Regional, departmental and communal Medal of Honor (MHRDC)

The regional, departmental and communal medal of honor can be awarded to you if you are (or were) in one of the following situations:

• Local elected official who is not also a member of Parliament or a senator (a local elected official who is also a member of Parliament or a senator must wait until the end of his parliamentary term to apply for a medal)
• Member of the Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Committee
• Territorial staff (civil servant or contract staff)
• Officer of a public housing authority (OPH)
• Agent of a municipal credit union
• A public official who has rendered services on behalf of these local authorities and public institutions.

The medal can also be awarded to you if you have been admitted to retirement, if you have ceased your activity or if your term of office has ended.

A foreigner who works in a local government and who meets the criteria for the award of the medal may also be awarded this distinction.

The regional, departmental and communal medal of honor includes 3 steps :

• Money, granted for 20 years of service
• Vermeilgranted for 30 years of service
• Goldgranted for 35 years of service.

These steps are allocated successively.

The gold medal may be awarded without conditions of service to the person killed in the performance of his duties.

The services included are:

• Services performed in elective mandates
• Services performed as a member of a regional economic, social and environmental committee
• Services performed as a territorial agent
• Services performed as an agent in a public housing office (OPH)
• Services performed as an agent of a municipal credit union
• Services performed in a prefecture before 2 March 1982 or in a common service before 11 October 1985
• Services performed in a decentralized state service before that service became a decentralized service.

If several of the services were performed simultaneously, the duration of the services rendered shall be counted only once. For example, where a mayor also serves as a general councilor, the terms of office of those two terms cannot be cumulated for the purpose of calculating seniority.

Certain periods of absence shall be considered as working periods. These are the following periods:

• Time spent in national service
• Maternity leave, parental leave and adoption leave (up to a maximum of one year)
• Part-time work (pro-rated for actual length of service)
• Training period for territorial civil servants and training leave for local elected officials.

The request is made by the service that offers you.

The approach varies according to the department from which the request is made:

The regional, departmental and communal medal of honor is awarded by prefectural decree on the occasion of the 1^er January and July 14 of each year.

The file must reach the addressee:

• Before 1^er May to win the medal on july 14
• Before 15 October from the previous year to get the medal on the 1^er January.

You also receive a diploma recalling the services for which you are rewarded.

A medal can be minted and engraved at your expense or at the expense of your employer (if the latter agrees), by order sent to the Monnaie de Paris or to a private manufacturer.

The regional, departmental and communal medal of honor can be automatically withdrawn without legal proceedings.

The medal is automatically lost in one of the following :

• Forfeiture of French nationality
• Dismissal from the Public Service.

It may be withdrawn by prefectural decree in one of the following :

• Any other conviction
• Indignity affecting function
• Following a sanction for disciplinary misconduct (after consulting the Disciplinary Board of the administration).