A long-term illness often leads to extended sick leave, halting your salary and direct retirement contributions. Instead, Social Security provides daily allowances. While this pause affects your pension buildup, it doesn't erase your rights. As experts in French pension systems, we'll explain the real impact on basic and supplementary pensions.
For employees and self-employed individuals, the basic pension is calculated using three key factors: your average annual salary (based on the 25 highest-earning years contributing to the general scheme, or all years if fewer); validated quarters (reflecting contribution periods); and the liquidation rate (determining full-rate eligibility).
Validated quarters include not just work periods but also interruptions like unemployment, illness, disability, maternity, military service, and—for private-sector employees—work accidents. These are "assimilated" quarters.
During long-term illness, you earn assimilated quarters from Social Security daily allowances, as they replace contributions. Specifically, you validate one quarter for every 60 days of paid allowances, up to 4 quarters per year. These are automatically credited to your career statement.
Important note: The salary value for these quarters is lower than your usual pay, based solely on allowances. Plus, since no contributions occurred, these periods aren't factored into your top 25 earning years.
Ultimately, long-term illness reduces your future basic pension amount—especially if it coincides with your peak earning years.
The effect on supplementary pensions, like Agirc-Arrco, can be less severe. This points-based system continues accruing points during illness if you meet three conditions: prior affiliation to Agirc-Arrco; receipt of daily allowances; and at least 60 consecutive sick leave days.
Points earned match the average from your previous year (total points divided by days in the year). However, you can't exceed the prior year's total.
