Life and Health insurance – 3/3 – How to set it up

On the 1st of January 2016 it became mandatory for every company under French social law to offer life and health insurance (called “prévoyance” and “mutuelle” in French) to its employees.

What does this means?

What will be the cost for the company and for the employees? And for what benefits?

How does the company setup these contracts?

The French labour law can appear very complex to a foreigner. Our job is to simplify it to the core issue you must deal with.

Therefore, we will see, as simply as possible, what are your legal requirements, how much will it cost you and how to best set it up.

The law

See our previous post.

Cost and benefits

See our previous post.

How to set it up

health insurance

To setup a life and health insurance contract, you need to contact an insurance company or an insurance broker.

Do not hesitate to request 2 to 3 quotes.

Once you have chosen the contract(s) you wish to provide to your employees you will need to return the sign contract to the insurance company along with a registration form. Depending on the contract and the insurance company other documents may be requested.

Then you will have to have all of your employees fill in and sign an individual registration form that you will have to send to the insurance company. This formality can sometime be done online.

You will have to draft a unilateral declaration (called “Déclaration unilatéral de l’employeur” in French) and have it sign by the company and all the employees. This document is a summary of the cost and benefits of the insurance contracts. Unfortunately this document must be in written in French.

The employee will not receive confirmation of his registration to the life insurance. However, he will receive a health insurance card confirming his registration to the health insurance.

The contributions of both contracts will be added to the payroll. The contributions will have to be paid quarterly to the insurance company. Your payroll provide will provide the insurance company with a yearend declaration.

The insurance rate are usually fix for a year. And they usually increase on January of every year. You will receive a notification of the new rate from the insurance company. Make sure it is passed along to you payroll provider for implementation on the payroll.


French Payroll Expert advice


Recently retirement fund started to provide life and health insurance contract. Since your company must be registered to a retirement fund, we recommend that you contact your retirement fund for a quote. If the quote agrees with you it may be a non-negligible benefit to limit the number of contacts by having the same company managing your retirement and you insurance.

If you do not know who to contact to have a quote, do not hesitate to contact us. We will provide you with brokers and insurance company we recommend and who can provide costs in English.

 

You cannot escape it. You must register to a life and health insurance for your employees. To make it simple do not forget to:

  • Be in compliance with the law and your collective bargaining agreement.
  • Evaluate the cost and the benefits with forgetting the HR benefits.
  • Contact us or your payroll provider. It is our job to assist you so that you can focus on your business.

 

French Payroll Expert

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