Introduction

Scope of application

Compliance program

Protection of whistleblowers

Audit and sanctions

Rules arising from the Sapin II Law

EU law

French law

Rules derived from competition law

Sapin II Law/Competition

Scope ratione personae

Scope ratione materiae

Scope

Development of plan

Measures included in plan

Inclusion in management report

Vigilance plan

Injunctions

Civil liability

Sanctions

Duty of vigilance (devoir de vigilance)

CSR programs

Reporting

Communication

Reporting and communication

Judicial sanctions

Risk to reputation, strategy and stability

Corporate Social Responsability (CSR)

Middlenext Code

IFA Corpus

AFEP - MEDEF Code

Types

Principles of governance

Principles incorporating CSR values

Principles

Comply or explain

Binding force

Private codes of conduct

Compliance

Whistleblowers can request swift action by the Conseil des prud'hommes (employment tribunal) to rule on breach of an employment contract.
Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 30 April 2014, showed that time is a decisive factor in granting adequate and appropriate protection to whistle-blowers. In view of the lengthening duration of legal  …

Fast-track ruling on validity of dismissal

Whistleblowers can request swift action by the Conseil des prud'hommes (employment tribunal) to rule on breach of an employment contract.

Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 30 April 2014, showed that time is a decisive factor in granting adequate and appropriate protection to whistle-blowers. In view of the lengthening duration of legal proceedings, the Committee advocated, as a protective measure for people suffering reprisals for having made a disclosure or disclosure of information of general interest, particularly in the event of loss of employment, the introduction of procedures enabling whistle-blowers to be granted interim measures .

Article 12 of the Sapin II Law took this recommendation into account, granting employees who have been dismissed following the disclosure of an alert the right to lodge an appeal with the Work Tribunal, under the conditions set out in Chapter V of Title V of Book IV of Part I of the Labor Code , so that the judge can rule, within a short timeframe, on the legality of the decision. The parliamentary work on Article 12 shows that the aim of the text is to “improve the protection of whistle-blowers” by giving them specific access to the summary proceedings, in order to “counter the reprisals that destroy the lives of whistle-blowers”, to avoid waiting 24 months for access to a judge after dismissal, and to provide for the possibility for a whistle-blower who has been dismissed to apply to the Work Tribunal to be granted an interim measure .

According to the independent watchdog  Défenseur des droits (Defender of rights), an interim court cannot, without violating Article 12, refer the parties to the court of first instance to examine the legality of the dismissal . Article R. 1455-6 of the Labor Code stipulates that, even in the event of a serious dispute, the interim court can always order the necessary precautionary or remedial measures to prevent imminent damage or to put an end to a manifestly unlawful disturbance constituted by the termination of an employment contract following a a report by a whistleblower. Thus, after having assessed whether the evidence submitted to it supports a presumption that the employee has reported or testified in good faith to facts constituting an offense or crime, or that he or she has reported an alert, in compliance with Articles 6 to 8 of the Sapin II Law, it is up to the interim court of the employment tribunal to determine whether the employer provides proof that its decision to dismiss is justified by objective factors unrelated to the employee's statement or testimony .

Recommendation CM/Rec(2014)7, adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, 30 April 2014, 10 and 45.

Labor Code, Art. R. 1455-5 to R. 1455-11.

AN, Report 3785 by Mr. Sébastien Denaja of 26 May 2016, and Report 4045 and 4046 by Mr. Sébastien Denaja of 21 September 2016.

Def. droits, 14 April 2021, LawLex202400003131JBJ.

Cass. soc., 1 February 2023, LawLex202300011807JBJ.

Compliance

84. Fast-track ruling on validity of dismissal

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

84. Fast-track ruling on validity of dismissal

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise