FRANCE The

Overall Developments
Provisions on maternity, paternity and parental payment periods
and family leave in the Employment Act were also amended; these
amendments will take effect at the beginning of 2003. This
legislation was prepared at the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Health.
Working Time Act amended
Starting in early 2003, the Working Time Act will oblige employers
to organise part-time work for those employees who wish to take
part-time retirement. This will be achieved in accordance with the
employer and the employee, taking into account the needs of the
employee and the production and service activity of the employer.
Seamen’s Act amended
The “partial care leave” scheme set out in the Seamen’s Act, and
provisions under which seamen are entitled to take part-time
retirement in order to work on a part-time basis, will take effect at
the beginning of 2003. Provisions on partial care leave will amend
those provisions in the Seamen’s Act on family leave.
Partial care leave will be agreed between the employer and
employee. However, the employer has to agree to grant partial care
leave if the decrease in working time does not cause a serious threat
to the activities of the employer which cannot be rectified by a
reasonable rearrangement of work. In addition, the discontinuation
of partial care leave is subject to agreement. In the event of failure
to reach agreement, the employee is entitled to discontinue partial
care leave provided a justifiable reason is given – as required by the
law.
The proposal set out in the Seamen’s Hours of Work Act and the
Act on Hours of Work on Vessels Plying Finnish Domestic Routes
is closely linked to the amendment of social security legislation. The
regulation on income security during periods of unemployment will
be collated from various laws to make up the new Unemployment
Act. The proposed Unemployment Act was submitted to
Parliament on 13 September 2002. According to the new
regulations under the Act, the employer must try to organise parttime
work if the employee wishes to take part-time retirement. The
special conditions found in the maritime sector are such that parttime
retirement schemes and the reduction of working time for
partial care leave are often possible only if two part-time workers
share the work of one full time worker. For example, they could
work on alternate weeks and perform the work of one full-time
employee.
More information on the amendment is available on the Ministry of
Labour’s website:
http://www.mol.fi/
FRANCE
Better anticipation of redundancies
In an economic context in which company restructuring,
accompanied by redundancies, may be foreseen in 2003, the French
Government has decided to equip itself with the means to improve
its social, economic and territorial intervention in economic change.
Last October, the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Solidarity
set up the Viet Mission, named after its titular head. It will be the
role of this inter-departmental unit1 to co-ordinate state action and
to develop dispositions to improve the ability of ministries to
anticipate economic change.
The inter-departmental unit will be charged with observing
economic trends, both in the different territories and the various
occupational sectors, and detecting potential dangers and threats,
the vulnerability of a particular company, sector or territory. This
role of oversight has several objectives: to attempt to avoid a crisis
or prepare for it; to prepare mid- or long-term action; to create a
network of persons with whom developments can be discussed; and
to find solutions.
The Viet Mission reminds us of the legitimate role of the State in
sounding the alert and providing a concerted economic stimulus.
This is, however, a responsibility shared by all the parties concerned:
the State must work with companies, the social partners and the
regional and local actors.
Further specifications on the
accreditation of prior experience
With the appearance of accreditation of prior experience in the
“vocational training” strand of the social modernisation law of 17
January 2002, a new arrangement came into being. 2 A number of
decrees specified the details of its operation in 2002.
The modalities of implementation
The accreditation of prior experience is a new way of obtaining a
qualification which runs parallel to the traditional means of access
that are initial vocational training and continuous training. All
qualifications and titles of a vocational type are now wholly
accessible by way of accreditation of prior experience (titles and
qualifications delivered by the state, by parastatal or private bodies
and sectoral certificates of vocational qualification).
The period of working time required to provide evidence of
occupational experience is at least three years, whether that
experience is acquired in a paid or unpaid post or as a volunteer.
The occupational experience in question must be directly linked to
the nature of the qualifications being sought.
Specific modalities are laid down for access, through accreditation
of prior experience, to the qualifications granted by an
establishment of higher learning.
The accreditation procedure
An accreditation panel has the job of assessing and accrediting the
candidate’s experience, basing themselves on a diverse range of
evidence: the dossier presented by the candidate, an interview and, if
the rules of the particular qualification require it, an assessment in
the (real or reconstituted) work situation.
The panel pronounces on the extent of the accreditation and, in the
case of partial accreditation, specifies the nature of the additional
tests to be passed by the candidate. This further accreditation is
possible within a period of five years.
1 Which will bring together, alongside the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Solidarity, all the ministries concerned, and, in particular, the Ministry of Economy,
Finance and Industry.
2 See the article in the European Employment Observatory Review, Spring 2001.
10 Spring 2003 | European Employment Observatory Review