The Delta variant does not wait. The government has just completed its draft bill on the extension of the health pass and compulsory vaccination. On July 19, it will be on the table of the Council of Ministers, before a rapid examination in the Assembly. The wise men of the Council of State received it Tuesday evening and must pass it to the legal mill. Emmanuel Macron has already given the broad outlines in his televisual address on Monday evening: the presentation of the health pass will condition access to theaters and cinemas from July 21, and to cafes, restaurants, centers commercial or trains and planes from August 1. Here are the details of the main measures decided to try to win the race against the virus which threatens the economy.A tightening of sanitary screws supposed to avoid more restrictive measures, but which worries many employees and employers.
THE HEALTH PASS
Who is concerned ?
Sports halls, restaurants, cafes, fairs… The bill lists all the activities targeted by the extension of the health pass.
Thus, all those working, whether employees or employers, in leisure activities (museums, cinemas, theaters, stadiums, etc.), catering or drinking establishments, trade fairs or trade shows, services and establishments welcoming people vulnerable (except in an emergency, the text specifies), shopping centers.
But also "to professionals of transport companies, operators and organizers" in other words buses, trains, planes ... According to our information, flexibility will be granted to these employees and employers until the end of August, the beginning of September so that they can produce a health pass in order.
How is the control carried out?
The health pass can be “presented on paper or in digital format”. It is a "health proof" authenticating either a negative PCR or antigen test of less than 48 hours, a complete vaccination of at least 14 days or a certificate of recovery following contamination of less than six months. It takes the form of a QR code, present on digital or paper documents provided following the health procedures carried out.
It is the employer who will have to scan this famous QR code using the “Tous Anticovid Verif” application. Concretely, depending on what the employee has presented, a red or green cover will appear. Green when the sanitary pass is in order, red if it is not. “The employer will not be able to know if you only had a test or a vaccination. Medical confidentiality is preserved ”, assures the Ministry of Labor. According to the preliminary draft law, the confidentiality of the health pass data would be clearly ensured: "The presentation of documents is carried out in a form allowing the persons authorized or the services authorized to ensure the control to know the data strictly necessary for the exercise of this control ”.
A decree will have to define the methods of control, specifies the text, once the Cnil, the National Commission of Computing and Freedoms, will have delivered its opinion on this provision of confidential data.
What penalties?
For the employee
.
If he is unable to present a valid health pass (a negative PCR or antigen test of less than 48 hours, a complete vaccination of at least 14 days or a certificate of recovery following a contamination of less than six months), the employee can have his employment contract suspended for up to two months without touching a cent.
Beyond that, if he still does not show white paw, he incurs a dismissal for fault.
For the employer
.
Failure to carry out "the verification process" imposed by the government, which must be regular with his staff and daily with his customers, the business manager incurs a year of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.
On the other hand, a boss, a trader, a craftsman who would require the presentation of the health pass outside the establishments provided for by the preliminary draft law, risks the same penalties.
A measure that aims to prevent any drift from leaders who are a little too zealous.
Remember: the Labor Code imposes medical confidentiality on employers.
THE VACCINATION
Authorization of absence during working time for employees.
Until now, the employee could be vaccinated during his working time in complete confidentiality but only if he went through an occupational medicine center, as provided for in the Labor Code. He then had no reason to advance to justify his absence, just to specify that he was going to occupational medicine. The bill opens up the possibility of going to a Covid19 vaccination center. "These absences do not entail any reduction in remuneration and are assimilated to a period of actual work for the determination of the duration of paid leave as well as for the legal or contractual rights acquired by the employee by virtue of his seniority in the company. »Specifies the text. Only then, the employer may require proof of absence.In other words, the medical confidentiality imposed on the company risks being infringed. A breach of medical confidentiality which is however imposed on the company would then be opened, a point that the Council of State could challenge.
The extended vaccination obligation… to home help.
At the turn of the preliminary draft, several categories of personnel subject to compulsory vaccination appear. In addition to caregivers (doctors, nurses, nursing aides, etc.), the text expands its list with ambulance attendants and all persons working in medical transport, but also firefighters. Another population of employees must also comply with this new obligation. These are all "professionals employed by a private individual-employer carrying out interventions in the homes of persons receiving benefits".
That is to say the elderly beneficiaries of the APA (personalized autonomy allowance) and disabled people receiving the PCH (disability compensation benefit), including at home. In other words, home care workers working with this public have until September 15 to be vaccinated. Otherwise, as for health personnel, a “prohibition to practice will be notified by their employer, the related health insurance organization or the competent regional health agency” indicates the text. If the professional can no longer practice for more than two months, for lack of having done the necessary, he may then be dismissed.
Finally, the government is giving itself a "possibility of suspending the vaccination obligation". Is this a way to guard against a public health problem? This is one of the very succinct paragraphs of the draft bill. "A decree may, taking into account the evolution of the epidemiological situation and of medical and scientific knowledge, suspend, for all or part of the population, the obligations laid down" reads on page 16. A passage which will not fail of agitate the antivax, even the skeptics.
