After Spain, will France also introduce menstrual leave? This is the objective of the bill tabled this Friday, May 26 by the deputies Génération.s and EELV Sébastien Peytavie, Sandrine Rousseau and Marie-Charlotte Garin. This text provides for the generalization of menstrual leave at the level of all companies and the civil service, and for it to be included in the Labour and Social Security Code. A first in France.
This system, initiated by Spain last February, is already in place by many French companies such as Carrefour, which authorizes it to women with the status of disabled workers. But also by municipalities such as that of Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis) which offers its employees suffering from endometriosis or "disabling" periods, since March 27, the possibility of taking up to two days of leave subject to presentation of a medical certificate.
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Left-wing elected representatives were inspired by these various experiments to establish their proposals. On May 10, a group of PS deputies had already tabled a text on this subject, ahead of the ecologists' project announced in February. The two bills provide for the introduction of menstrual leave for civil servants who are victims of endometriosis or painful menstruation for 13 days per year, without waiting days and subject to the presentation of a medical certificate. In France, 10% of women are affected by endometriosis.
In detail, the PS group proposes that the leave does not exceed two days per month, while the text of the ecologists wants an "autonomous management" and "without monthly limit" of these days, according to needs. The 13 days of stops correspond to the number of menstrual cycles of a woman over a year and can be renewed once a year on an exceptional basis, "in the most serious cases".
"Devirilising the world of work"
Through this proposal "sick leave for disabling menstruation", the EELV and Génération.s deputies intend to "devirilize the world of work" and ensure that "the woman's body is recognized in business". Their legal text provides for an "adaptation of the position" of the employee. In particular, companies would be obliged to facilitate teleworking, guarantee access to "adapted toilets" and offer menstrual protection. During the press conference presenting the bill, Sandrine Rousseau took the example of "cashiers who can not go to the toilet on their working time".
Also at the heart of the ecologists' project, the "preservation of privacy" of employees to "avoid any discrimination". Indeed, to obtain their work stoppage, the people concerned will have to deposit their medical certificate on the Ameli platform, which will generate the stoppage automatically. It will then be sufficient to send the document to the employer to assert his right.
For Alexandre Lamy, a lawyer specializing in labour law, this bill is "intelligent". "This indirect mechanism, external to the company, effectively makes it possible to avoid the risk of discrimination." "The employee no longer needs to express her right to stop to the employer, but would go through Ameli to be arrested," he continues. In Japan, where menstrual leave exists, "women exercise little of their right because they are forced to come forward to their employer, which leads to stigmatization."
However, the association Osez le féminisme does not share this opinion. According to its spokeswoman, Violaine de Filippis-Abate, menstrual leave is a "false good idea" because "discrimination in hiring" or "professional development" is inevitable. The association would prefer that "all employees, men and women, be compensated from the first day of illness, without waiting period". This would amount to putting in place a common measure, and not a device reserved for women.
A multi-billion euro leave
But then, could this menstrual leave project be voted on in the Assembly? If left-wing MPs qualify this text as "ambitious and applicable", several obstacles could prevent its evolution in the course of the law. In the first place, because of its cost. The scheme would be financed entirely by social security. According to Sandrine Rousseau, it would cost "billions" to the state. If the amount of expenses is unclear, it is "because no study or statistics exist on the number of people who would be concerned" by menstrual leave, she defended.
In addition, faced with the political craze around menstrual leave for several months, Elisabeth Borne had spoken on the subject. "We are looking at how we can effectively encourage and facilitate the engagement of companies," she said last April. A statement considered unconvincing by left-wing MEPs who prefer an obligation of application rather than an incentive.
Thus, in order for their proposal to be adopted, meetings are soon planned with the ministers of the majority concerned: Gabriel Attal, Minister of Public Accounts, François Braun, Minister of Health, Isabelle Rome, Minister of Equality between Women and Men and Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labour.
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To give more chances to the text, the elected EELV want this law to be "transpartisan". However, this fight is not important to the point of collaborating with the RN, argued at a press conference Sandrine Rousseau, who refuses to work with the 89 deputies who sit on the right of the hemicycle.