The entry into force of the health pass sows trouble on the issue of layoffs.
The latest statement from the Minister of Labor Élisabeth Borne has created confusion among workers, anxious to understand the possible repercussions on their jobs if they refuse to present a valid health pass.
Read also: What awaits employees affected by the health pass
As a reminder, employees who work in an establishment in which customers must prove a health pass must also be in possession of a health pass validated from August 30.
Received this morning on the LCI set, the Deputy Minister in charge of Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher was reassuring: dismissal will remain the "
last resort
" of the employer who always has other possibilities to convince his employee to change your mind.
"We must not let employees believe that there can be no layoffs
Élisabeth Borne, Minister of Labor
"
Ultimate
"
remedy
, but possible
The day before, the Minister of Labor had declared that it was not necessary "
not to let the employees believe that there can not be layoffs
" if they refuse to present a valid health pass. “
Nobody wants dismissal,
” commented Agnès Pannier-Runacher in response to Élisabeth Borne's statement.
The Deputy Minister in charge of Industry described this outcome as "the
last resort when you are not in a position to be able to keep someone on leave without pay indefinitely
". "
We are panicking employees when that is not the subject at all
," she added. Agnès Pannier-Runacher recalls that French law does not allow someone to be dismissed overnight without real and serious reason.
For the minister, business leaders have "
the responsibility to organize the work and use all the levers at their disposal so as not to have to lay off
", such as the "
possibility of placing the employee in a position without direct contact. with clients, use RTT, unpaid leave
”.
Minister attacks senators
While the government's bill on crisis management raised the issue of dismissal, the Deputy Minister responsible for Industry criticized the senators for having modified the initial text which would have made it possible to control the risk by guaranteeing in particular not to be able to dismiss an employee within two months.
Read also: Extension of the health pass: why does the Senate want to restore the state of emergency?
The senators wished to remove this mention, indicating that they wanted to protect workers.
But the minister has a different analysis: "
contrary to what has been indicated (...) they did not prohibit the dismissal, they removed the protections to make this dismissal very difficult to implement and to have protections for employees
”.
While waiting to have recourse to this provision, Agnès Pannier-Runacher recalls that the sanitary pass "
is limited in time
" and stops on November 15. This period must therefore be used by employers to convince employees to go for the vaccine. “
The health pass is the best answer: if we let the virus circulate we all know the rest of the story. It would be the closures and the impediment to work,
”she stressed.
