The legal working time is set at 35 hours per week. As an exception, it is possible to introduce covenants on an annual number of working days for certain categories of staff. The Labour Law of 8 August 2016 specified the content of collective labour agreements authorising use of such covenants. Need for a collective […]

A decree and an order dated 25 February 2016 simplified the presentation rules for the pay advice slip. After an experimentation phase in 2016, these measures came into effect on 1 January 2017 for companies with more than 300 employees. They will become the rule for all companies on 1 January 2018. The goal of […]

The finance law for 2017 introduced deduction at source of income tax. This new arrangement for collecting tax will apply to income as of 2018. It also includes a special tax credit mechanism intended to offset taxation of current income for 2017. The principle Starting on 1 January 2018, income will be subject to withholding […]

Payment deadlines between enterprises obey strict rules that were set by the 2008 law on modernising the economy (“LME,” dated 4 August 2008). These rules have been modified by recent legislation, including the “Sapin 2” law (named for its sponsor) of 9 December 2016. The principle Payment deadlines between enterprises are typically set at the […]

The Labour Law, known as the “El Khomri law”, was published in the official journal on 9 August 2016. As its entry into effect has been planned progressively, several articles of the Labour Code will be amended as and when the numerous implementing decrees are published. The 1 December 2016 saw the new version of […]

With the government wishing to create a “simplification shock”, two decrees have just been promulgated to better define employers’ obligations concerning the posting of information for employees and the sending of documents to state bodies. These measures came into force on 23 October 2016. Use all possibilities to inform employees From now on, instead of […]

The Labour Law was published in the Government Gazette (“JO”) on 9 August 2016 and has been in force since 10 August 2016. The law affects many fields pertaining to labour law and includes many new provisions, particularly as concerns the precedence of the company-level agreement and of working hours. Priority of the company-level agreement […]

On 16 February 2015 the parliament approved the authorisation law pertaining to modernising and simplifying the law and the procedures in the fields of justice and domestic affairs, which enabled the government, in February 2016, to pass an order reforming the law of contracts, which will come into effect on 1 October 2016. The reform’s […]

Corporate securities (stocks or shares) may be dismembered in the context of equity-related transactions, in particular in the context of gifts or inheritance. These dismemberments have certain consequences in terms of the distribution of dividends and reserves. A legal precedent dated 22 June 2016 has clarified the rights of the bare owner and the usufructuary. […]

As a rule, after termination of an employment contract, the employee is free to work for another employer but must not, however, act in a disloyal manner. As an exception, the employee may be bound by a non-competition clause which will prevent him/her from freely taking on a new job. Three recent court decisions have […]

France’s new electronic payroll reporting system, the Déclaration Sociale Nominative (DSN), is gradually being rolled out more extensively. It is now employers who paid more than €50,000 social security contributions for 2014 that are required to draw up a DSN as of July 2016. Obligation to report The progressive roll-out established by the decree of […]

Following on from the French Macron law, the order of 7 April 2016 completed by the decree of 25 April 2016 reinforces the powers of Labour Inspectorates and Regional Directorates for Companies, Competition, Consumption, Labour and Employment (DIRECCTE) as regards penal sanctions applicable in labour law. Penal order Until now, the penal order (ordonnance pénale) […]