Parliament authorized the government to legislate through ordinances to reform the Labor Code.
By Marie Zafimehy
PUBLISHED ON 08/08/2017 AT 08:10 RTL
The National Assembly, then the Senate. Last week, Parliament officially authorized the government to legislate through ordinances to reform the Labor Code.
According to the majority unions, this law follows in the continuity of the El Khomri Law initiated by the previous government. They are notably planning several days of mobilization in September to protest the adoption of this new “Labor Law.” However, Labor Minister Muriel Penicaud insists: the Labor Code needs to be “simplified” to reduce unemployment and promote access to training. To achieve this, what do the texts of these ordinances provide?
1 – Promoting company-level agreements
“Recognizing and giving a central role” to company-level negotiation: this is the key point of the Labor Code reform desired by the government. Currently, in terms of labor regulations, companies primarily rely on agreements obtained through negotiations with employee representatives within their industry sector. However, by negotiating with their own employees, they can sign an agreement on subjects such as compensation or working hours, only if it is more favorable to the employee.
The government wishes to broaden the scope of negotiations at the company level while maintaining recourse to industry-level agreements. Thus, in certain areas such as minimum wages set by collective agreements or the use of fixed-term contracts, the industry-level agreement would always take precedence over the company agreement “on a mandatory basis.” In other areas, the industry sector would be authorized to decide to “give priority to its agreement over company agreements,” such as for arduous working conditions or disability.
2 – Merging employee representative bodies
The government wishes to merge “into a single body the staff delegates, the works council, and the health, safety, and working conditions committee (CHSCT),” which is already possible for companies with fewer than 300 employees.
3 – Labor courts: revising the compensation scale
This is one of the most controversial measures of the Labor Code reform. The government wishes to establish mandatory minimum and maximum amounts for compensation in cases of unfair dismissal – except in cases of discrimination or harassment. This would be based notably “on seniority.”
Currently, labor court rulings are tailored to the harm suffered, and the judge takes into account circumstances such as the duration of unemployment, family situation and number of dependent children, or the employee’s age. An “indicative reference scale” already exists, intended to guide labor court judges in their decisions. It ranges from one month’s salary for less than one year of seniority to 21.5 months for over 43 years of seniority.
4 – Unifying the dismissal framework
Currently, depending on the type of agreement, an employee can be dismissed for “personal,” “economic,” or “specific” reasons, which grants them different rights and imposes different obligations on the company. Through the ordinances, the government would be authorized within a six-month period to “unify” the legal framework for terminating employment contracts, and consequently to establish a single ground for dismissal if there is a refusal of “modifications arising from a company agreement.”
5 – Promoting company referendums
While currently reserved exclusively for union initiative – both majority and non-majority unions since the El Khomri Law – the company referendum could be initiated “at the employer’s initiative” once the ordinances are passed. In case of disagreements with the unions, the employer could thus decide both to consult their employees and set the conditions under which they wish to do so.
6 – Expanding Sunday work
The government wishes to extend the deadline granted to businesses located in tourist and commercial zones to adopt a new agreement on Sunday work. The Macron Law of August 6, 2015 had given them two years. The facilitation of revoking closure orders for weekly rest issued by a prefecture is also included in the text.
7 – Transforming the arduous work account
The arduous work account would give way to the “professional prevention account.” This is merely a semantic change desired by Emmanuel Macron during the presidential campaign. Its provisions are maintained for six criteria such as night work, repetitive work, alternating shift work, or work in hyperbaric environments, as well as exposure to noise and extreme temperatures.
However, four other criteria – heavy load handling, arduous postures, mechanical vibrations, and chemical risks – will be removed from the points-based account. Furthermore, early retirement will be linked to the recognition of an occupational disease.
8 – Reforming corporate governance
The government wants to make it mandatory for employees to sit on boards of directors and supervisory boards in companies “whose workforce exceeds a certain threshold.” Currently, they are authorized to sit on boards of directors in companies with more than 1,000 employees.
