Last updated Protests against the El Khomri law in Marseille on March 9
The law no. 2016-1088 of August 8, 2016 relating to work, the modernization of social dialogue and the securing of professional careers is a piece of national legislation in France relating to employment. It is commonly known as the El Khomri law[1] or the Loi travail. It evoked wide protests by labour unions around the country. The law came into force by a gazette notification on 9 August 2016.[2]
The text, after being reworked by the government, was adopted without a vote on first reading by the National Assembly, following the government's assumption of responsibility, thanks to the use of article 49 paragraph 3 of the French Constitution (known as "49.3"). Following its adoption by the Senate, the text was again adopted without a vote by the National Assembly on a new and final reading. It was promulgated on August 8, 2016.
Labor law reform continues in 2017 with a new reform of the Labor Code.
Background
In 2007, the TEPA law exempted overtime from tax. This provision was repealed in 2012, judged by the government to be responsible for the destruction of between 40,000 and 80,000 jobs.
The Law was first presented in parliament on 17 February 2016 by labour minister Myriam El Khomri under the Second Valls Government; it was adopted into law on 8 August 2016. The legislation was designed to revise France's Labour Code in a way the government claimed would reduce unemployment.[3]
The law makes it easier for companies to lay off workers, reduce overtime payments, and reduce severance payments that workers are entitled to if their company has made them redundant.[5][6] On the other hand, it allows workers to transfer untaken days off between employers, and provides additional support for young people without training or qualifications.
Overtime payments
The law maintains that each hour worked in addition to France's statutory 35-hour workweek will be paid overtime. This is generally a 25% increase for the first eight hours of overtime and a 50% increase for subsequent hours worked; however, a company may negotiate an internal agreement with unions that limits the overtime increase to 10%, even if the industry standard is a higher bonus.[7][8]
Company-level agreements can also prescribe a legal duration of work of 44 weekly hours, and 46 weekly hours within a period of twelve weeks. Such a raise was previously only possible through industry-wide agreement. The law also makes it possible to raise the weekly upper limit to 60 hours in "exceptional circumstances", and also allows the daily legal limit of 10 hours to be increased up to 12 hours when agreed at the company level.[8]
Economic redundancies
Previous to changes, a company could not proceed with economic redundancies unless it had undergone either a cessation of activity or technological changes. The new law makes redundancies easier to implement and less controversial, requiring only that the company is undergoing "economic difficulties", which it describes as four consecutive trimesters of reduced turnover, or two consecutive trimesters of operating loss. In order to prevent large organisations from benefitting from loopholes, subsidiaries cannot be considered in difficulty if their parent company is not experiencing the same losses.[7]
Unfair dismissal payments
The El Khomri law indicates a maximum indemnity payment that an employee can receive if labour courts judge that they have experienced unfair dismissal. It aims to reduce the unpredictability of these amounts as judged on a case-by-case basis – although the amount is only an indication and judges are not obliged to follow it. This is intended to speed up judgements and reduce uncertainty for employers.[7]
Corporate agreements
The law increases the role of company-level agreements by referendum, valid if at least 50% of votes are cast by union members.[7]
Employment development agreements
A company may conclude an agreement to change work hours and remuneration of employees in order to move into other markets. This agreement can last up to two years. Unions must give their agreement, but if an employee refuses the modifications to their contract they will be made redundant.[7]
Personal account of activity
The compte personnel d'activité (CPA), open to all employees or jobseekers over 16 years of age, enables workers to carry over untaken sick days or paid holidays between jobs. This is one of the few changes in the law that is beneficial for employees, but represents an additional administrative task for employers.[7]
Youth guarantee
The garantie jeunes (youth guarantee) is a measure that offers professional monitoring, training, internships or jobs to young people (aged 18–25) without qualifications or professional experience. Beneficiaries would also receive €461 per month in financial aid.[7]
New provision: Right to disconnect
The law also introduces for the first time in French labor law an employee right to disconnect,[9] aimed at regulating the use of digital tools during rest periods, as recommended by the report on the impact of digital technology at work.[10]
Passage
Protests against the El Khomri law in Paris on March 17. The young demonstrators march in gaiety (before the progression of police repression).
