Topic: France

French employment code reform: Focus on economic dismissals

French President Emmanuel Macron has signed five ordinances making important changes to several aspects of the French employment code. The ordinances, which were immediately published in the French Official Journal on September 23rd, 2017, are aimed in particular at providing employers more flexibility and predictability in labour-management relations. Several provisions of this ambitious reform (the … Continue reading

French employment code reform: Focus on dismissal procedure and indemnity

By Elodie Grangier and François Guillon on October 30, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Europe, France

French President Emmanuel Macron has signed five ordinances making important changes to several aspects of the French employment code. The ordinances, which were published in the French Official Journal on September 23rd, 2017, are aimed in particular at providing employers more flexibility and predictability in managing labour relations. Several provisions of this ambitious reform (the … Continue reading

French employment code reform: Focus on homeworking

By Elodie Grangier and François Guillon on October 23, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Europe, France

Use of social media in France: Employee’s rights and obligations

By Elodie Grangier and François Guillon on October 2, 2017 Posted in Contracts, 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

Significant changes to French employment code to enter into force no later than January 1st, 2018

By Elodie Grangier on October 2, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Europe, France

Record number of mutual termination agreements signed in France

By Elodie Grangier and François Guillon on August 18, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Europe, France

According to the data published by the French labour administration, mutual termination agreements (ruptures conventionnelles) have never been so popular. Indeed, in June 2017, more than 35,700 mutual terminations agreements have been validated by the French labour Administration. But why are mutual termination agreements so popular? First, mutual termination agreements represent – for the employer and … Continue reading

The (latest) reform of the French employment code is ongoing

By Elodie Grangier and Camille Chabrolin on August 11, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Europe, France

As part of candidate Emmanuel Macron’s program during the Presidential elections campaign, a substantial reform of the French employment Code was promised. After his election as President, French commentators anticipated new changes would be implemented quickly, given Emmanuel Macron’s indications that he wished to go ahead as soon as possible, without too much debate before … Continue reading

What French employers must do in case of heatwave?

By Elodie Grangier and Camille Chabrolin on July 3, 2017 Posted in Europe, France

Summer is coming and temperatures are rising and may become unbearable, especially for these employees working outdoors / performing manual labour. Too much warmth can affect employees and can cause exhaustion, headache, fainting, or dehydration. Therefore the impact on employees’ health can be significant. From a French employment law perspective, employers have a very general … Continue reading

Do employees who are pregnant or on maternity leave enjoy any special protection in the event of redundancy in France?

By Elodie Grangier on May 29, 2017 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

As is the case in many other countries (particularly countries in the European Union, which are covered by EU Directive 92/85/CEE dated 19 October 1992), France has implemented a full set of rules with the goal of protecting pregnant employees or employees on maternity leave against illegitimate termination of their employment contract. These protections also … Continue reading

Dismissals for established poor performance may – still – be unfair

By Elodie Grangier on May 3, 2017 Posted in Europe, France

Just for once, we will talk about French lawyers. We say “for once”, because only a minority of lawyers in France are employees (a very large majority of us are self-employed). From a French employment law point of view, although the employee in the particular case we will discuss here was a lawyer, that is … Continue reading

Human resources managers can be indirectly liable for harassment

By Elodie Grangier on April 14, 2017 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

Health and safety of employees is highly protected in France. Employers are responsible for the prevention of any damage to their employees’ health and safety resulting from their work. Amongst other things, French law requires employers to ensure that their employees are protected from any harassment at work. But another provision of the French Employment … Continue reading

Le devoir de vigilance : une obligation renforcée

By Elodie Grangier on April 3, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Europe, France

L’obligation de vigilance est une obligation faite aux entreprises de prévenir les risques sociaux, environnementaux et de gouvernance lié à leurs activités. La loi du 27 mars 2017 relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et des entreprises donneuses d’ordre, publiée le 28 mars 2017 au Journal Officiel, renforce l’obligation de vigilance. Le devoir … Continue reading

A new duty of care for the most significant companies in France

By Elodie Grangier on April 3, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Europe, France

The duty of care is an obligation for companies to prevent social, environmental and governance risks related to their activities. A very recent law published on 28th March 2017 has reinforced such duty of care. The duty of care concerns French companies employing, at the end of 2 consecutive fiscal years, at least 5,000 employees … Continue reading

What is the latest on employees’ rights in the event of redundancy in France?

