2024-01-19 18:00:00
« C’is a catastrophe,” protested Patrick Martin, president of Medef this Friday on France Inter. For several months, employers have been concerned regarding the new case law of the Court of Cassation. In mid-September, the latter in fact estimated, in line with a 2003 directive from the European Parliament, that an employee must acquire paid leave during sick leave. Consequently, French justice now considers sick leave as periods of effective work.
This alignment with European law, which successive French governments have ignored, is not without consequences on company finances. According to the president of Medef, who also believes that this case law poses “a problem of principle”, the annual cost of this change in labor law would represent between 2.5 billion and 3 billion euros to be borne by companies. “We are obliged to transcribe [cette directive]it’s here Court of Cassation moreover who made a decision to this effect. I won’t hide the fact that this is creating a wave of panic in businesses,” explains the president of the employers’ organization.
Temporary blur
Until now, unless otherwise stated in collective agreements, an employee on leave for non-professional health reasons does not acquire any paid day off. It only recovers those it had accumulated before its shutdown. However, European law provides that an absence for health reasons must not influence the calculation of paid leave rights.
“Realize it. Stops that produce paid leave. Our arms are falling,” declared François Asselin, president of the confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises (CPME), when presenting his wishes for 2024. In an email addressed to Pointthe CPME confirms having received the support of 25,000 business leaders once morest the application of this judgment of the Court of Cassation.
“Basically, decoupling actual work from paid leave is deeply shocking. It is the value of work which is thus attacked,” the confederation explained in a press release in October. “It is completely unfair that an employee absent for a long period benefits from as much leave as an employee present at his post,” she added.
Work with social partners in progress
Especially since this directive is retroactive. If retroactivity of three years was granted, this measure might cost six billion euros in 2024. But as written on the government website, “the effects of these case law judgments remain to be clarified”. The social partners and the government have their work cut out for them.
“We are in constant discussion with the government to see how this transposition of the European directive can be implemented without it being too ruinous for businesses,” declares Patrick Martin. For the moment, neither the previous government of Élisabeth Borne nor that of Gabriel Attal have officially announced future changes in this direction. According to our colleagues at BFMTV, Élisabeth Borne wanted to reassure employers at the end of November, declaring that she wanted to “reduce the impact of the measure as much as possible”.
The last speech by the executive was on January 17. Questioned in the National Assembly on this subject, the Minister of Labor and Health, Catherine Vautrin, declared: “The fact remains that our country must of course comply with European legislation and that the financial consequences of the provision will be indeed very important for businesses. This is why we are going to work with all the social partners, employee representatives and business representatives, in order to reach, as quickly as possible, decisions on this issue, which raises many questions. among business leaders and employees. » According to a press release from the CFDT, the government would examine several alternatives to apply European law, including a cap of four weeks of annual paid leave during sick leave or the regulation of the deadlines for carrying over acquired paid leave.
What to do in the meantime?
In September, the CGT welcomed this court decision. “Sick leave is not rest! » declared the union in a press release. For its part, the CFTC welcomed this announcement, while warning of the future of VSEs and SMEs: “This sudden change risks weakening certain French companies (the smallest in particular), and with them the jobs they provide. »
The Constitutional Council is currently examining the consequences of this directive on the Constitution and will rule on this subject in mid-February. According to The echoes, the government will then announce the framework for this accumulation of paid leave. For the moment, companies are therefore in the dark.
Always according to THEEchoesin a letter addressed to their members, the CPME advised the bosses either to “draw the practical consequences now from the judgments of the Court of Cassation […] which represents a significant cost”, or to “continue to strictly apply the Labor Code [ce qui] constitutes, and we must be aware of this, risk-taking in the event of litigation.”
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