France

• Introduction and overview of the country

Employment relations and human resources practices in France are highly regulated by French law. This work will consist some of the recruitment and selection practices and regulations in France, as well as employment statistics, description of elements of the French CV, and some basic information about unions in France.

According to OECD (2019), 65.5 percent of the population that is of working age in France are employed. Also, out of the employed population, there is 11.7 percent of self-employed people. 40.4 percent of the unemployed population are in long-term unemployment. Moreover, there was a youth unemployment rate of 20.77 percent in France in 2018 (Statista, 2019).

• Recruitment practices

First of all, when there is a job opening, an employer must contact the Pole d’Emploi (Governmental Employment Agency) to notify them about it. Then an employer has to post the vacancy on the job site or in a newspaper. Postings in English language are prohibited and must all be in French (EuroDev, 2018).

Only free-of-charge job advertising newspapers are permitted to be used for job postings. In general press, postings of jobs are only permitted if a publication is not aiming specifically at job advertisements. The date is required on all published job advertisements. An anonymous job offer can be advertised as well. However, the name and address of a company must be provided to a person who is in charge of the advertisement postings (Audouze and Albiol, 2018).

There are various aspects that are prohibited by French law when it comes to job advertisements. Firstly, job advertisements cannot be written in any other language but French. Secondly, it is strictly prohibited to mention an upper limit for the age of candidates. Thirdly, it is not allowed to even mention any discriminatory criteria in a job posting. Finally, it is prohibited to lie, mislead and provide false characteristics or aspects of the job that is being advertised (Audouze and Albiol, 2018).

There are many alternatives when it comes to websites where employers can post their job openings. Some of those websites with the links and descriptions of specific types of jobs being posted on each website can be found in Table 1.

Table 1: French Job Posting Websites

Name:	Types of Jobs:	URL:
Craigslist	Jobs postings mainly from Paris	https://paris.craigslist.org/
ABG L’intelli’agence	Medical and scientific jobs	https://www.abg.asso.fr/fr/
Emplois Verts	“Green” type of jobs	https://www.bonial.fr/Emplois-Verts/
Stratégies Emploi	PR, communications and marketing jobs	http://emploi.strategies.fr/
Emploi Annonces	All types	http://emploiannonces.fr/
Monster	All types	https://www.monster.fr
Indeed France	All types	https://www.indeed.fr
L’Hôtellerie Restauration	Hospitality jobs	https://www.lhotellerie-restauration.fr/
ANEFA	Viticultural and agricultural jobs	http://www.anefa-emploi.org/ANEFA_FRONT/
The Local	All types	https://www.thelocal.fr/jobs/
Keljob	All types	https://www.keljob.com
Recrut	All types	http://www.recrut.com
Les Jeudis	All types	https://www.lesjeudis.com/emploi
IAPA	French agencies for au pair jobs	https://www.iapa.org/
L’Etudiant	Graduates and students jobs	https://www.letudiant.fr/jobsstages.html

• Selection practices
• Background checks

Background checks are an extremely important part of the selection process. There are multiple parts of the process that employers can and cannot do in France. This section will look at laws and regulations of different parts and processes of background checks.

• Criminal records

In France, generally, employers can not request any information or copy of a candidate’s criminal records. The only party who can make this request in France is a person whose record it is, and any third party is prohibited from requesting this type of information. However, some types of companies can request a copy of a criminal record. Those are organizations like bankers, attorneys (regulated professions), and those of securities companies (Grange, 2019).

• Drug screening

The drug screening can be done only if a job position justifies it and if a company inform a candidate about the test. Those may be positions in transportation or security services. Otherwise, companies are not allowed to perform routine drug tests in the workplace (Audouze and Albiol, 2018).

• Medical history

Candidates are not required to inform an employer about any disabilities or health issues they have, as well as the information about weight or size. An occupational doctor is the only person who should be informed about this kind of information when performing a medical check-up (Fantoni-Quinton and Laflamme, 2017).

