January 9, 2017.
With the entry into force of the El Khomri law, many measures will change the daily lives of employees, especially women who are expecting a child.
More protection against dismissal
The Labor Law amended numerous provisions in the Labor Code, in particular with regard to the time limits for protecting pregnant women against dismissal. Until now, the protection period for pregnant women in the private sector has been 4 weeks. They are now down to 10 weeks. On the other hand, the employer can always terminate the contract if the employee in question has committed a serious fault.
Pregnant women are now better protected, but you should know that this period remains less than that imposed on employers in certain neighboring countries: up to the twelfth month of the child in Italy, up to the ninth month in Spain, or up to every six months in the Netherlands. However, this increase in delays should allow women to approach their return to work more calmly.
The pregnant woman must take the initiative to go to the doctor
Another change: it will now be up to the employee to make her own appointment with the occupational physician, after having announced her pregnancy to her employer. Until now, it was the management that sent this information to the health services. The occupational physician will no longer have to worry about the state of health of pregnant women, but if there are any concerns, it will be up to her to come forward.
This measure was desired to unclog the agendas of occupational physicians, who are too few to meet demand. It remains to be seen whether employers will willingly accept requests for schedule adjustments from pregnant women. who would have obtained to increase the frequency of his breaks, or to switch to daytime schedules.
