The Coronavirus epidemic, known as COVID-19, is confronting businesses with an unprecedented situation, the exceptional nature of which was reinforced by the statements of the President of the Republic on March 12th, in particular:
- Closure of nurseries, schools, colleges, high schools, universities;
- An invitation to limit travel to what is strictly necessary and to make maximum use of
teleworking for employees; - The partial unemployment scheme was favoured on a large scale in order to allow companies to overcome the declines in activity linked to such a situation;
- Postponement of the payment of social security contributions for the month of March.
All stakeholders, particularly businesses, are called upon to participate in managing a health crisis of exceptional magnitude
This is a real challenge that companies are facing, whether in terms of human resources or economics.
The law firm Arst Avocats wanted to present its initial recommendations to help you deal with this situation:
- Inform and consult the members of the social and economic committee (CSE);
- Update of the single risk assessment document:
- Inform employees about the prevention measures recommended by public authorities;
- Implementation of teleworking
- Use of partial unemployment
We present each of these recommendations below.
*
First recommendation: inform and consult the members of the social and economic committee (CSE)
The employer has an obligation to take measures to ensure the safety and protect the physical and mental health of workers (Article L. 4121-1 of the Labour Code).
Among these measures, the employer must define actions for risk prevention, information and training of employees, and the implementation of an appropriate organization and resources.
Employee representatives should be involved in defining these prevention measures.
The Works Council (CSE) must indeed be consulted on matters concerning "the organization, management and general operation of the company", as well as on "the company's social policy, working conditions and employment."
The spread of the Covid-19 epidemic and the measures announced by the public authorities to deal with it are obviously of interest to the general operation of the company, insofar as it affects the employment conditions of employees and the preservation of their health.
Involving employee representatives in the measures to be considered in such a context can also have the advantage of allowing you to benefit from an additional link with employees to better raise their awareness of the need to respect preventive measures.
Second recommendation: update the single risk assessment document (DUER)
The DUER is the document that allows you to inventory the risks in the company and to assess them.
As a reminder, the DUER must be implemented in all structures, regardless of the size of their workforce.
The spread of the COVID-19 epidemic is a new risk that employees face: it should be included in the DUER.
Updating the DUER to incorporate this risk will allow you to identify the workstations for which there is a risk of transmission of the epidemic and to integrate the appropriate prevention and protection measures, for example the barrier gestures recommended by the public authorities.
Third recommendation: inform employees about protective measures
Inform employees about the prevention measures recommended by public authorities, including:
- Wash your hands regularly;
- Cough or sneeze into your elbow;
- Use disposable tissues and throw them away;
- Wear a mask when you are sick;
- Avoid shaking hands;
- For employees in contact with customers (especially employees performing a sales function): respect a courtesy zone of at least one meter;
- Avoid non-essential travel to at-risk areas.
We recommend that you distribute to employees a memo outlining the prevention measures recommended by the public authorities.
Fourth recommendation: implement teleworking
Public authorities have strongly encouraged companies, in the interest of public health, to use teleworking.
Teleworking can also allow you to compensate for the absence of employees who are unable to come to the company for personal reasons: for example, employees forced to stay home to look after their children.
In the context of the Covid-19 epidemic, remote work can be implemented by the employer without the employee's agreement: the labor code allows employers to mandate remote work for employees in the event of an epidemic threat. Furthermore, no specific formalities are required in such a situation.
For evidentiary purposes, we nevertheless recommend an exchange of emails or SMS messages.
It may also be useful to regulate the use of teleworking by establishing a charter that will allow you to define the rules to be respected by the employees who benefit from it.
Fifth recommendation: the use of partial unemployment
In this regard, exceptional measures have been announced to enable businesses to overcome the decline in activity linked to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The partial unemployment scheme allows the company, for a limited period:
- To temporarily close all or part of the establishment;
- To reduce the usual working hours below the legal working time.
- The principle of partial unemployment is to pay employees placed on partial unemployment up to 70% of their gross remuneration for hours not worked: the employer benefits in return from the payment by the State of an allowance which is equal to 7.74 euros per hour not worked per employee (7.23 euros per hour not worked for companies with more than 50 employees).
During his televised address, the President of the Republic stated that the government would strongly encourage businesses to utilize the partial unemployment scheme. Today, the Ministry of Labor announced that reimbursement for businesses would be increased to 100%.
Further details are expected in the next few days.
What are the formalities?
- Prior consultation with the Works Council;
- Submit an application for administrative authorization to the Direccte (this application to the Direccte is made online: https://activitepartielle.emploi.gouv.fr)
The reasons justifying the use of partial activity and the number of employees concerned must be specified. This must be accompanied by the opinion of the Works Council.
Upon receipt of the application, the administration has fifteen calendar days to notify the applicant of a decision to grant or refuse it. Failure to respond within this period constitutes tacit acceptance.
the Direcctes were encouraged to respond within 48 hours.
Please note that if the application for partial unemployment has been accepted, the employees concerned cannot refuse to be placed on partial activity.
