Judicaël Fouquet

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Non-compete obligation: financial compensation does not vary depending on the type of termination

By Judicaël Fouquet on June 26, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The law Under French employment law, it is possible for an employer to subject the employee to a non-compete obligation after the termination of his/her employment as long as such obligation is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the business, is limited in terms of time and geographical scope and takes into account the … Continue reading

Misconduct of an employees’ representative in the course of his/her mandate could justify his/her disciplinary dismissal

By Judicaël Fouquet on June 15, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The legal context Under French employment law, employees’ representatives such as staff delegates or members of the works council enjoy a specific protection. In particular, if an employer wishes to dismiss such an employee, it must comply with a specific procedure which requires, inter alia, obtaining authorization from the Labour inspector. In this context, the … Continue reading

A dismissal may be considered as unfair if it is based on the mistakes of an employee resulting from the employee’s illness

By Judicaël Fouquet on June 1, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The law Under French employment law, any mistake or error made by an employee in the context of his/her employment may theoretically justify his/her dismissal for disciplinary reasons or for professional incompetence. However, when dealing with the consequences of an employee’s illness on his/her work, employers must bear in mind a series of principles applicable … Continue reading

Working time – Are there any restrictions on an employee’s working week?

By Judicaël Fouquet on May 29, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

Employees’ working time is a hot topic in France, the 35 hour week being the centre piece of working time regulations in France. Although the 35 hour week has been repeatedly criticized over the years, it has remained mostly unchanged. French law also includes more specific and complex provisions for various categories of employees. Normal … Continue reading

The dismissal of a protected employee may be cancelled even in the absence of protection at the time of the dismissal

By Judicaël Fouquet on May 18, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The legal context French employment law offers specific protection to employees’ representatives, for example staff delegates or members of the works council. Such protection exists in order to provide a safeguard against the employer inhibiting the representative from performing his/her duties. In this context, the main aspect of this protection is a requirement that a … Continue reading

Economic dismissal : conditional reclassification offers lead to unfair dismissal

By Judicaël Fouquet on April 30, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The legal background In the context of an economic dismissal, even when the employer claims to have strong economic grounds for justifying the termination of the employment contracts, it is still required to comply with the general reclassification obligation applicable to all economic dismissal procedures. Such obligation consists in trying to seek alternative positions to … Continue reading

What rights do employees have to a minimum wage in France?

By Judicaël Fouquet on April 30, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

Under French employment law, employers are generally free to determine the remuneration package to be provided to their employees in accordance with the working of the free markets. However, such liberty is traditionally limited in particular by the principle of equal work for equal pay and the obligations relating to minimum wage. In this respect, … Continue reading

Employer may access text messages exchanged via a professional mobile telephone

By Judicaël Fouquet on April 20, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The legal context Issues regarding the ability of an employer to access messages and files exchanged by its employees using employer-supplied messaging networks or, more generally, devices placed at their disposal, occur quite frequently in the workplace and have given rise to a significant amount of case law. In principle, and from a French employment … Continue reading

The employer’s refusal to adapt the employee’s workstation may constitute moral harassment

By Judicaël Fouquet on March 30, 2015 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

The legal context Under French employment law, employers are under a strict duty of care which requires them to ensure the protection of their employees’ health and safety (duty of care), the mere breach of such obligation will trigger their liability even if there is no fault on their part. Such duty of care is … Continue reading

What protection do employees have against age discrimination in France?

By Judicaël Fouquet on March 27, 2015 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

The matter of age discrimination is a particularly sensitive issue in France, where the relatively high unemployment rate of young and aged persons is structural. In this context, there exist specific legal provisions particularly with regard to the employment of young workers. There is also a national-interprofessional collective bargaining agreement with respect to older workers … Continue reading

Failure by the employer to set an employee’s targets may justify the judicial termination of the employment contract

By Judicaël Fouquet on March 16, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

General background The principle of remuneration based on the employee’s performance has long been permitted by French employment law provided in particular that such remuneration is based on objective criteria, does not result in payment of remuneration inferior to the minimum wage and complies with the general principle of equal work for equal pay. In … Continue reading

Non-compete obligation: the contractual time limit for waiver may not apply in certain circumstances

By Judicaël Fouquet on February 26, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The legal context It is quite common for employers to include in an employment contract the possibility of unilateral waiver of the application of a non-compete obligation at the end of the employment relationship. French case law does permit such flexibility but only provided that (i) such waiver is expressly stipulated in the employment contract, … Continue reading

