Littler (JD Supra France)

Developing a business recovery strategy - Prompted by the French government's support measures, companies are favoring a partial resumption of business activities.  Employers will have to consider, however, the extent to which business can resume—i.e., partial or complete reopening of operations.

The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across the globe remains a significant concern in the workplace. Employers are confronting difficult questions regarding how to handle mandatory lockdowns, safety and health rules, travel restrictions, compensation, and other employment issues.

Reporting Harassment to Third Parties Constitutes Slander - Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency - When reporting facts that can form the basis for a complaint of harassment (moral or sexual), the employee is protected from discipline: no sanction can be enforced against said employee; otherwise, it would be presumed void.

A decree, dated July 26, 2019, has set a principle of modulation of employers’ contribution to the mandatory unemployment scheme (between 3 and 5.05%) depending on the number of contract terminations. All terminations count, except resignations and a few State-aided contracts.

Index on Equal Remuneration Between Women and Men - New Order or Decree - Pursuant to Decree No. 2019-382, dated April 29, 2019, each company over 50 employees must calculate the salary gaps between women and men and publish the results on their website.

Since September 24, 2017, the compensation to which employees are entitled in unjust dismissal actions in France has been governed by a statutory scale with minimum and maximum amounts. The amount of the severance, expressed in months of salary, varies depending on the employee's seniority and number of employees at the company.

A new provision of the French social security code (Article L.241-17) reduces employers’ social contributions on overtime. This reduction, which was enacted by a Law on Emergency Measures in response to the “yellow vests” movement, does not apply when the payment of overtime replaces a different type of remuneration already in place.

New “Essoc” Law - New Legislation Enacted - Law No. 2018-727 of August 10, 2018, (“Essoc” law, for a State in the service of a society of trust) allows companies to correct a mistake without penalty, provided it is the first involuntary mistake.

Supreme Court Rejects Integration of Commuting Time - Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency - The French Supreme Court recently dismissed an itinerant worker’s request for overtime based on integrating his commute.

France’s labor code does not ordinarily consider an employee’s commute as effective working time. When the commute’s length surpasses the usual trip between one's home and the workplace, however, the employee must be compensated with either time or money. This leaves room for questions regarding employees who are constantly on the move: Is their transit working or rest time? And should it be...

Following the introduction of new corporate social responsibility obligations for collaborative platforms towards independent workers, the French Department of Labor published guidance to clarify the scope of this responsibility.

French President Emmanuel Macron's boldest mission, reforming France's nearly untouchable labor laws, received mixed reviews as his plans went public late last week. The changes would promote negotiation at a company level and without unions, add a voice for small businesses, and create easier ways to hire and fire employees.

On December 9, 2016, France enacted a statute broadly granting whistleblower protections to employees. This new law represents the next step in the evolution of such protections in France. The focus on this area of law originated with the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which triggered—or at least contributed to—an increased interest, from both the public and lawmakers, concerning the status of...

Introduced on August 8, 2016 and effective since January 1, 2017, the “El Khomri law” (named after the French Labor Minister) or “loi travail” granted employees in France the "right to disconnect" from digital devices. Although media reports made it seem as if this were yet another onerous rule for employers to comply with in France, these reports may have oversimplified the law.

“Posting of workers,” a common practice within the European Union, refers to the assignment of an employee to work in another EU Member State (the "host country") on a temporary basis. Under this arrangement, also known as a secondment, the posted employee works in the host country but does not become fully integrated into the host country’s labor market.

On November 29, 2016, France’s National Assembly adopted the text of a bill (the “Bill”) that, if enacted, would create new due diligence obligations for large French companies regarding their subsidiaries’ and supply chain members’ labor practices.

United States employers operating in France often face a dilemma. While they may be bound by the whistleblowing requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("SOX") and its Dodd-Frank amendments,1 they also are bound by the data privacy requirements of French law, which can be at odds with U.S. whistleblowing laws. The French data protection authority (La Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des...