OLD-AGE AND INVALIDITY INSURANCE AND RELIEF IN FRANCE.

The law establishing a universal compulsory system of old-age insurance for French workmen and employees, of which a translation. is herewith presented, was promulgated on April 5, 1910. This act was adopted by the Senate on March 22, 1910, and by the Chamber of Deputies on March 31, 1910, in both cases almost unanimously. The parliamentary history of this legislation extends back nearly twenty years, as since 1890 the subject of old-age insurance was under constant discussion in the French legislature, and even before that the subject was frequently considered.

The French law of July 14, 1905, while officially known as a law for compulsory relief of aged, infirm, and incurable persons in indigent circumstances, established a right to relief on the part of all persons over 70 years of age with incomes under a certain specified amount. It practically represents a system of invalidity pensions, as well as of old-age pensions. As the number of persons receiving aid in 1910 under the law of 1905 exceeded half a million, this law is seen to be of considerable importance as a precursor of the compulsory old-age insurance system of 1910.

The acts of 1905 and 1910 are very closely connected, the new act extending the sphere of application of the older act of 1905, leaving the provision for persons from 65 to 70 years of age during the transitory period to the older system, so that it is difficult to understand the law of 1910 without a knowledge of the law of 1905.

The national system of provision for old age and invalidity as established under the two acts may be summarized as follows:

ACT OF 1905.

(1) Obligatory relief to indigent persons either over 70 years of age or afflicted with an infirmity or an incurable disease. (2) The duty of providing relief is placed upon either the commune or the Department or the State according to legal residence for the purposes of relief. (3) Two forms of relief, institutional and outdoor. (4) In case of outdoor relief, monthly subsidies from 5 to 20 francs (97 cents to $3.86) (over 20 francs in exceptional cases only). (5) Subsidies from the Department and the State to the communes and from the State to the Departments depending upon the economic status of localities.

ACT OF 1910.

(1) Compulsory insurance for wage-earners and salaried employees in industry, commerce, agriculture, and domestic service, and optional insurance for independent farmers and producers. (2) Equal contributions by employers and employees in case of compul

sory insurance. (3) A state subsidy of 60 francs beginning with the liquidation of pensions at the age of 65 in compulsory insurance and a varying subsidy up to the same limit in voluntary insurance. (4) Special transitory provisions, namely, special privileges for persons over 35 years of age at the time the law goes into effect; they consist mainly in the increase of government subsidies to compensate for smaller pensions from 62 francs ($11.97) to persons 45 years of age to 100 francs ($19.30) to persons 65 years of age. (5) Invalidity provisions consisting of anticipated liquidations of the pensions and a special subsidy in case of total disability. (6) Death benefits vary. ing from 150 to 300 francs ($28.95 to $57.90) to the surviving family in case of death before liquidation of the pension. (7) Extension of the law of 1905 to all persons 65 years of age and over included in the classes subject to compulsory insurance. (8) Individual accounts and computation of pensions on basis of accumulation. (9) Decentralized system. Preservation of existing nongovernmental institutions and formation of new ones under state authorization and supervision. (10) Capitalization system. Investment of accumulations through the government financial institutions and in specified securities, under government control.

The act of 1905 went into effect on January 1, 1907. The date when the new act of 1910 goes into effect is not yet known; the act requires that such date be specified in the general appropriation act of 1911.

ACT OF APRIL 5, 1910, CONCERNING RETIREMENT PENSIONS OF WORKMEN AND PEASANTS. (")

CHAPTER I.-Constitution of old-age pensions.

ARTICLE 1. Employees of both sexes in industry, commerce, the liberal professions, and agriculture, servants, state employees who are not covered by the provisions of the civil or military pension systems, and employees of Departments and communes, shall be entitled to old-age pensions under the conditions provided in the present law.

ART. 2. The old-age pension is formed by means of compulsory and voluntary contributions of the insured, contributions of the employers, and annuity subsidies from the State.

The compulsory contributions of the employees, as well as the contributions of the employers, are determined on the following basis:

The annual contributions of the employees shall be 9 francs [$1.74] for men, 6 francs [$1.16] for women, and 4.50 francs [87 cents] for minors under 18 years of age, or 3 centimes [.579 cent], 2 centimes [.386 cent], and 14 centimes [.2895 cent], respectively, per working day.

The pension shall be purchased on the alienated capital plan; nevertheless, if the insured should so demand, the payments deducted from his own earnings shall be made on the reserved-capital plan.

The contribution of the employer must be borne exclusively by him, and any agreement to the contrary shall be null and void.

A special administrative regulation shall determine the status of workmen who do work to order by the piece, by contract, or at home.

