Alaris Infos Archive

Moving the workplace – French labor law

In the absence of any particular reference in the contract relating to the place of performance of the work, the French case-law has created the concept of geographical area to assess the scope of a change in the workplace: any change within the workplace in the same geographical area does not lead to a change in the contract and a mutual agreement is not needed.

In the same geographical area a transfer is considered as a simple modification of the working conditions, which is imposed on the employee. However, the employer must respect a reasonable time to inform the employee of his transfer. He is also required to explain his decision. It also admitted that a one-off trip outside this geographical area could, under certain conditions, be imposed on the employee. [Read more…]

Collective settlement agreement (RCC) in French Labour Law

Since January 2018, all companies in France, without conditions of employees, can conclude a collective settlement agreement (RCC) instead of a PSE which aims at facilitating the voluntary departures of the employees and dissociating them from the plans of safeguard of the employment (PSE). This arrangement makes it possible to provide, by collective agreement validated by the administration, for the termination of employment without any economic reasons or justifications. The RCC is an autonomous mode of breach of contract, exclusive of dismissal or resignation and cannot therefore be imposed by one of the parties (Article L 1237-17 Code du Travail).

This kind of settlement allows the employer and the employee on an indefinite-term contract (CDI) to agree on the terms of the termination of the employment contract between them. The RCC is possible without any legal reasons or justifications (i.e. economic reasons). A legal procedure lays down the procedures to be respected (drafting of an agreement of rupture and validation by the DIRECCTE). [Read more…]

Economic dismissal reasons – French law

Collective redundancies.

Any dismissal for economic reasons must be justified by a real and serious cause. The economic motive is defined by the Labor Code as a reason not inherent to the employee’s person, resulting from a deletion or transformation of employment or a modification, refused by the employee, of an essential element of the employment contract and consecutive of economic difficulties as technological changes, the cessation of activity of the undertaking or an reorganization of it necessary to safeguard its competitiveness.

In other words, the dismissal is motivated by economic reasons, originating either in the abolition or transformation of the employment of the employee concerned, or a modification of an essential element of the employment contract refused by the employee. [Read more…]

Commercial leases in France

Leases in France: rent, minimum rental period, termination, subletting.

Pursuant to Art. L. 145-1 ff. Code de Commerce, a commercial lease exists when a rental property is rented to commercial tenants for commercial, industrial or trade purposes in exchange for payment of rent. Tenants receive special protections in the framework of a commercial lease in France. These include, for example: the right to unilateral lease extension for all tenants; the tenant’s right to sell their commercial operation and the lease at any time without the landlord being able to terminate the lease with the purchaser.

This is different from the sole transfer of the lease agreement without the commercial operation, which may be contractually excluded, or the three-year solidarity liability of the former tenant for outstanding rent payments upon transfer of the commercial operation. The nationality of the tenant is now also of no importance to their protection under French commercial lease contracts.

Requirements for a commercial lease in France:

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Labor court reform in France – Dismissals in France

Changes in French dismissal procedures.

The prior arbitration process in France (phase de conciliation) as the first step in employment law proceedings pursuant to Art. L. 1411-1 Code du Travail was fundamentally modified on August 7, 2015. The arbitration offices (bureau de conciliation et d‘orientation), which are run by one representative each from the employer and the employee side as honorary or lay judges, were renamed “bureaux de conciliation et d’orientation” and also given new, expanded powers under Art. L. 1235-1 ff. Code du Travail.

[Read more…]

Forming a company in France

Founding a company in France – Establishing a company in France.

An investor who wants to found a company in France must first ask themselves what form of company will best meet their needs: SARL, EURL, SELARL, SA, SAS or SNC. French company law stipulates several forms of company that can differ greatly from one another, and each involves different consequences in terms of liability and fiscal law.

Any entrepreneur wishing to start a business in France is therefore advised to consult a specialized attorney and/or tax advisor before founding the company. While it is possible in most cases to transform a French company into a different form of company later, this involves significant financial and legal costs.

Types of company that can be formed in France:

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The French employment contract

A French employment contract comes into effect from the time from which an employee performs a service in return for payment for an employer with which a relationship of subordination exists. In the majority of cases, it is necessary by law that the contract is drawn up in writing (z.B. fixed-term employment contract, part-time employment contract, apprenticeship contract, resettlement contract, etc.). Only a permanent contract in France (contrat à durée indéterminée) can be made verbally and/or tacitly. But written confirmation of the contract must also be given in these cases as a minimum.

[Read more…]

French construction law – Subcontractors in France

The French building trade associations FFB/FNTP provide standardized subcontractor agreements for building projects in France free of charge online.

As with all French building contracts, these standardized subcontractor agreements are based on special, detailed and customizable contractual clauses (Conditions Particulières), which come in two variants as a short or long version and which are based in turn on general contractual clauses (Conditions Générales).

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Posting of employees to France – Labor law in France

Companies that have their corporate headquarters in Europe can post employees to France on temporary secondment in accordance with articles L. 1261-1 ff. and R. 1263-1 ff. of the Code du Travail (French labor code).

The new and stricter regulations relating to the posting of employees to France that came into force in April 2015 are likely to have an important impact for all foreign companies. For example, the previous maximum fines for illegally posting employees to France (e.g. failure to submit the secondment documents to the French labor inspectorate) of EUR 10,000 have been increased to EUR 500,000 (article L. 1264-3 of the Code du Travail).
[Read more…]

Recovering debts in France – The European order for payment procedure

Pursuant to article 1424-1 ff. of the French Code of Civil Procedure (Code de Procédure Civile), the European order for payment procedure is a simplified European and consequently French court application procedure which can be selected by a claimant in cross-border contractual pecuniary claims as an alternative to traditional proceedings in order to enforce their claims in France.

It is a requirement that the claim is a contractual pecuniary claim under civil or commercial law (settlement and acknowledgment of a debt is also sufficient, however) and additionally that the claimant and the defendant – simply put – live in two different European countries. Actions under tax law, administrative law, family and inheritance law, insolvency law and labor and social law are excepted. [Read more…]

Enforcement in France

In principle, a foreign judgment can also be enforced in France. Enforceability is not automatic, however. The procedural “preliminary proceedings” in France, which have to be complied with so that the judgment can be enforced, depend primarily on the type of judgment involved (e.g. divorce decrees or actions for payment) and the country of the court that has passed the judgment.

Enforcement of a foreign judgment in France

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