Browse through brief employment and labor law updates from around the globe. Contact a Littler attorney for more information or view our global locations.

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New Law Provides Psychological Support for a Miscarriage

New Legislation Enacted

Author: Guillaume Desmoulin, Partner – Littler France

Law No. 2023-567 of July 7, 2023, establishes a number of rights and entitlements for female employees who have suffered a miscarriage. In particular, the law creates sick leave with no waiting period for IJSS (daily social security allowances). It also creates special protection against dismissal.

An Employee on Non-Work-Related Sick Leave is Entitled to Paid Leave

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Author: Guillaume Desmoulin, Partner – Littler France

An employee who was placed on sick leave due to a non-occupational illness brought an action before the industrial tribunal to obtain paid annual leave, which the employee considered to have earned during the suspension of the employment contract. The Court of Appeal upheld the employee’s claim and the French Supreme Court upheld the appeal ruling.

The Supreme Court based its ruling on case law of the European Court of Justice, which makes no distinction between workers absent on sick leave and workers who have actually worked during the same period, in terms of entitlement to paid annual leave. It found that the provisions of the French Labor Code, which make entitlement to paid leave conditional on the performance of actual work, could not be interpreted in conformity with EU law. It therefore ruled that an employee was entitled to paid leave accrued during the non-work-related sick leave.

In two other rulings issued on the same day, the Court of Cassation also stated that (1) the calculation of paid leave entitlement is no longer limited to the first year of sick leave for an employee on sick leave due to an industrial accident, and (2) the statute of limitations on the right to paid leave only begins to run when the employer has given the employee the opportunity to exercise this right in good time. These decisions likely will have significant financial consequences for employers in France.

Economic Redundancy: Total Cessation of Activity Even if Business Continues within the Group

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Author: Guillaume Desmoulin, Partner – Littler France

The closure of a business is one of the grounds for redundancy recognized by French law, provided that it is total and definitive. In a ruling dated September 20, 2023, the French Supreme Court ruled that the cessation of a company's business can be considered as total and definitive, even if another company in the group has continued a business of the same nature.

Suicide Attempt Linked to the Imminence of Employee’s Dismissal Constitutes a Work Accident

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Author: Guillaume Desmoulin, Partner – Littler France

An employee attempted to end his life at work in 2019. After the health insurance fund refused to cover this incident under the occupational law, the employee appealed. The Court of Appeal rejected the employee’s request, noting that the suicide attempt had been made in the workplace, but outside working hours. The employee had learned the day before that the employer had been granted administrative authorization to dismiss him for serious misconduct.

The French Supreme Court censured the appeal ruling, finding that the employee's suicide attempt had been caused by the imminence of his dismissal. It therefore ruled that this was an accident in the workplace.

Ability of an Outsider to Conduct Dismissal Proceedings

Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency

Author: Guillaume Desmoulin, Partner – Littler France

In a decision dated June 28, 2023, the French Supreme Court ruled that an external consultant, in his capacity as director of a company belonging to the group, was not a “stranger” to the company to which the dismissed employee belonged. The French Supreme Court pointed out that this director had been mandated to act in the name and on behalf of the legal representative of the employee's company in the context of the company's operational, administrative and financial management, which included tasks relating to administrative formalities and accounting, as well as human resources management. He had also checked the effectiveness of the internal control system and had imposed a reorganization of processes.