ART. 3. The contributions of the employees shall be deducted from their wages by the employer at each pay day.

Each insured person shall receive gratuitously a card of personal identification, as well as annual cards, on which shall be placed stamps which show the

From the Journal Officiel de la République Française of April 6, 1910, p. 2998 and following. The law was also published in the Bulletin de l'Office du Travail, 1910, p. 391.

compulsory payments made for his account or the voluntary payments made by himself.

The total amount of the deduction from the wages and the employer's contribution is represented by one stamp, which the employer must attach to the card of the insured.

For workmen irregularly employed the compulsory payments must be made on a basis of monthly payments, according to conditions which shall be determined by a special administrative regulation. These payments must not exceed the limits stated in paragraph 3 of article 2 of the present law.

The mutual aid societies, the ordinary savings banks, and the other funds referred to in article 14 of the present law may assume the duty of depositing the compulsory or optional payments of their members if the latter so desire. These institutions may receive in advance the compulsory payments of the insured, on condition that they record them on the cards of the members with a special mention.

In such cases the employers receipt for their contributions by attaching a stamp.

A special administrative regulation shall determine under what conditions the mutual aid societies and other funds shall prove the deposit of the contributions and the deposit of payments which they have been required to make in the suitors' fund (caisse des dépôts et consignations).

Persons who can prove that they are already members of and pay their dues to a mutual aid or provident society paying old-age pensions; those who can prove that they have contracted for the purchase or construction of a cheap dwelling or for the acquisition of a small piece of land (field or garden) according to the provisions of the laws of November 30, 1894, April 30, 1904, April 12, 1906, and April 10, 1908, shall be authorized to continue to apply to the same purpose the personal contributions which they are required to make under the present law.

They shall, nevertheless, retain the benefits of the employer's contribution and the supplementary subvention of the State.

ART. 4. The annuity subsidy granted by the State is fixed at 60 francs [$11.58] per annum at the age of 65.

In order to be entitled to the benefits of this subsidy, the insured must prove that he has made at least 30 annual payments reaching, inclusive of voluntary contributions, the amount stated in article 2.

If the number of yearly payments is less than 30 but more than 15, then the subsidy shall be calculated according to the number of years of payment, this number being multiplied by 14 francs [29 cents].

The two years of compulsory military service shall be taken into account in the determination of the amount of the annuity subsidy.

During the transitory period the number of years of payments required to give right to the full subsidy of 60 francs [$11.58] shall, for persons at least 35 years of age or over at the time when the law goes into effect, be equal to the number of years which shall have elapsed since the law went into effect, provided that such insured persons shall prove that for at least three years prior to the taking effect of the law they had belonged to the classes enumerated in article 1.

If the total amount of the annual contributions, including the voluntary payments of the insured, does not reach the total of the contributions specified by article 2, then the subsidy shall be subject to a proportionate reduction.

The capitalized value of the subsidy shall be paid to the account of the beneficiary to the National Old-Age Retirement Fund.

On the other hand, for the insured who are over 45 years of age at the time this law goes into effect, the annuity subsidy shall be increased to the following amounts, by special annual appropriations, made part of the budget of the Ministry of Labor:

Age of insured at the time the law goes into effect.

Every insured person may, after the completion of 55 years, apply for the anticipated liquidation of the old-age pension; but in such cases the annuity subsidy provided for by the State shall also be liquidated at the same age and reduced proportionately.

The insured persons subject to the provisions of the transitory period shall be equally admitted to the benefits of an anticipated liquidation if they have belonged to one of the classes of persons enumerated in article 1 for at least five years preceding the liquidation of the pension, and if during that period they have paid each year amounts which were at least equal to the total amount of the compulsory payments specified in article 2.

ART. 6. If an insured person still subject to the compulsory provisions of the present law shall die before having been provided with an old-age retirement pension, there shall be granted:

First. To his children under 16 years of age an amount of 50 francs [$9.65] per month during six months if there are three or more children; 50 francs [$9.65] per month during five months if there are two children; 50 francs [$9.65] per month for four months if there is only one child.

Second. To the widow without children under 16 years of age 50 francs [$9.65] per month during three months.

In case of divorce the same benefits shall be granted to the divorced wife if she has not yet remarried, if the divorce has been granted exclusively because of the torts of the husband.

Widows of French descent of foreign employees referred to in article 11, whether without children, or with one or several children, shall benefit by the preceding provisions if both they and their children become naturalized during the year following the death of the husband, and in cases in which it applies under the condition that the naturalization of children shall take place according to the provisions of the last but one paragraph of article 9 of the Civil Code as amended by the law of June 26, 1889, and by article 1 of the law of April 5,

1909.