By Elodie Grangier on March 27, 2017 Posted in Europe, France

Dismissing an employee due to economic difficulties is extremely delicate in France. A law dated 8th August 2016 has specified the definition of the economic grounds for dismissals, providing that economic difficulties are, in particular, characterized by a significant evolution of an indicator such as a significant drop of turnover, a significant drop in purchase … Continue reading

When an employer hides another employer

By Elodie Grangier and Pauline Disdier on March 20, 2017 Posted in Europe, France

Dual employment is a sensitive subject in French employment law as it enables employees to raise claims against a different employer from that with which the employment contract was signed. The matrix-type organisation of groups of companies, which has become the rule, can have adverse consequences if employees have the feeling that they are employed … Continue reading

Update regarding protection against religion-based discrimination in France

By Elodie Grangier on February 16, 2017 Posted in Contracts, Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

In France, the issue of religious behavior in the workplace is extremely sensitive. The principle under French employment law is that while public sector employers are required to enforce a policy of strict neutrality, in private sector companies, a balance must be maintained between the principle of secularism and the prohibition of discrimination based on … Continue reading

New protection of French whistleblowers under the Sapin II Law

By Elodie Grangier on February 3, 2017 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France, Whistleblowing

Much attention was focused recently on President Obama’s decision, in the final days of his presidency, on commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning, who provided certain classified information to WikiLeaks. In France, new legislation has recently been passed and implemented harmonizing the protection of whistleblowing employees (https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=4BBFD240827AF0FD9A6340FF254E6F1B.tpdila21v_3?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000033558528&categorieLien=id). Who is concerned? Under the new regulation, whistleblowers … Continue reading

Key French employment law developments in 2017

By Elodie Grangier on February 2, 2017 Posted in France

As 2017 is a Presidential election year in France, we do not expect major changes in employment legislation to occur in France in the near future. However, this does not mean that French employment lawyers will be unoccupied. First and foremost, the El Khomri law (dated 8 August 2016), which significantly modified the employment law … Continue reading

Class action against workplace discrimination

By Pauline Disdier on January 19, 2017 Posted in Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France

In France, employees who suffer from workplace discrimination are entitled to bring claims against their employer. Workplace discrimination is strictly prohibited and is characterized when a person is treated less favorably than another because of his or her origin, sex, marital status, pregnancy, physical appearance, health, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, political opinions, trade … Continue reading

The new French “right to disconnect”

By Laure Joncour on January 16, 2017 Posted in Europe, France

French law has recently implemented the “right to disconnect” from digital tools, requiring employers to limit employees’ use of digital tools outside of office hours. The purpose of the new legislation is to protect the employees’ work-life balance and their right to rest periods. New article L 2242-8 of the French Labour Code provides that … Continue reading

What rights do workers have to rest breaks in France?

By Laure Joncour on December 16, 2016 Posted in Europe, France

French regulations strictly supervise employees’ working time, which may not exceed a certain limit and must include break time and minimum rest periods. Not only must the employer comply with these obligations, but in the event of litigation, the employer must be in a position to produce evidence that it has done so. Each employee … Continue reading

An employee alleging harassment at work cannot be the object of a claim for defamation by the employer

By Anne-Laure Braquehaye on November 16, 2016 Posted in Europe, France

In France, employees alleging harassment enjoy legal protection against any retaliation by their employer. The employee cannot be made subject to sanctions as a consequence of such allegations, whether by outright dismissal or some lesser sanction. Obviously, there are some caveats around this, including the requirement that the employee have made such allegation of harassment … Continue reading

What protections and rights exist for part-time employees?

By Anne-Laure Braquehaye on November 2, 2016 Posted in Europe, France

Under French employment law, part-time employees enjoy rights identical to those granted to full-time employees by law, collective bargaining agreements and company agreements employees. Consequently, there exists a principle of equality between part-time and full-time employees, such that part-time employees enjoy either the same or proportional rights as those so full-time employees. Part-time employees enjoy … Continue reading

A warning for a slap : is it reasonable ?

By Judicaël Fouquet on June 28, 2016 Posted in Europe, France

Under French employment law, the definition of a disciplinary sanction is broad as it is defined by law as being “any measure, other than a verbal observation, taken by an employer in response to an act of an employee which the employer considers incorrect, whether or not such measure has an immediate effect upon the … Continue reading