After the legislation was first proposed in parliament, and while it was still in its draft stage, it was met with significant public opposition and became a catalyst for strikes and demonstrations organised by trade unions and student groups.[11][12] A broader protest movement known as Nuit debout arose within the context of opposition to the legislation; the movement stated its aims as "overthrowing the El Khomri bill and the world it represents".[13]
On 10 May, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced that the government would force the legislation through France's lower house, the National Assembly, without a vote, using Article 49.3 of the French Constitution.[14] As a result, the law was passed directly to the Senate, France's upper house, for debate.[15] Following two further invocations of article 49.3, the law was definitively passed in the lower house on 21 July, and was approved by the Constitutional Council on 4 August before being adopted into law on 8 August.[16]
Labour laws, labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, employer, and union.
The General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, founded in 1895 in the city of Limoges. It is the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:
The 35-hour workweek is a labour reform policy adopted in France in February 2000, under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government. Promoted by Minister of Labour Martine Aubry, it was adopted in two phases: the Aubry 1 law in June 1998 and the Aubry 2 law in January 2000. The previous legal working week was 39 hours, established by President François Mitterrand, also a member of the Socialist Party. The 35-hour working week had been on the Socialist Party's 1981 electoral program, titled 110 Propositions for France, but was not pursued because of the poor state of the economy.
Working (laboring) time is the period of time that a person spends at paid labor. Unpaid labor such as personal housework or caring for children or pets is not considered part of the working week.
Flextime is a flexible hours schedule that allows workers to alter their workday and decide/adjust their start and finish times. In contrast to traditional work arrangements that require employees to work a standard 9a.m. to 5p.m. day, Flextime typically involves a "core" period of the day during which employees are required to be at work, and a "bandwidth" period within which all required hours must be worked. The working day outside of the core period is "flexible time", in which employees can choose when they work, subject to achieving total daily, weekly or monthly hours within the bandwidth period set by employers.To subject to the necessary work being done. The total working time required of employees on Flextime schedules is the same as that required under traditional work schedules.
A full-time job is employment in which workers work a minimum number of hours defined as such by their employer.
Many both in and outside Japan share an image of the Japanese work environment that is based on a "simultaneous recruiting of new graduates" and "lifetime-employment" model used by large companies as well as a reputation of long work-hours and strong devotion to one's company. This environment is said to reflect economic conditions beginning in the 1920s, when major corporations competing in the international marketplace began to accrue the same prestige that had traditionally been ascribed to the daimyō–retainer relationship of feudal Japan or government service in the Meiji Restoration.
Japanese labour law is the system of labour law operating in Japan.
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The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 29 U.S.C. § 203 (FLSA) is a United States labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, and "time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibits employment of minors in "oppressive child labor". It applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage. The Act was enacted by the 75th Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938.
The French fiscal package of 2007 is a series of measures implemented by the Fillon administration in 2007. The paquet fiscal is often called in France loi TEPA, referring to the law in favor of labor, employment and purchasing power. The package consists of fiscal measures aiming at lightening the fiscal burden on businesses, liberalize the labor market and stimulate investment.
French labour law is the system of labour law operating in France.
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public projects for institutional modernization
adaptation to European Union and other international law.
Daniel Legrand was a Swiss industrialist and philanthropist of the Reformed Church who spent most of his life in Alsace, France. He campaigned for laws that would improve the condition of child workers, and of industrial workers in general. His ideas contributed to the later development of international labor law.
Myriam El Khomri is a former French politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who served as Minister of Labour in the government of Prime Minister Manuel Valls from 2015 to 2017.
Nuit debout is a French social movement that began on 31 March 2016, arising out of protests against proposed labor reforms known as the El Khomri law or Loi travail. The movement was organized around a broad aim of "overthrowing the El Khomri bill and the world it represents". It has been compared to the Occupy movement in the United States and to Spain's anti-austerity 15-M or Indignados movement.
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