French legislation is the strictest in Europe when it comes to fraud in relation to foreign posted workers. Inspections have tripled in 2 years and will be strengthened in 2017.
The French Construction Federation continues to fight to protect its activity sector and is putting pressure on the French Government to go even further to combat the abuses of foreign employers posting staff to France. These new measures put in place in recent years are not designed to block salaried secondment, but to protect the posted workers.
PROTECTING THE POSTED WORKERS
French companies denounce the practices implemented by foreign companies from the Eastern European countries. It is common to find that posted workers, declared and paid for 35 hours, are actually working more than 70 hours a week. To put an end to this sense of impunity and to protect the posted employees, the law creates awareness among contractors by making them accountable. They must be sure of the social compliance of their service provider. In the case of infringement, the contractor is jointly responsible and can suffer a financial penalty.
The professional identity card was established recently to control abuses particularly in the construction sector (construction worker’s identity card/ carte btp).
THE EUROPEAN UNION IS MOBILISING
Work done by posted workers is the key issue at the core of all the discussions in Europe. Several ministers of the European Union want the posted workers to receive remuneration which is the same as the workers of the country of their secondment from the first day of their mission. They all want ambitious reform to regulate posted work and bring an end to social dumping. Certain countries of Eastern Europe, headed by Poland, are applying the brakes and adopting a stance of opposition to any change in this domain.
REQUIREMENTS THAT FOREIGN COMPANIES MUST COMPLY WITH CONCERNING POSTED WORK IN FRANCE
To eradicate social dumping and restore fair competition between French companies and foreign countries posting employees to French territory, the law of 2014 on unfair competition and the Macron law of 2015 have tightened the rules of the game.
Foreign companies must:
- Pay their employees at the French minimum hourly rate,
- Appoint a French representative to act as a liaison between the French authorities (gendarmerie, URSSAF, etc.) and the foreign entity,
- Register on the official website of the Ministry of Labour (SISPI)
- Complete a prior declaration of secondment.
- The large number of requirements is intended to restore the balance in certain sectors such as construction and transport. To find out more about the requirements in the transport sector visit our dedicated page.
FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT THE SECONDMENT OF FOREIGN WORKERS
ASD Group has created an online application dedicated to posted work called So Posting Workers. The application includes all the social obligations with which foreign companies must comply when they second workers to French territory. This online service is the simplest solution to ensure compliance. Find all the information you need on the following website: www.soposting-worker.com/.
