The Coronavirus epidemic called COVID-19 confronts companies with an unprecedented situation, the exceptional nature of which was reinforced by the declarations of the President of the Republic on March 12, in particular:
- Closure of nurseries, schools, colleges, high schools, universities;
- Invitation to limit travel to what is strictly necessary and to make maximum use of
telework for employees; - The partial unemployment scheme favored in significant proportions in order to allow companies to overcome the declines in activity linked to such a situation;
- Postponement of the payment of social contributions for the month of March.
All actors, in particular companies, are called upon to participate in the management of a health crisis of exceptional magnitude.
This is a real challenge facing companies, whether in terms of human resources or economics.
Arst Avocats wanted to present its first 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 preventive measures recommended by the public authorities;
- Implementation of telework
- Use of partial unemployment
Below are each of these recommendations.
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First recommendation: inform and consult the members of the social and economic committee (CSE)
The employer has the obligation to take measures to ensure the safety and protect the physical and mental health of the workers (article L. 4121-1 of the Labor Code).
Among these measures, the employer must define actions for the prevention of risks, information and training of employees and the implementation of an organization and appropriate means.
Staff representatives should be involved in the definition of these preventive measures.
The CSE must in fact be consulted on questions 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, in that it affects the conditions of employment of employees. and the preservation of their state of health.
Involving staff representatives in the measures to be considered in such a context can also have the virtue of allowing you to benefit from an additional relay with employees to better make them aware of the need to comply with preventive measures.
Second recommendation: update the single risk assessment document (DUER)
The DUER is the document which allows you to make an inventory of the risks in the company and to evaluate 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 facing employees: it should be integrated into the DUER.
Updating the DUER to integrate 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 recommended barrier gestures. by public authorities.
Third recommendation: inform employees about protective measures
Inform employees of the preventive measures recommended by the public authorities, in particular:
- Wash your hands regularly;
- Cough or sneeze into your elbow;
- Use single-use tissues and throw them away;
- Wear a mask when you are sick;
- Avoid shaking hands;
- For employees in contact with customers (in particular employees performing a sales function): respect a courtesy zone of at least one meter;
- Avoid non-imperative travel and travel to risk areas.
We recommend that you distribute a memorandum to employees setting out the preventive measures recommended by the public authorities.
Fourth recommendation: implement teleworking
The public authorities have strongly encouraged companies, for the sake of public health, to resort to 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 at home to look after their children.
In the context of the Covid-19 epidemic, teleworking can be set up by the employer, without the employee's agreement: the labor code makes it possible to impose on employees the use of teleworking in the event of epidemic threat. Moreover, no formalism is imposed in such a framework.
For reasons of proof, we nevertheless recommend an exchange of e-mail or SMS.
It may also be useful to regulate the use of telework by establishing a charter which 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 companies to overcome the drop 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 remunerate employees placed on partial unemployment up to 70% of their gross remuneration for the hours not worked: the employer benefits in return for the payment by the State of an indemnity which is equal to 7, 74 euros per non-working hour per employee (€7.23 per non-working hour for companies with more than 50 employees.
During his televised intervention, the President of the Republic declared that the public authorities were going to strongly encourage companies to resort to partial unemployment. Today, the Ministry of Labor announced that the reimbursement of companies would be increased to 100%.
Details are expected in the next few days.
What are the formalities ?
- Prior consultation of the CSE;
- Apply for administrative authorization from the Direccte (this request from the Direccte is made online: https://activitepartielle.emploi.gouv.fr)
The reasons justifying the use of partial activity and the number of employees concerned should be specified. It is accompanied by the opinion of the CSE.
From the receipt of the request, the administration has a period of fifteen calendar days to notify a decision of refusal or authorization. The absence of a response within this period implies implicit acceptance.
The Directors were encouraged, given the exceptional situation, to respond within 48 hours.
Note that if the request for partial unemployment has been accepted, the employees concerned cannot refuse its partial activity.
