able to justify your job search by providing, for example, copies of your applications, responses from employers, justifications of your efforts to create or take over a company.

You have to accept so-called offers reasonable employment, i.e. corresponding to your professional skills.

Your PPAE is updated periodically.

During this update, your France Travail advisor will define with you the constituent elements of the reasonable job offer.

Please note

The job seeker's employment contract will replace the personalized project of access to employment (PPAE) no later than 1er january 2025.

The employment contract will include an action plan setting out the objectives for implementing the job seeker's professional project to promote his return to employment.

You do not have to accept part-time employment if your PSEP states that you are looking for a full-time job.

You are not obliged to accept a job whose salary is lower than the normal salary in the region and occupation concerned.

You do not have to accept a job that is not compatible with your professional qualifications and skills.

Relations with France Travail

You must respond to written summonses from France Travail (interviews, briefings, etc.).

You must update your situation monthly.

Warning  

the act does not provide for a summons by telephone. The practice exists only to serve people with mobility difficulties.

The grounds for delisting are as follows:

  • Inability to justify your job search
  • Not monthly update your personal situation
  • False statements to be or remain on the list of jobseekers (such statements are also punishable by a fine of up to €3,000)
  • Refusal on 2 occasions of a reasonable job offer
  • Refusal to develop or update your PPAEPPAE : Personalized project for access to employment
  • Absence or abandonment of a training action without legitimate reason
  • Absence from an appointment set by France Travail without legitimate reason
  • Refusal to submit to medical examination without legitimate reason
  • Refusal to follow or abandonment of a job search assistance action proposed by France Travail within the framework of the EAP without legitimate reason.

Please note

the refusal of a job offer involving the sunday is not a reason for delisting.

France Travail may access your personal data from certain organizations (bank, credit institution, energy supplier, etc.).

France Travail can thus check that your financial situation is in line with the payment of unemployment benefits (e.g. undeclared work).

Before any removal from the list of jobseekers, France Travail informs you by notification.

You then have a period of 10 calendar days to submit your written observations to France Travail. This period shall begin on the date on which the letter from France Travail is sent.

You can also ask for an interview with the director of your France Travail agency to explain your situation.

You may be accompanied by a person of your choice (for example, a lawyer, interpreter or private individual).

At the end of this 10-day period, the Director of the Agency shall inform you of his decision within a period of 15 calendar days.

The delisting decision must contain the reason for your exclusion from the list of job seekers.

The cancelation shall take effect on the date of notification transmitted by France Travail.

France Travail’s decision must specify the remedies and time limits for appeal.

You have a deadline of 2 months from the date of the decision to challenge it:

  • You must first make a claim with France Travail
  • If you feel you have not received a satisfactory answer, you must then enter the mediator of France Travail. This step is a mandatory prerequisite for the continuation of the proceedings and the referral to the judge.
  • If the mediation is not successful, you can enter the administrative judge if the disagreement persists after the mediation (the competent administrative court is the one where the France Travail agency that made the decision you are challenging is located).

To check the precise steps to follow in case of disagreement, refer to the sanction letter. You can also find it in your personal space France Travail My Received Email.

The duration of removal from the list of job seekers depends on the reason for your removal.

Tableau - Grounds for and duration of removal from the list of jobseekers registered with France Travail

Grounds for cancelation

Duration of the cancelation on 1er failure to comply

Duration of the cancelation in case of 2e failure to comply

Duration of the cancelation from 3e failure to comply

Inability to justify job searches

1 month

2 consecutive months

4 consecutive months

Refusal on 2 occasions of a reasonable job offer

1 month

2 consecutive months

4 consecutive months

Refusal to develop or update its PPAEPPAE : Personalized project for access to employment

1 month

2 consecutive months

4 consecutive months

Absence or abandonment of a training action without legitimate reason

1 month

2 consecutive months

4 consecutive months

Absence from an appointment set by France Travail without legitimate reason

1 month

2 consecutive months

4 consecutive months

Refusal to follow or abandonment of a job search assistance action proposed by France Travail within the framework of the PPAEPPAE : Personalized project for access to employment without legitimate reason

1 month

2 consecutive months

4 consecutive months

Refusal to submit to medical examination without legitimate reason

1 month

2 consecutive months

4 consecutive months

Refusal to attend training or job search assistance without legitimate reason

1 month

2 consecutive months

4 consecutive months

Lack of statement or misrepresentation

Deletion between 6 and 12 consecutive months. However, if the false declaration is linked to an undeclared activity of very short duration, the deletion can be from 2 to 6 months.

During the deletion period, unemployment benefits are no longer paidin part or in whole.

The abolition of the payment of unemployment benefits may be partial. The fees you still have to collect are reduced by the duration of the deletion. In this case, you only receive part of your allowances. If you re-enroll in France Travail (at the end of the cancelation period), the full payment of your allowances resumes until the end of your entitlement.

Please note

when the duration of the benefit deletion is longer than the duration of your remaining entitlements, your entitlements will be deleted within the number of days you have left. For example: you have 30 days of allowances to collect and you are written off for a period of 2 months, France Travail will then write you off for a period of 2 months and will delete the 30 days of allowances you have left.

The abolition of the payment of unemployment benefits may be total. In that case, you no longer receive all your allowances. If you re-enroll in France Travail (at the end of the write-off period), the payment of your allowances does not resume.

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