On Monday 14 March the Prime Minister unveiled a corrected version of the draft labor reform law that incorporates three major changes. Ceilings applied to compensation amounts awarded by the labor tribunals in cases of unfair dismissal are being scrapped and the payment scale will be only for indication purposes. Dismissal on the grounds of economic reasons is to be geographically restricted to France with monitoring by a judge being a possibility. Finally, the youth guarantee for the young out of work or with no training will become a universal right. On the union side, the CFDT has welcomed the changes although neither the FO nor the CGT is satisfied and they continue to call for the text to be withdrawn. On the employer side, Medef is calling on the government ‘not to unravel the text any further’.
Following a week of negotiations with the social partners and after demonstrations saw some 250,000 protesting on the streets (c.f. article No. 9543), and with more union action in the pipeline, the government presented a new version of its draft labor law reform.
Controversial compensation payment scales that were set to mark an official ceiling for labor tribunal compensation awards are now in place for indication purposes only. “This payment range will be written into the law and will serve as a guide for the labor tribunal judges rather than being restrictive,” declared the Prime Minister.
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