You are entitled to the wage guarantee scheme so long as you have (or had) an employment contract.

• You are employed by a retailer, craftsman, farmer, self-employed individual or professional, legal entity subject to private law (commercial company, association ...)
• You are an employee transferred abroad or a French expatriate employee
• You are employed in France by an employer located in another State of the European Union

You are entitled to the wage guarantee scheme even if your employer is behind in the payments of the AGS contributions.

Special case of insolvency procedures initiated in another European Union country
In the event of initiation of an insolvency procedure in a European Union country, where one or several employees of that company carried out their main activity in another State, then they would have to contact the scheme of that State for the payment of all unpaid claims.

The AGS covers employees working on a regular basis in France for an employer going through insolvency in another State of the European Union.
In this assumption, the concerned employee or employees must contact the foreign authority for the insolvency procedure to file their claims and allow the presentation of an intervention request in France.

• The judicial representative, your special contact: He or she is appointed by the court in any receivership procedure to represent the claimants, protect the financial rights of employees and sell the assets of the company in judicial liquidation and pay off the claimants. The judicial representative carries out all the formalities to obtain the reimbursement of your wage claims.
  Or the foreign authority in the context of the procedure initiated in another EU State.
• The employee representative : He or she is appointed by the employees to check the amount of sums due and paid to employees and serves as the intermediary between the employees and the administrator or court.
• The company’s operating departments : they are well informed of your situation and your entitlements; they assist the appointed judicial representative and issue all the useful documents and certificates.

Where the judicial representative cannot, for lack of cash, pay all or part of the wage or claims filed, then the CGEA (Centre de Gestion et d’Etude AGS), grants advance payments to the judicial representative on behalf of the AGS.

You have nothing to do: according to the law, you do not have to file your claims unlike the other claimants.

To obtain the funds, the judicial representative must previously compile a statement including :

• Your identity (with the national identification number)
• The nature of your employment contract
• The date you joined the company
• Your function in the company, your job title
• Whether you are a corporate officer
• The termination date of your employment contract
• The sums already paid
• Outstanding amounts to be paid

Stage 1: Appointment of the Judicial representative
At the initiation of the receivership proceedings, the judicial representative, appointed by the Commercial court or the district court, is responsible for checking and compiling a statement of the sums owed to employees.

Stage 2: Preparing the statement of claims
In the absence of the company’s available funds, the judicial representative lists the amounts owed on a statement of claims, signed by the official receiver at the Centre d’Etude et de Gestion AGS (CGEA).

Stage 3: Payment of amounts owed to employees
The CGEA provides a judicial representative with the funds required to pay the amounts owed to employees within a period of 5 days following receipt of the statement of wage claims. The representative then pays the employees immediately.

The wage guarantee scheme guarantees the payment of unpaid remunerations of employees whose employer is in receivership :

• All kinds of compensations owed to the employees at the time the receivership or liquidation proceedings are initiated
• Claims payable as a result of the termination of your employment contract

Main claims guaranteed: Remunerations due to employees and apprentices, compensations due during notice periods, compensations due for paid leave, redundancy payments, the financial contributions due by the employer in case of membership to the CSP.

The advance payments are given, for all claims, within the limits of the ceiling. This ceiling* varies according to the seniority of your employment contract within the company on the day the receivership proceedings are initiated.

*The amounts indicated include the wage deductions for social organizations.

At receipt of the statement of wage claims compiled by the judicial representative, the CGEA checks that the claims do fall within the guarantee scope of the AGS. The CGEA, as an advance, makes a blanket payment to the judicial representative who shares the AGS payments to the employees.

In practice, statements are drawn up and presented to the AGS Management and Study Centre (CGEA) by the judicial representative within a period of less than 30 days from the start of the insolvency proceedings for salaries and incidental expenses, and of less than three months for all other receivables (including severance pay).
The CGEA provides a judicial representative with the funds required to pay the amounts owed to employees within a period of 5 days following receipt of the statement of wage claims.

The representative then pays the sums owed to the employees immediately.

In the absence of grounds for contesting, there is no need to contact the Employment tribunal. In fact, the employment tribunal proceedings may delay the intervention of the wage guarantee scheme.

Contestation of claims by the AGS:
Exceptionally, the CGEA may contest your claim. It then notifies the judicial representative of its refusal to pay the advance, in whole or in part, and gives grounds for the refusal.  

Individual dispute:
Your employer is under protection proceedings. The AGS has not been summoned to the employment tribunal. It is only present as a defendant, if it refused, on a specified ground, to pay an advance for your compensations following the notification of your dismissal for economic reasons.

YOU FALL INTO ONE OF THESE THREE SITUATIONS:

• You have initiated proceedings at the employment court prior to the initiation of the receivership proceedings.
It will continue in the presence of the officers of the court and AGS representatives following their summons as parties to the proceedings (except for protection proceedings).

• The judicial representative refuses to register all or part of your claim on the statement.
You may refer the matter to the judgment office of the employment court of your place of residence. The purpose of your request is the judicial recognition of your claims to obtain their subsequent payment.

• The CGEA refuses to pay the advance on all or part of your claim.
You may refer the matter to the judgment office of the employment court. The purpose of your request is to obtain a court decision stating that the AGS is compelled to pay your claims.