Collective consultation on redundancy – what obligations do employers have in France

By Judicaël Fouquet on February 25, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

General comments Under French employment law, employees’ representatives benefit from a right to be consulted on a very wide range of matters concerning the running of the company. In particular, the works council must be informed and consulted on any matter relating to the organisation, the management and the general running of the company, which … Continue reading

Part-time employment: additional hours may result in an employment contract being requalified as a full-time contract

By Judicaël Fouquet on February 17, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The legal background Under French employment law, part-time work is subject to specific rules the purpose of which is to ensure that employees benefit from a minimum level of stability and predictability in their working time schedule. More specifically, the relevant legal provisions state that the additional working hours that an employer can require an … Continue reading

Duty of care: an employee’s misconduct may be excused under some circumstances

By Judicaël Fouquet on January 30, 2015 Posted in Europe, France

The legal context Under French employment law, both employers and employees are under a duty of care which requires them to take health and safety considerations into account throughout the employment relationship. Although the employer’s duty of care is interpreted very extensively by case law, which does not entitle the employer to escape liability except … Continue reading

Moral harassment: an employee victim of harassment can be compensated twice

By Judicaël Fouquet on December 12, 2014 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

Legal context French employment law strictly prohibits acts of moral harassment within a company, employers being required to take all measures necessary to prevent such situations from occurring in the first place. Applicable sanctions in the event of breach of such prohibition can be particularly severe since the employer can face penal sanctions as well … Continue reading

Probationary period: compliance with the notice period may give rise to a new employment contract

By Judicaël Fouquet on December 3, 2014 Posted in Europe, France

The legal background Under French employment law, the provision of a probationary period in an employment contract entitles the employer to terminate the contract without being required to follow a dismissal procedure or to justify the termination on real and serious grounds. However, the termination of an employment contract during a probationary period must be … Continue reading

Employees’ rights and obligations relating to the use of social media in France

By Judicaël Fouquet on November 28, 2014 Posted in Data privacy and GDPR, Europe, France

The impact of the use of social media in the workplace has regularly given rise to controversies and debates as how this subject is to be handled by a company’s management. The current state of employment law is still not entirely settled in this respect. It is however possible to provide some guidance on the … Continue reading

Bullying a colleague does not necessarily justify a dismissal

By Judicaël Fouquet on November 14, 2014 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

The legal context French employment law strictly prohibits situations of moral harassment in the workplace, the employer being required to take all necessary measures to prevent such situations from occurring. The employer can, for example, be held liable if acts of moral harassment actually take place, as the employer can then be held to have … Continue reading

Disability – what protection from discrimination do disabled employees have in France?

By Judicaël Fouquet on October 31, 2014 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

As a preliminary comment, it should be observed that disabled employees who carry out their professional activity in a normal working environment are considered as full-fledged employees and thus benefit from the same rights as any employee. Moreover, and in any event, an employee is never obliged to disclose his/her disability situation to his/her employer. … Continue reading

Termination by common agreement may now lead to unfair dismissal

By Judicaël Fouquet on October 31, 2014 Posted in Europe, France

The legal background An employment contract is above all a contract which is governed and subject to general rules applicable to any agreement entered into by two or more parties. In particular, contract law generally allows the parties to agree on the termination of the contract by which they are bound. Drawing the consequences from … Continue reading

Alcohol testing: a drunk employee does not necessarily mean a fair dismissal

By Judicaël Fouquet on October 15, 2014 Posted in Europe, France

The legal background The issue of alcohol consumption in the workplace is a common concern for any employer wishing to protect its employees’ health and safety at work. From a legal perspective, this can result in potential risks in terms of criminal and civil liability, particularly with regard to the employer’s duty of care toward its … Continue reading

The use of “forfait jours” under the Syntec sector is now secured

By Judicaël Fouquet on September 30, 2014 Posted in Europe, France

As previously commented in one of our articles, French case law has subjected to increasingly strict scrutiny employers using “forfait jours”, i.e. a specific method of working time for autonomous executives (whose working time is calculated as a number of days worked over the year rather than a number of hours per week). In 2011, … Continue reading

Flexible working – achieving a work life balance in France

By Judicaël Fouquet on September 19, 2014 Posted in Europe, France

The issue of reconciling work and personal life has become a growing concern in France and resulted in particular in the negotiation of a nation-wide inter-sectoral agreement relating to the quality of working life in 2013. In this context, the issue of flexible working raises, among other things, the question of whether employees benefit from … Continue reading