People who started working early may benefit from a specific retirement status. They are indeed concerned by what is called a long career which can give rise to early retirement. For this, it is necessary to fulfill certain conditions related to the age and the duration of pension insurance, more precisely to justify a certain number of quarters contributed. Explanations.
The legal retirement age is set, depending on the year of birth, between 60 and 62 by most pension plans. But, for employees, self-employed workers or civil servants who have worked for a long time, that is to say who have had a long career, the retirement age may be different.
Who is affected by a long career? To be in this situation, it is necessary to fulfill these three conditions:
These three essential conditions to be concerned by a long career depend and vary according to three elements:your date of birth, the age at which you wish to retire and the age at which you started working.
For example, if you were born in 1959, and plan to retire at age 60, to be considered as having had a long career, you must have contributed at least 167 quarters of pension insurance and that you justify a minimum retirement insurance period at the start of your career which differs according to your month of birth:5 quarters at the end of the year you turn 20 if you were born between January and September, and 4 quarters if you were born between October and December.
Find the summary table, according to your age, of the conditions to be met to benefit from a long career on the Retirement Insurance site.
Namely:certain periods not worked during a long career can be counted as quarters of pension insurance contributed. This is the case of periods spent on maternity leave giving rise to daily allowances, quarterly increases in the duration of pension insurance allocated to the professional prevention account (C2P) for employees exposed to a hardship factor during their career, periods of sick leave or temporary incapacity (count for 4 quarters maximum), periods of compensated unemployment (4 quarters maximum), periods of receipt of a disability pension (2 quarters maximum), or the national service or civil service performed as a conscientious objector (4 terms maximum).
If you started working before your 20th birthday, you can consult your career statement in your personal space of the Retirement insurance and find out if you are concerned by a long career.
People who have had a long career benefit from the possibility of retiring before the legal age. This is called early retirement for a long career.
If this is the case, it is necessary to ask your pension fund for a certificate of early retirement for a long career. This document is mandatory in order to be able to apply for retirement under these conditions. This certificate is delivered to you at the earliest 6 months before the possible starting point of your early retirement.
Apart from the fact of being able to retire before the legal age, people who have had a long career automatically benefit from a full pension because of the number of quarters for which they have contributed.
Otherwise, the amount of the retirement pension is calculated in exactly the same way as other pensioners, i.e. according to the formula:
Average annual salary x pension rate x (duration of employee insurance under the general scheme / reference duration for obtaining a full-rate pension).
