10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10782
In France, the main goal of the legislation adopted in response to the health crisis is to avoid dismissals by the development of short-time working and more flexibility in working time. New measures protect also unemployed and independent workers. Several measures have an impact on social dialogue in the firm.
application/pdf
1561-8048
10782
1S
en
Nicolas Moizard
Italian Labour Law e-Journal
Working time flexibility
COVID-19 and Labour Law: France
Text.Serial.Journal
https://illej.unibo.it/
13
National Reports
2020-04-15
2020-04-14
2020-04-15
2020-09-15
ILLeJ
Nicolas Moizard
2020/04/15
10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10782
University of Strasbourg
1561-8048
1S
Working time flexibility
en
COVID-19 and Labour Law: France
https://illej.unibo.it/article/download/10782/11108
13
COVID-19 and Labour Law: France                                                 Italian Labour Law e-Journal
Nicolas Moizard                                                                Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
moizard@unistra.fr                                               Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                                             ISSN 1561-8048
                                                              https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10782




                   COVID-19 and Labour Law: France
                         Nicolas Moizard*

                                                Abstract

     In France, the main goal of the legislation adopted in response to the health crisis is to avoid
     dismissals by the development of short-time working and more flexibility in working time.
     New measures protect also unemployed and independent workers.



     Keywords: Covid-19; Labour Law; Short-time work; Working time flexibility.




     In France, the impact of containment would be just over 30 points of monthly GDP per
 month of containment1.
     The government has extended short-time working in order to preserve jobs.
     Since the 24th of March, France lives under a new legal regime, called the sanitary state
 of emergency (état d’urgence sanitaire), created by an Act of Parliament of March 23. This
 peculiar state of emergency may be declared by the government for a month and may be
 renewed by Parliament without any time-limit. The Act derogates to this procedure and
 already declares the sanitary state of emergency for two months. During this sanitary state
 of emergency, the Prime minister is authorized to take a number of decisions in order to
 protect the health of the population. The Act of Parliament lists ten possible types of
 decisions, like quarantine, limitations to freedom of enterprise or closure of various public
 places. The Act also entitles the government to adopt orders based on article 38 of the
 Constitution (delegation of legislative power to the government) in order to adapt Labor
 law. This delegation of legislative power is valid for three months.

    The government has already published seven orders, which give more flexibility about
 annual leave, working time, rest period and the information and consultation of the
 working council2.
    A government order (décret) extends the possibilities of short-time working3. The
 financial cost for employers is cancelled in most cases. This legislation is extended to new
 forms of work and the procedure is easier. The indemnity due to the employee covers at

 *
   Professor, University of Strasbourg.
 1 OFCE, Policy brief, 65, 30 March 2020; www.ofce.sciences-po.fr.
 2 https://www.vie-publique.fr/dossier/273985-les-ordonnances-covid-19-du-25-mars-2020-dossier.
 3 https://travail-emploi.gouv.fr.
    Nicolas Moizard                                                   Italian Labour Law e-Journal
                                                                     Special Issue 1, Vol. 13 (2020)
                                                        Covid-19 and Labour Law. A Global Review
                                                                          Section: National Reports




least 70% of his previous gross remuneration. At the end of March, 5 millions of workers
were in this situation.
   The recent reform of unemployment insurance, which is tougher on the rights of the
unemployed, is postponed until September. The rights for unemployed are maintained.
   There has been a controversy in the building industry between the government and
sectorial federations about health and safety on building sites. The government wants the
activity to resume. An agreement has been reached but the construction sites have not
reopened.
   Unions and workers have warned about risk of infection in the transport sector for
deliveries, supermarkets and online sales warehouses. They threatened to exercise their
right of withdrawal. Most employers have decided to reinforce measures of health and
safety at work.
   Government published sectorial guides about Health and Safety.
   Teleworking is developed with a flexible procedure, but 18, 8 millions of workers can’t
be in teleworking4.

   Parents who stay at home with children under 16 due to school closure have an
additional compensation on the model of the workplace accident and occupational disease.
   Short-time working is extended to temporary workers, domestic workers, sales
representatives and child minder. The resident permits for foreign workers are prolonged.
A solidarity fund is created for independent workers.

   Since the middle of March, public authorities have teleconferences with Social Partners
several times a week. However, they did not play a role in the choice of measures. Some of
the new derogations about paid holidays need a collective agreement in the firm, but in
several authorised sectors, employers can unilaterally derogate to working time (maximum
working hours, weekly rest...).




Copyright © 2020 Nicolas Moizard. This article is released under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License




4   OFCE, Policy brief, 65, 30 March 2020

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/10782                                                       2