• Credit checks

The information about a job applicant’s loans or bank accounts is not allowed to be gathered by employers (L&E Global Knowledge Centre, 2016).

• Social media

The use of social media by an employer to collect information about a candidate is technically not prohibited. However, an applicant must be informed about it, otherwise, a company is not allowed to collect any personal information about a candidate from social media, so to investigate the social media, an employer must first notify an applicant about it. Also, the Labour Code of France has a proportionality obligation, which means that the amount of information requested, gathered and processed about a candidate must be proportional to the position this candidate applies for. This obligation applies to both potential candidates and current employees of a company. This presupposes that only necessary for the assessment of employees’ professional abilities information is being collected by employers (Audouze and Albiol, 2018).

• Immigration status

A non-discrimination principle forbids employers in France to a dismissal of employees or refusal to hire candidates based on a person’s nationality. However, all employers are allowed to directly ask a candidate about their nationality and civil status (Frenchlaw, 2019).

• Other

The information regarding an applicant’s past work and professional experience, professional training, diplomas, and references can be collected by employers to ensure a candidate’s professional competence. These rules are strictly applied and controlled by courts in France and ensure that employers are prohibited from requesting any information about an applicant’s personal private life. For instance, employers in France are allowed to ask a candidate to provide their diploma but are prohibited from asking anything about their university life (Audouze and Albiol, 2018).

• Protected Categories

There are multiple categories that are protected by French law and are prohibited from becoming a base of discrimination. Those categories will be discussed below.

• Age

According to French law, job applicants and employees cannot be discriminated against by an employer on the basis of their age. However, a treatment based on age may be different if it is justified by different prohibitions of a person to work under some specific conditions or perform some specific duties. Also, if there is some certain training necessary for a position that justifies a setting of maximum appropriate age for a position (Mercat-Bruns, 2015).

• Disability

French law strictly prohibits any discrimination behavior that is based on a person’s disability. At least six percent of an organization’s total workforce must be represented by people with disabilities, as it is required by the Labour Code of France (Mercat-Bruns, 2015).

• Race

Ethnic group or race cannot become a reason for employee discrimination, as the French law strictly prohibits it (Hargreaves, 2015).

• Gender

French law forbids any kind of discrimination that is based on gender. French labor law ensures that gender equality is established in the professional world. However, gender distinctions can be made if there is an essential professional requirement, and the objectives of an employer are legit (Gallot, 2016).

• Sexual orientation

French law protects employees by strictly prohibiting any discrimination that is based on sexual orientation (Laurent and Mihoubi, 2012).

• Medical

French law does not allow any medical condition based discrimination. Nevertheless, if there is an appropriate and necessary reason based on a labor physician’s comment on the incapacity of an employee, some differences in terms of treatment can be justified. Employee’s illness cannot serve as a reason for their dismissal by the employer unless there are repetitive leaves happening that cause a disruption of activities and operations of a company, which makes it inevitable for this employee to be permanently replaced (Fantoni-Quinton and Laflamme, 2017).

• Religion

The law of France forbids any discrimination that is based on people’s beliefs or religion. On the other hand, religious practices’ accommodation is not mandatory to be done by employers in France. Also, it is possible that sometimes, employers in a public sector may not allow certain religious practices at the workplace (Audouze and Albiol, 2018).

• Other

Staff representative and union representative statuses cannot provide employees with an advantage or different treatment by an employer, as it is forbidden by French law. This status already grants them with a labor code’s additional protection, meaning that their termination and resignation will be done under a specific control and regulations, which aim at ensuring that the reasons are not of a discriminatory nature (Bamber et al., 2016).

