A decree published at the very beginning of summer introduced new rules on work stoppages, and failure to comply with them could have serious financial consequences for employees.
While the summer period is synonymous with vacations for the vast majority of the country, not everything stops during the summer. Although the Government often runs at a slow pace between the end of June and the beginning of September, it is not completely idle either, and sometimes takes advantage of these months of relaxation to pass a few reforms without anyone noticing. This is precisely the case of a decree published on July 5th and which went relatively unnoticed, which subtly modifies the Labor Code by adding three new articles with significant consequences in terms of sick leave.
In the event of illness, injury or accident, any employee with at least one year of seniority in their company may benefit from a work stoppage on the basis of a medical certificate. They thus retain all or part of their salary during their period of absence, thanks to the daily Social Security allowances (IJSS) on the one hand, and the additional allowances paid by their employer on the other hand. Thus, the accumulation of allowances must guarantee the employee income equivalent to 90% of their gross salary during the first 30 days of the work stoppage, then 66.66% of this salary during the following 30 days.
In return for the additional compensation paid by the employer, the latter has the right to request a medical follow-up examination, carried out by a doctor of his choice, in order to verify the validity of the prescribed work stoppage. However, until now, the conditions under which this follow-up examination should take place were not defined, which could lead to tensions, or even conflicts, between employer and employee. This is the precise point that is being clarified Decree No. 2024-692 of July 5, 2024by establishing the terms and conditions of the medical counter-examination provided for in Article L. 1226-1 of the Labor Code.
Thus, the employee is now subject to two new obligations from the start of the work stoppage: he must indicate to his employer the chosen place of rest, if it is different from his usual home, as well as the times at which the medical counter-examination can be carried out if he benefits from a stoppage with the mention “free exit”. And this information is particularly important, because the employer can mandate a doctor to carry out a medical counter-examination at the place and at the times indicated, without any notice given to the employee. The doctor can also summon the employee on sick leave to his office, this time by sending him a summons by any means allowing to certify a date of receipt.
In either case, the doctor immediately transmits his conclusions to the employer at the end of the counter-visit. And if he considers the work stoppage unjustified, if he indicates that the employee was not present at his place of rest or that he did not respond to the summons, then the payment of benefits can be suspended. In this case, the employee’s only recourse will then be to contact the Social Security Medical Control Service in order to request a review of his situation. Thus, it is therefore necessary to be aware of the conditions mentioned on the work stoppage and to respect them scrupulously, in order to avoid putting yourself in a difficult position with your employer and exposing yourself to a significant loss of income.