France’s labour laws are set up to protect employees from various forms of harm. For example, the whistleblowing law protects those who come forward with information about their companies from retaliation or reprisals. Other laws related to employee protection in France include data privacy laws, laws protecting temporary agency workers, and laws that protect employees from discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
Understanding the various laws protecting employees is key to hiring workers in France. Knowing what you can and can’t do as an employer in France can help you to both protect your employees and safeguard your business from fines, penalties, and other legal risks. We’ll cover everything you need to know about employee protection in France in this section.
Whistleblowers play an important role in society by calling out wrongdoing that they witness in the workplace. Setting up systems that facilitate whistleblowing and protect whistleblowers from retaliation is key to a well-functioning society. Like many other countries in the world, France’s laws include strict protections for whistleblowers.
France’s latest whistleblowing law came into effect in February 2022, making France the ninth country to transpose the EU Whistleblowing Directive into national law. While there were already fairly strong protections for whistleblowers in France, the new law brought the country in line with the EU standard.
Under the law, employers with 50 or more employees have to implement a whistleblowing system, which must guarantee the confidentiality of the whistleblower, and any third parties concerned. Whistleblowers must be able to make their reports either orally or in writing.
Employers must also appoint an impartial and competent person to follow up on reports made by whistleblowers. They must acknowledge receipt of any report within seven days and inform the whistleblower of actions taken within three months. Lastly, employers must provide employees with clear and accessible information about external reporting procedures.
The new legislation provides a new definition of a whistleblower. Specifically, it states that a whistleblower is ‘a natural person who reports or discloses, without direct financial compensation and in good faith, information related to a crime or misdemeanour, a threat or harm to the general interest, a violation or an attempt to conceal a violation of international or European law or regulation’.
Whistleblowers can be employees, former employees or job candidates. Depending on their status, they must have obtained the information during the course of their contract or during the application process.
France’s whistleblowing law also offers whistleblowers protection from retaliation. Retaliation is any form of negative action taken on the whistleblower, including:
Employees who believe they have been the victim of retaliation for whistleblowing in France can take their case to an employment tribunal.
Many countries have strict rules regulating the processing of personal data, including that of employees. Employers in France should have an understanding of the rules so they understand what they can and can’t do and the precautions to take when handling employee data.
All companies that process personal data in France must abide by the GDPR. This includes any company that engages employees since this necessitates the processing of those employees’ data. The following rules apply to employers in France:
Sensitive data is data that is likely to lead to discrimination if it is revealed. It includes data relating to an employee’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, or sexual orientation. Except in exceptional cases, the processing of sensitive data is forbidden.
The rules surrounding employee monitoring and surveillance are an important part of data protection in France. Employers in France can use various forms of employee monitoring tools to keep tabs on employees. However, restrictions apply.
First, monitoring must be transparent, which means employees must be notified of any surveillance measures in advance. It must also be fair, proportionate, and in line with employees’ rights to privacy and freedom. There are significant restrictions on monitoring an employee’s email and internet use, even on a company device. Any evidence gathered via illegal monitoring means cannot be used against the employee.
Temporary agency workers are workers hired through temporary work agencies. They may be engaged for short periods, for example to handle a short-term increase in demand or to cover for another employee who is temporarily absent. Strict rules apply to the engagement of temporary agency workers in France, which employers should know about.
In France, temporary agency workers are engaged through an ‘assignment contract’ (contrat de mission) by temporary work agencies. The agency must also sign a supply contract with the company that wants to lease the worker (the end user).
In some circumstances, the contract must state a fixed end-date. There are limits on the duration of such a contract, which vary based on the end user’s justification for hiring an agency worker. They range from nine months to three years.
Temporary agency workers in France have the right to equal treatment with employees of the user company during an assignment. For example, they must receive the same compensation as employees working in equivalent posts, including bonuses and benefits like transportation allowances and meal tickets. If other employees benefit from paid public holidays, agency workers must also be granted this benefit.
Except in certain circumstances, employers of temporary agency workers must pay those workers compensation at the end of the contract. This must be equivalent to at least 10% of the total remuneration paid during the course of the engagement. Employers must also pay departing agency workers for any unused holiday allowance they have accrued.
Employees in France have the right not to be discriminated against, both at work and in other areas of life such as housing and education. Here’s what the law says about discrimination in France.
Discrimination at work is when an employee is treated unfavourably compared to others on the basis of a protected characteristic. In France, it is illegal to discriminate against any person working within a company (e.g. employees, supervisors, trainees, apprentices).
The law prohibits both direct discrimination and indirect discrimination. Direct discrimination is when a person is deliberately treated differently based on a protected characteristic. An example would be refusing to promote an employee because they participated in a strike. Indirect discrimination is when a decision seems neutral but puts some people at a disadvantage because of a protected characteristic.
Discrimination can occur at any stage of the employment journey, including when:
Protected characteristics in France
It is illegal to discriminate against employees on the basis of any of the following characteristics:
In certain limited circumstances, employers may ‘discriminate’ against employees by choosing to hire only a man or a woman. These include:
Employers can also discriminate on the basis of age if there is a good reason. For example, they can set a maximum age for recruitment based on the need for a reasonable period of employment before retirement.
Protection against harassment in France
Both ‘moral’ and sexual harassment are illegal in France. Moral harassment is defined as repeated conduct with the goal of or which leads to a deterioration of the employee’s conditions of work, mental or physical health, rights, dignity, or career prospects. Sexual harassment is harassment with sexual or sexist connotations.
Both types of harassment are punishable by up to two years imprisonment and a fine of EUR 30,000. If sexual harassment is committed by a hierarchical superior, this is increased to EUR 45,000 and three years’ imprisonment.
Employers that receive a report of discrimination or harassment or have reason to suspect it can initiate an in-house inquiry. A special body, the Defender of Rights (Défenseur des Droits) was formed in 2004 to fight against discrimination in France. Employees can also bring discrimination cases before an employment tribunal.
Equal pay for men and women is a requirement under French law. Only relevant and objective elements, such as an employee’s experience or education level, can justify a difference in pay between two employees in the same role.
This applies to base salary, but also to all other compensation elements, including bonuses and benefits. Employers found to have paid employees unfairly can be made to backpay wages, as well as facing legal consequences and severe reputational damage.
The Equal Pay Index (Egapro Index) is a metric that companies use to assess their level of pay equality. Companies with 50 or more employees have to score themselves on this index every year. This score must be shared publicly and registered with the labour inspectorate and with the company’s social and economic committee (CSE).
The Equal Pay Index takes into account the following five indicators, each earning the company a certain number of points:
The result is a number between 0–100, with higher numbers representing a higher level of equality. Companies with between 50 and 250 employees only need to report on the first four metrics.
A new directive from the EU was approved in 2023 and will come into effect across Europe by June 2026. It will introduce various new requirements for employers and rights for employees, related to pay transparency and pay equity. For example, under the new rules, employees will be able to request information about their pay and how it compares to colleagues of the opposite gender. The goal of the directive is to increase pay equity and ultimately close the gender pay gap in Europe.
Understanding what you can and can’t do as an employer is one of the biggest challenges of hiring in France. Get it wrong, and you could face legal action and damage to your reputation.
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