The subventions provided for in the preceding paragraphs shall not be given to the survivors unless the deceased insured person has paid at least threefifths of the compulsory contributions provided for in article 2.

ART. 7. The benefits of the law of July 14, 1905, shall be extended to persons referred to in article 1 from 65 to 69 years of age at the time the law goes into effect and recognized as admissible to the gratuities of the relief law of 1905; but the amounts granted to them in this way shall be limited to one-half of the gratuities granted by the operation of that law, and shall be borne exclusively by the State.

Nevertheless the amounts allowed each year shall not exceed 100 francs [$19.30].

A public administrative regulation shall determine the special conditions under which shall be prepared the lists of beneficiaries under the present article, as well as the composition and the functions of the special commissions charged with the duty of determining these gratuities and other relief.

ART. 8. Beneficiaries of article 1 shall retain the advantages granted by article 20 of the law of July 14, 1905.

The pensions acquired by the contributions of the employees and those of the employers shall be considered as being derived from savings, and the amount of such pensions shall be calculated as if all the contributions had been made under the alienated capital plan.

ART. 9. Exclusive of those cases which are regulated by the law of April 9, 1898, insured persons who have received grave injuries or suffer premature infirmity leading to absolute and permanent disability, without any intentional fault of their own, shall be entitled to an anticipated liquidation of their pension whatever may be their age.

The determination of this disability shall be made according to conditions and forms prescribed by a public administrative regulation.

The liquidation pension shall be subsidized by the State under the conditions' determined by this regulation, by means of special credits made annually for this purpose in the general appropriations act, but such subsidy must not exceed 60 francs [$11.58] per pension, nor shall it increase the pension to more than three times the liquidated amount or increase it beyond 360 francs [$69.48], inclusive of the subsidy.

ART. 10. Agents, employees, and workmen of the large railroad companies of general importance and of the administration of the state railways, workmen and employees in mines, and enlisted seamen shall remain, respectively, subject to the special legislation which applies to them.

The same shall hold true of agents, employees, and workmen of secondary railroads of general importance, of local railways, and of tramways. Nevertheless if the arrangements made in their favor by the operating companies, contained in agreements entered into between the companies and the State or the Departments or communes interested and approved by the ministers of public works and of the interior, given after consultation with the minister of labor, do not assure them a pension at least equal to that resulting from the present law, then this law shall be applicable according to conditions which shall be fixed by a decree agreed upon by the minister of finance, the minister of public works, and the minister of labor.

The retirement funds and the retirement regulations instituted for the benefit of state employees who have not been placed under the general civil or military pension laws, and for the employees of the Departments and communes, may be maintained by decrees issued upon the recommendation of the ministers of labor and of finance and of the competent minister.

New funds or new retirement regulations may be instituted under the same conditions.

Employees whose annual remuneration exceeds 3,000 francs [$579] shall not be subject to the obligations of the present law. Those whose annual remuneration attains 3,000 francs [$579] shall be taken off the list of insured, but they shall retain their acquired rights.

ART. 11. Foreign employees working in France are subject to the same conditions as French workmen.

Nevertheless they shall not benefit by the employers' contributions and the subsidies or increases derived from budgetary appropriations, unless treaties with the country of their origin shall.guarantee to French citizens equivalent advantages.

As long as the preceding paragraph does not apply, the contributions of the employers shall be turned into a reserve fund. The contributions of the employers in the case of French workmen whose retirement pension has already been liquidated shall likewise revert to the reserve fund.

Heads of establishments who have organized in their establishments retirement funds as authorized in article 19 shall be required to pay to the reserve fund that part of the employer's contribution which belongs to such of their employees who, by the application of the two preceding paragraphs, can not benefit from such contributions.

ART. 12. The schedules of rates for computations of pensions shall be determined for each of the funds referred to in article 14, according to conditions prescribed by a public administrative regulation issued on recommendation of the ministers of labor and of finance, after consultation with the superior council of workmen's retirement pensions, according to the rates of interest on investments for each fund and provisionally, according to the table of mortality of the National Old-Age Retirement Fund.

The rate of interest shall be graded in tenths.

Decrees issued upon recommendation of the ministers of labor and of finance shall establish, on the basis of statistics collected by the minister of labor, new mortality tables for the old-age pensions regulated by the present law, as well as special mortality tables for the liquidation of the anticipated invalidity pensions.

The schedule of rates shall not provide for prorating in case of death. They shall include only entire years, and the contributions shall be considered as made by the persons concerned at the age which they will attain during the course of the year in which the payments are received by the insurance institution.

The schedule of rates shall not contain any charges for the cost of administration of the different institutions; this shall be provided by an assessment on 64181°-No. 91–11——10