We have written previously on the subject of legal grounds for redundancy in French companies (link to article: https://www.viridianhr.co.uk/blog/what-are-the-legal-grounds-for-redundancy-in-france/). To summarise, redundancies are less common in France than the UK because the legal grounds are more difficult to meet, and the reasons must be purely economic. Awareness of these facts is particularly important for international companies with a French presence.
Additionally, French employers cannot choose random employees to be made redundant, regardless of their level of performance or the number of redundancies planned. They must instead follow a legally-defined selection process that involves the following steps:
- creating a job pool, and
- defining the selection criteria for redundancy.
1. Creating a job pool
A selection of job pools must be drafted by the employer, to incorporate all employees in the company. Each job pool should include employees from the same professional category, who possess the skills and ability required to do the jobs of their colleagues in the same pool with minimal training.
Because job pools are defined by skill and not seniority, it is possible for managers and non-managers to belong to the same pool.
Note: it is very important for employers to plan and execute this step clearly and meticulously, as the results will be scrutinised by the Labour Inspector.
2. Defining the selection criteria for redundancy
This step defines the criteria to be applied within the job pool, or pools, in which one or more roles are to be made redundant, in order to identify the relevant employees.
The French Labour Code states that the selection criteria must take account of the following:
- family responsibilities, particularly those of single parents,
- length of service in the company,
- social characteristics (such as age or disability) that mean finding another job will be more difficult,
- professional qualities assessed by category (such as the outcome of the yearly performance appraisal), and
- any other relevant, objective, and non-discriminatory criteria provided by the company’s redundancy plan.
Following this step, priority for remaining with the company will be given to those employees with the highest number of points.
Employers must still implement all possible measures to avoid redundancies, regardless of the size of the company or the number of redundancies planned.
Obligation d’adaptation refers to the obligation all French employers have to train and adapt their employees to their jobs, so that they may eventually be redeployed to other roles where relevant and necessary.
As such, the employer must first seek to offer an affected employee a job in the same professional category, with an equivalent salary. If this is not possible, the employer must then try to identify other roles that the employee could perform (either in that company or other companies in the group to which that company belongs, if applicable), following a short period of job-specific training.
(Note: job-specific training means exactly that. If, for example, an admin assistant with no accounting experience were to be offered a role as an accountant, this would not be considered part of the employer’s obligation to adapt).
Reclassification may be offered to a single employee, or communicated to all employees in the form of a list of available posts. The employer may also propose a job from a lower professional category, with fewer hours and/or lower pay, but only if the employee agrees.
In companies with 1,000 or more employees, reclassification leave must be made available to employees who face redundancy.
Reclassification leave (congé de reclassement) involves personalised job-search support, skills assessment, and training, either from an external provider chosen and paid for by the employer, or selected company employees. Its aim is to offer a successful career transition for the employee, through redeployment or retraining.
Can we help plan and manage redundancies in your French company? Please contact us for bespoke advice and support.