Family leave, right to information and trial period: partial transposition by France of various European labour law provisions

The law of 9 March 2023[1] adapts various areas of the economy, health, labour, transport and agriculture to European Union law.

With regard to labour law, the Labour Code is amended to take into account two directives of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union and on the work-life balance of parents and carers.

The main provisions relate to:

• family leave (1.);

• the employer's obligation to inform employees (2.);

• the duration of trial periods (3.).

 

1. FAMILY LEAVE

The law extends the benefit of:

• family solidarity leave and caregiver leave to employees of private employers as well as to maternal assistants under private law;

• parental leave to employees with one year's seniority at the time the leave is requested.

The legislator has also transposed various measures to extend the rights of employees in the context of various family leaves:

• Paternity and childcare leave: from now on, the duration of paternity and childcare leave is expressly assimilated to a period of actual work for the determination of the rights that the employee has from his or her seniority and no longer only from paid leave and presence in the company with regard to profit-sharing.

• Parental education leave: when an employee reduces his working hours as part of a parental leave, the duration of this part-time leave is assimilated to a period of actual work for the determination of the rights that the employee has from his seniority. On the other hand, the duration of full-time parental leave is taken into account for half of the determination of the above-mentioned rights.

• Parental presence leave: the duration of this leave is taken into account in its entirety for the determination of the employee's rights based on seniority in the company.

The text also specifies that the employee retains the benefit of all the rights acquired before the start of each of these leaves (e.g. paid leave).

 

2. THE OBLIGATION TO INFORM EMPLOYEES ABOUT THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP

European law already provided for an obligation to inform employees of their rights and obligations at the beginning of the contractual relationship.

The directive of 20 June 2019 reinforces this information obligation. It had to be transposed by the Member States before 1 August 2022. As France has only partially transposed it through the law of 9 March 2023, some provisions of European law are therefore directly applicable.

This is the case in particular for the extension of this information obligation to platform workers and trainees.
On the other hand, the French legislator has taken the necessary measures to broaden the scope of the information to be provided to the employee:

• the length and conditions of the trial period

• training rights;

• all elements of remuneration;

• the identity of the social security bodies receiving the social contributions;

• for temporary workers: the identity of the user companies, if known;

• Overtime pay and shift work.

This information should be provided no later than one week after hiring for basic information and one month after hiring for other information.
 

3. TRIAL PERIOD LENGTH

 
The law of 9 March 2023 abolishes the possibility, by branch agreement, of providing for trial periods longer than the legal periods.
 
This measure will come into force on 9 September 2023.
 
It should be noted that the directive provided for a cap of 6 months (except in exceptional cases) which was not transposed by the French legislator since the Labour Code still provides for a maximum trial period of 8 months.