Employment Issues The minimum wage – SMIC The minimum wage increased on the 1st May 2008, two months before its traditional increase date, to 8,63 E gross per hour. The SMIC per month depends on the number of hours worked per week that your company operates on and the convention collective.

The minimum wage is designed to protect workers and provide them with a wage that increases with inflation. The minimum wage is however not applicable to all levels of work. These levels take into consideration the qualification and experience recognised by the trade. The SMIC applies to those jobs that require no or very little qualifications or experience. When employing someone, each business needs to refer to the convention collective relating to its activity. The convention collective is a journal of rules decreed by the profession relating to pay and employment conditions. These are generally more advantageous to the employee than general employment law and always have priority.

Types of employment contracts – CDI and CDD

All work should legally be undertaken with a contract signed between the employee and employer. All contracts have a trial period of between one day and three months, where either party can withdraw from the contract at any point. Once the trial period is terminated, there are procedures and obligations for each to follow. When you are employed, you will be delivered an ‘Attestation de Déclaration d’Embauche’ to confirm that your employment has been registered with URSSAF. The most commonly used contracts are the CDI and the CDD. But what do they mean?

The CDI – the dream of most French employees – the Contrat à Durée Indéterminé This is the simplest of contracts. It is a contract for an undefined period of time and evolves with the progression of the employee within the company. In the contract, the job and working conditions are described and reference and access to the convention collective are given.

As in the UK, the employee is entitled to holiday pay, in general, of two days per month worked. This can be more important depending on the convention collective, the time spent in the company and position held by the employee. In general, in private sector, you are not entitled to take holiday, before the end of your first year within the company.

Unlike in the UK , you are not entitled to pay when you are off sick. You can receive sickness indemnities from the state from the third day of illness, if the doctor provides you with a medical certificate.

This type of contract can only be interrupted under certain conditions – they follow strict rules and time schedules, the most common are:

1. Redundancy for economic reasons, i.e. the company is suffering from an on-going decrease in sales and can not maintain its staff levels. This usually works on a first in, first out basis. If the employee has worked for two or more years, he is entitled to redundancy pay, which represents a fifteenth of his final monthly salary for each year worked. The employee is given at least a two month notice period and time available for the employee to seek new work. The employee receives a number of legally required letters and interviews. If however, the company wish to employ somebody to fill the post that was made redundant, they must first propose the work to the person made redundant. This type of departure is highly controlled.

2. Dismissal for “Faute Grave” – Serious Fault on behalf of the employee – e.g. theft or negligence. The employee can be dismissed on the spot and is paid the wages and holiday pay to date. This could of course be followed by penal or civil action.

3. Faute – Fault at a lesser level – This can be a fault recognised by both parties, whereby the employee has not achieved objectives or is not capable of fulfilling the role required. The employee is given two months notice and redundancy pay, with time to look for other work. This again has a number of procedures to follow.

4. Dimission – This follows similar procedures as in the UK. It is indicated in the contract the notice time and obligations the employee must follow when wanting to leave the company. The notice period can be between one day and six months.

The CDD – Temping and short term contracts – the Contrat à Durée Déterminé This type of contract is by nature temporary. The employer must declare in the contract and to URSSAF the reasons for employing someone. The reasons must be related to the absence of an employee (maternity, holiday or sick leave), a temporary increase in business activity or seasonal peaks (e.g. hotel and catering sectors) or occasional work (building). In certain sectors of activity, an employer can take on an employee with a CDD, even if by nature the employee occupies a permanent position (hotel catering, education, moving). There are special decrees for these types of activity.

The CDD can be for a few hours or days and up to a year. Normally this type of contract is renewable in the private sector only three times, before you have to then give the employee a CDI. The CDD like the CDI has a trial period, which in general terms is the equivalent to one day for every week of employment, but this can vary in the convention collective. As with the CDI, both sides can withdraw from the contract within the trial period. Once the contract is signed for a certain period, it must be fulfilled. An employee can only leave under the same conditions as for a CDI or if during the employment period, the employee is offered a CDI elsewhere.

There are a number of assisted contracts that exist and for further information, you need to go through your local job centre.

Summer jobs – How to employ a youngster for the holiday period

During the summer certain companies take on students to undertake seasonal or replacement work. Don’t forget that these youngsters have employment rights as any other employee. They benefit from convention collective applicable to your activity (trade rules) and company rules and you have to contribute to their social charges.

What type of contract?

No matter the length of the students stay in the company, they must sign a contract ( Contrat Durée Déterminée) with parental consent if they are under 18 years old. This contract must stipulate the exact reason for their employment – seasonal work, temporary increase in business activity, replacement for holiday period etc. You must also define their job description, the length of the trial period, the departure date or minimum period of work. These can be simply governed by general employment legislation or by the convention collective (whichever is more favourable to the employee).

What rate of pay should they receive?

The student has the same remuneration rights as any other employee undertaking the work with the equivalent qualifications. In no case, can you pay less than the minimum wage (SMIC – see above) or what is defined in the convention collective. However it is important to note if a youngster does not have six months or more experience in a professional branch, and under reserve of the convention collective at : under 17 years old can receive 80% of the SMIC and between 17 and 18 years old 90% of SMIC At the end of his contract, he has the right to holiday pay, which is the equivalent to 10% of the total gross wage. However unlike other forms of CDD, he does not receive any indemnities for ending of the contract (unless specified in the convention collective).

Employment rules for under 18’s

In order to protect minor employees, the work code contains certain rules. The youngster can not start his trial period before having passed his medical. He is not allowed to work more than 8 hours a day (7 hrs for a 16 year old) and 35 hours a week. He is entitled to at least 30 minutes break after having worked for 4 ½ hours. Of course, they can not work night hours. The under sixteen’s are normally banned from working. However minors have the right to work in France from the age of 14. The under sixteen’s are allowed to work with parental consent and with an authorisation from the Inspection de Travail, if the work is light, adapted at his age, during his holidays and for a minimum of 14 days. The under sixteen must not work more than half of the holiday period.