New sanctions for companies failing to meet minimum wage requirements

This long-awaited measure is part of a series of government announcements aimed at responding to union demands for wage increases. The government seeks to avoid a situation where wages are artificially capped by sectoral minimums below the Smic.

Currently, 69 professional sectors have minimums below the Smic. The Ministry of Labor predicts that 64 additional sectors will find themselves in this situation following the next increase in the Smic, scheduled for December 1st.

To be financially sanctioned, companies must have maintained a sectoral minimum below the Smic throughout the previous calendar year. A list of the sectors concerned will be published each year, no later than January 31st, and may be corrected until November 30th to exclude sectors that have increased their minimums to the Smic level.

Employers who pay their employees above the Smic, even if their sector has a lower minimum, will not be sanctioned. The decree comes into effect this Wednesday, and the first year to be taken into account for the new calculation will be 2027.

The Minister of Labor, Jean-Pierre Farandou, warned that the text could be strengthened if sectoral leaders do not cooperate.

Agathe Le Berder of the CGT criticized the slowness of collective sanctions, which require a full year of non-compliance. She also highlighted the numerous “escape clauses” left open to companies.

The decree also details the composition of the “committee for monitoring the reform of general payroll tax reductions,” which will bring together experts, representatives of employers and unions at least once a year until 2029. Unions have long denounced the lack of conditionality linked to these reductions, which, concentrated on the lowest wages, make increases more expensive for employers and thus hinder wage progression. The scale of these reductions was frozen last June.