France Passes New Law Allowing Workers To Give Off Days To Colleagues With Sick Children
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France’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a new law which would allows workers to donate their paid leave to colleagues in the event of a seriously ill child, reported Radio France Internationale.
The law had been proposed by right-wing MP Paul Sale – who was inspired by the case of Christophe Germain, an employee at the Badoit water-bottling plant.
France’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a new law which would allows workers to donate their paid leave to colleagues in the event of a seriously ill child, reported Radio France Internationale.
The law had been proposed by right-wing MP Paul Sale – who was inspired by the case of Christophe Germain, an employee at the Badoit water-bottling plant.
Germain’s colleagues gave up close to 170 days of their own paid leave, with their bosses’ approval, so that Germain could look after his 11-year-old cancer-stricken son Mathys. Mathys eventually died in 2011.
The new law could mean that public sector companies can see their employees do the same, with the practice having already been present in some private companies, where local agreements had been made.
Some Socialists abstained on the vote, claiming that the law could run into legal problems, while the Communists and their allies voted against on the grounds that it lets employers off the hook of their responsibilities to employees in such a situation.
[quote]“The bill, portrayed as being generous, will completely free employers from their responsibilities and create intolerable situations of injustice between those who can collect days off and those who can’t,” argued left-wing MP Dominique Watrin.[/quote]Labour Minister François Rebsamen also said that he had “strong reservations” about the measure, claiming that “rest days are part of the need for the protection of employees’ health;” but he left it to parliament to decide on the matter.
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The bill will now have to go through a second round of voting through the National Assembly, which first passed the law in 2012, before heading for Presidential approval. Germain attended the Senate debate on Wednesday to strengthen the case.
French workers have among the most paid off days in the world with a minimum of five weeks legally required every year.
