Background information

The AGS's main mission is to accompany and support companies in insolvency proceedings by advancing the funds needed to pay employee claims.

Wage guarantees are offered in the case that an employer is bankrupt (debt cannot be covered by assets), reorganises the company, or is in temporary financial difficulties.

All employees are eligible irrespective of the duration of the employment contract including part-time and fixed-term workers, workers that temporarily work outside of France as well as foreign workers working in France for an employer located in another European Union Member State.

Content of measure

Founded in 1973, wage guarantees cover everything that is owed to the worker on the day of filling for insolvency, including wages, compensations in case of termination of the employment contract, claims from financial employee participation and social plans.

There is a maximum amount per employee which takes into account the following considerations:

• If the contract has been concluded less than six months before the opening judgement for insolvency, the maximum is set at €54,848 for 2021.
• If the contract has been concluded between six months and two years before the opening judgement for insolvency, the maximum is set at €68,560 for 2021.
• If the contract has been concluded more than two years before the opening judgement for insolvency, the maximum is set at €82,272 for 2021.

There is no minimum duration of the employment relationship.

The system is financed by contributions from all employers (0.15% of the payroll, since 1 July 2017). Due to the COVID-crisis, the AGS has taken exceptional measures, applicable retroactively from 16 March 2020. From 16 March 2020, the AGS pays the amounts owed to employees within a period of 72 hours following receipt of the statement of wage claims. .

Use of measure

The year 2021 is characterised by a historic drop in all technical indicators for the AGS: 11,000 files opened (compared to 13,492 in 2020), an amount of advances not exceeding the symbolic threshold of €1 billion and a number of beneficiary employees below 100,000. In 2021, the AGS Scheme intervened in 68.4% of cases for companies in judicial liquidation. 30% of its interventions concerned companies in receivership and 1.6% companies in and 1.6% for companies under safeguard.

More information is available in the ERM legal database .

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Employees in standard employment Workers in non-standard forms of employment	Applies to all businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Public employment service	Companies

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Direct consultation outside a formal body	Direct consultation outside a formal body

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only employers' organisations
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The AGS was created by law and managed by the representative national employers' organisations.

Views and reactions

Unknown

Sources

• 20 February 2002: Les Chiffres AGS (2020), numéro spécial 10 ans -2010/2019- (www.ags-garantie-salaires.org)
• 01 January 2022: Government website on wage guarantee (vosdroits.service-public.fr)
• 18 March 2022: AGS COVID-19 : Questions/Réponses (www.ags-garantie-salaires.org)
• 30 June 2022: Rapport d'activité de l'AGS 2021 (www.ags-garantie-salaires.org)
• 28 October 2022: Les Chiffres - Le Bulletin statistique trimestriel AGS de la garantie des salaires (www.ags-garantie-salaires.org)