• Miscellaneous information
• CV

A curriculum vitae (CV) in France is usually done in two ways. The first way is a CV in a reversed chronological order. The second way is to make a CV function clustered. Also, aspects like extra-curricular activities and hobbies should not be getting a lot of attention in a CV. The CV in France generally has a maximum of two pages of content, which includes the following:

• A photo
• Full name
• Nationality and place of birth
• Age
• Civil status
• Address and telephone number
• Education (the highest one)
• Past work experience and responsibilities (in details)
• Language skills
• References should not be included

Also, a five lines section called “projet professionel” is usually included and consists of a description of a candidate’s educational background, skills usage, and a vision of oneself in five to ten years (Ripmeester, 2018).

• Unions

Unions are not popular among employees in France. Only less than ten percent of employed people in France are members of unions. Those are mostly people working in the public sector. Nevertheless, in France, both members and non-members of unions are benefiting from collective bargaining agreements, as terms of those agreements apply to all employees of a company or an industry. All employees are able to become members of any union they choose without employers’ interventions. Also, all companies that have more than 50 people employed has to have work councils. Ten percent representation of a workforce of a company is what needed for a union to be able to choose its representative that will be able to sign and negotiate collective bargaining agreements. Also, there can be signed collective bargaining agreements that influence a whole industry and must be considered by all companies operating in this industry (Bamber et al., 2016).

• Bibliography

Audouze, K., and Albiol, J. (2018). Employment & labour law in France | Lexology. [online] Lexology.com. Available at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=ba22c6b9-082d-4b8c-9b23-977c7f33abfa [Accessed 16 Oct. 2019].

Bamber, G. J., Lansbury, R. D., Wailes, N. and Wright, C. F. (2016). International and comparative employment relations. 6th ed. Los Angeles: SAGE.

EuroDev. (2018). Hiring in France – What you need to know – EuroDev. [online] Available at: https://www.eurodev.com/hiring-in-france/ [Accessed 18 Oct. 2019].

Fantoni-Quinton, S. and Laflamme, A. M. (2017) ‘Medical selection upon hiring and the applicant’s right to lie about his health status: A comparative study of French and Quebec Law’, Alter – European Journal of Disability research, Revue européen de recherche sur le handicap, 11(2), pp. 85–98. doi: 10.1016/j.alter.2017.03.001.

Frenchlaw. (2019). Immigration & Visa Information in France. [online] Available at: http://www.frenchlaw.com/Immigration_Visas.htm [Accessed 15 Oct. 2019].

Gallot, F. (2016) ‘La Protection du Sexe Fort: Quand la France est Condamnee pour Discrimination (1988-91)’, Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, (Issue 3), p. 602.

Grange, J. (2019). [online] Uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com. Available at: https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/0-503-0054?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)&firstPage=true&bhcp=1 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2019].

Hargreaves, A. G. (2015) ‘Empty promises? Public policy against racial and ethnic discrimination in France’, French Politics, Culture and Society, (3), p. 95.

L&E Global Knowledge Centre. (2016). Hiring Practices in France – L&E Global Knowledge Centre. [online] Available at: https://knowledge.leglobal.org/hiring-practices-in-france/ [Accessed 13 Oct. 2019].

Laurent, T. and Mihoubi, F. (2012) ‘Sexual Orientation and Wage Discrimination in France: The Hidden Side of the Rainbow’, Journal of Labor Research, 33(4), pp. 487–527.

Mercat-Bruns, M. (2015) ‘Age and Disability Differential Treatment in France – Contrasting EU and National Court’s Approaches to the Inner Limits of Anti-Discrimination Law’, International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, (Issue 1-2), p. 62.

OECD. (2019). OECD Employment Outlook 2019: The Future of Work. OECD Employment Outlook 2019. [online] OECD. Available at: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/9ee00155-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/9ee00155-en [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

Ripmeester, N. (2018). Recruiting in France – Expat Guide to France. [online] Expat Guide to France | Expatica. Available at: https://www.expatica.com/fr/employment/employment-basics/faqs-on-recruiting-in-france-101292/ [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

Statista. (2019). France: youth unemployment rate 2006-2018 | Statista. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/460548/youth-unemployment-rate-france/ [Accessed 15 Oct. 2019].