Labor & Employment

On May 11, 2020, the state of health emergency was extended through the adoption of Law No. 2020-546 which supplemented existing provisions. One of the purposes of this legislation is to mitigate the employer’s liability in the event of infection or exposure to infection by the Covid-19.

Indeed, many companies had to continue operating since the outbreak of the crisis, thereby exposing employees to the risk of infection. In the event of infection of one of them by the virus, the employer, i.e. both the natural person who is at the head of the company and the company itself as legal entity, may be held liable.

The combination of sick leave and short-time work is a headache for many employers.

The Government has adopted new measures very recently.

Here is something to get a clearer picture.

On April 24, 2020, the Versailles Court of Appeals handed down an insightful decision concerning the implementation of employee protection measures by employers in the current health context and lockdown imposed by the Government on March 16.

Ruling on an appeal lodged by the American giant Amazon against the order issued by the Nanterre Judicial Court on April 14, 2020, the Versailles Court of Appeals upheld the order in that it provided for a mandatory obligation to implement a comprehensive national health and safety prevention plan for employees, with prior consultation with staff representatives. This decision is in line with the need to reconcile the necessity to maintain a business activity with the preservation of employees’ health.

The national lockdown exit protocol intended for employers has just been published by the Ministry of Labor.

Its objectives: to help and support companies, whatever their size, activity or geographical location, to resume their business operations while ensuring the protection of their employees’ health through the application of universal rules.

Given the unprecedented health crisis that we are currently experiencing, one of the key measures imposed by the Government to contain the Covid-19 epidemic is the massive and imperative use of telework for all types of employment positions that allow it.

The legal framework for telework has become considerably more flexible in recent years to support the development of this work arrangement in France.

However, although the use of telework has been significantly streamlined, the employer remains subject to specific obligations that must be complied with.

More than a year after the Take Eat Easy decision in which the Labor Chamber of the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) had for the first time ruled on the legal classification of the contract between a deliverer and a digital platform and recognized the existence of an employment contract, it recently took position once again on the issue of platform workers, this time in a case concerning the very famous company Uber.

The Labor Chamber reiterated its position in a decision dated March 4, 2020 and upheld the ruling of the Paris Court of Appeals of January 10, 2019: the contract between Uber and its 28,000 drivers in France is to be analyzed as an employment contract!