French labour law is the system of labour law operating in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

During the French Revolution, the ''

Le Chapelier Law 1791 The ''Le Chapelier Law'' (french: Loi Le Chapelier) was a piece of legislation passed by the National Assembly during the first phase of the French Revolution (14 June 1791), banning guilds as the early version of trade unions, as well as ' (by orga ...

'' was passed to prohibit unions or guilds and strikes in particular, with a proclamation of "free enterprise". On 25 May 1864, the '' loi Ollivier'' was passed to reverse the prohibitions on strike action. The prohibitions on forming trade unions were lifted by Waldeck Rousseau's laws passed on 21 March 1884. Between 1936 and 1938 the

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

enacted a law mandating 12 days (2 weeks) each year of paid

vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for specific festi ...

for workers, and the

Matignon Accords (1936) The Matignon Agreements (French: ''Accords de Matignon'') were signed on 7 June 1936, between the Confédération générale de la production française (CGPF) employers' organization, the CGT trade union and the French state. They were signed d ...

. This established the right to organise a union, to bargain collectively, a legal

right to strike Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the In ...

, and was followed by enactments which limited the work week to 40 hours, excluding overtime, and guaranteed paid holidays. The

Grenelle agreements The Grenelle Agreements (french: Accords de Grenelle) or Grenelle Reports were negotiated 25 and 26 May, during the crisis of May 1968 in France by the representative of the Pompidou government, the trade unions A trade union (labor union ...

negotiated on May 25 and 26th in the middle of the May 1968 crisis, reduced the working week to 44 hours and created trade union sections in each enterprise. The minimum wage was also increased by 25%. In 2000

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and the party's candidate for President of France in ...

's government then enacted the

35-hour workweek The 35-hour working week is a part of a labour law reform adopted in France in February 2000, under Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government. Pushed by Minister of Labour Martine Aubry, it was adopted in two phases: the "Aubry 1" la ...

, down from 39 hours. Five years later, conservative prime minister

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Ministry ...

enacted the New Employment Contract (CNE). Addressing the demands of employers asking for more

flexibility Stiffness is the extent to which an object resists deformation in response to an applied force. The complementary concept is flexibility or pliability: the more flexible an object is, the less stiff it is. Calculations The stiffness, k, of a bo ...

in French labour laws, the CNE sparked criticism from trade unions and opponents claiming it was lending favour to

contingent work Contingent work, casual work, or contract work, is an employment relationship with limited job security, payment on a piece work basis, typically part-time (typically with variable hours) that is considered non-permanent. Although there is less j ...

. In 2006 he then attempted to pass the

First Employment Contract The ''contrat première embauche'' (CPE; en, first employment contract) was a new form of employment contract pushed in spring 2006 in France by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. This employment contract, available solely to employees unde ...

(CPE) through a vote by emergency procedure, but that it was met by students and unions' protests. President Jacques Chirac finally had no choice but to repeal it. The " right to disconnect" law came into force in January 2017, which means that companies with more than 50 workers will be obliged to draw up a charter of good conduct. This charter sets out the hours in which staff are not supposed to send or answer emails. *

June Days Uprising The June Days uprising (french: les journées de Juin) was an uprising staged by French civilians from 22 to 26 June 1848. It was in response to plans to close the National Workshops, created by the Second Republic in order to provide work an ...

(1848) * Champagne Riots (1910-1911) * LIP (company) (1974-1976)

French labour code

The French labour code (''code du travail'') is the national which governs work and labor relations in the country.

Individual rights

, a law to remove job security for young workers, defeated by protests in 2006. * Contrat nouvelle embauche

Trade unions

List of trade unions in France A list of trade unions in France: Unions *Five confederations recognized by the state as representative trade union: **''Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail'' (CFDT) **'' Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens'' ( ...

Enforcement

In France, the Inspection du travail is the body responsible for checking whether the provisions of the Labour Code or collective agreements are correctly applied in companies. The labor inspectors primarily control whether companies apply the Labor Code on all points :

employment contracts An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain. The contract is between an "employee" and an "employer". It has arisen out of the old m ...

, illegal work, working hours, etc. However, the Inspection du travail cannot resolve disputes related to the employment contract, as this is the role of the

Labour Court A labor court (or labour court or industrial tribunal) is a governmental judiciary body which rules on labor or employment-related matters and disputes. In a number of countries, labor cases are often taken to separate national labor high courts. O ...

Pensions

* French special retirement plan, for public sector workers

Unemployment protection

* Unemployment benefits in France * Agence nationale pour l'emploi (1967-2008) *

Pôle emploi Pôle emploi (; English: ''employment centre'') is a French governmental agency which registers unemployed people, helps them find jobs and provides them with financial aid. The agency was created in 2008, resulting from the merger between the AN ...

(est 2009)

Notes

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