French Students & Youth Protest New Employment Law
Here is an interesting employment law that is being instituted right now in France. Some excerpts from the article are below.
“French youth have been up in arms protesting the CPE, a new youth employment law that would make it easier for workers under the age of 26 to be fired by their employers.
The hope is that by decreasing companies' responsibilities to young workers, these companies will actually have a greater incentive to hire them in the first place. However, many in Paris, where in some neighborhoods youth unemployment is at 26-50%, don't quite see it that way.”
Basically, this new CPE is a law that gives employers the “right to fire French workers under the age of 26 without offering a reason or motivation. If terminated employees go to court, it is up to them to show they were unjustly fired.”
This law is basically the same thing as our employment-at-will law. As we all know from class readings and discussions, anyone can be forced for any reason or no reason at all as EXCEPT if the firing relates to a protected characteristic.
The big question here appears to be if this new law really will reduce unemployment. That is the underlying goal of the CPE. “It is hoped that lowering the risks associated with hiring new employees will encourage businesses to hire young workers in the first place.”
I personally think that if French employers are not hiring youth employees because they are worried they will not be able to fire them in the future, then this new law will work. Some could argue that the employer will just fire them once they don’t want them anymore though, and France will just get back to a high unemployment level. But of you look at the U.S. that does not happen here. I have held many jobs as a teenager and I never got fired even, if demand for workers was not real great. There was always something I could have been doing to better the company I was working for and I also formed a bond with management, so I think they felt that keeping me around was kind of an obligation as well, even if they didn’t really need all of their employees.
I would guess that a similar type situation would be the case in France. If they employers feel better about getting youth employees in the door, then I think the CPE law will work because the employer will not want to want to fire a good worker. The employer will keep that worker around and find some way to use their service
“French youth have been up in arms protesting the CPE, a new youth employment law that would make it easier for workers under the age of 26 to be fired by their employers.
The hope is that by decreasing companies' responsibilities to young workers, these companies will actually have a greater incentive to hire them in the first place. However, many in Paris, where in some neighborhoods youth unemployment is at 26-50%, don't quite see it that way.”
Basically, this new CPE is a law that gives employers the “right to fire French workers under the age of 26 without offering a reason or motivation. If terminated employees go to court, it is up to them to show they were unjustly fired.”
This law is basically the same thing as our employment-at-will law. As we all know from class readings and discussions, anyone can be forced for any reason or no reason at all as EXCEPT if the firing relates to a protected characteristic.
The big question here appears to be if this new law really will reduce unemployment. That is the underlying goal of the CPE. “It is hoped that lowering the risks associated with hiring new employees will encourage businesses to hire young workers in the first place.”
I personally think that if French employers are not hiring youth employees because they are worried they will not be able to fire them in the future, then this new law will work. Some could argue that the employer will just fire them once they don’t want them anymore though, and France will just get back to a high unemployment level. But of you look at the U.S. that does not happen here. I have held many jobs as a teenager and I never got fired even, if demand for workers was not real great. There was always something I could have been doing to better the company I was working for and I also formed a bond with management, so I think they felt that keeping me around was kind of an obligation as well, even if they didn’t really need all of their employees.
I would guess that a similar type situation would be the case in France. If they employers feel better about getting youth employees in the door, then I think the CPE law will work because the employer will not want to want to fire a good worker. The employer will keep that worker around and find some way to use their service
posted by John Kluka at
12:58 AM
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