Did the reform of the labor code at the start of Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term have the effect of increasing dismissals for fault? This hypothesis is put forward in a study that the very serious review Social right dated June has just been published, in the form of a summary. Its two authors are cautious: at this stage, they note, it is impossible to say with certainty that a causal link exists.
Julie Valentin, lecturer at the University of Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne, and Camille Signoretto, lecturer at the University of Paris-Cité, sought to identify the impact of the ordinances of September 2017. These texts aimed of ” release “ companies’ capacity for initiative and better ” protect “ workers, with the guideline of encouraging job creation.
To find out whether the reform had the expected impact, Julie Valentin and Camille Signoretto collected numerous statistics, which highlight a significant change: between the end of 2017 and the end of 2021, the number of dismissals for fault increased increased by 32.3%; this is a more sustained pace than that observed between the third quarter of 2015 and the third quarter of 2017 (+28.4%), before the entry into force of the orders.
A small number of professions concerned
This acceleration in the rise “can be seen as an effect” changes decided in 2017. Two provisions would be affected. One caps the damages awarded by the industrial tribunal to an employee who has been the subject of unjustified dismissal. The goal was to ” to secure “ employers and “remove the fear of hiring” by making the cost of breaking the employment contract predictable, in the event of litigation. This mechanism has had the effect of slightly lowering the amount of sums that a court grants to a person unfairly dismissed by his boss.
The other measure cited by the two economists results from a decree of September 2017, which increased the amount of legal compensation paid by a company when it dismisses one or more members of its staff.
Julie Valentin and Camille Signoretto wonder if the combination of these two provisions has not led employers to favor dismissals for fault. In the latter case, they are not required to compensate their employee. The latter can, of course, challenge the breach of the employment contract, but if the industrial tribunals give him his case, the damages may prove to be much less significant, therefore, than before the reform. In other words, the boss would have a financial interest in doing so. However, to be able to establish the causal link, additional investigations would be necessary, insist the two authors of the article in Social right.
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