When the mercury rises, the employees are put to the test. Can they stop the work and go back home?
France expects to hit it with a hot exceptional. The peaks of heat expected are they enough to lift the foot ?
There is no specific mention of the heat wave in the labour code. “There is nothing to state of a potential work stoppage in case of increase of the temperature,” says Patrick Brabant, lawyer. On the other hand, it is said that the employer must ensure the health and safety of employees at their place of work. In the case of heat, it is for the employer to install, for example, a ventilation, an air conditioning or water fountains.”
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the Right to a warning or removal
indeed, the labour code stipulates, in article L4131-1 that the worker can alert the employer in the case of a “work situation which he has reasonable grounds to believe presents a serious and imminent danger to his life or health” and can “withdraw from such a situation.”
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“In this case, the employee may exercise the right of withdrawal or alert,” says Patrick Brabant. But this definition does not set a specific threshold, maximum temperature and thus leaves the field open to the interpretation of the officer.
“I put all the same warn employees because the employer can judge that the temperature was bearable, and decide, in the case of departure of the employee, to perform a withholding on salary, without it being seen as a retaliatory measure,” says the lawyer.
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This article has been updated to the 24/06/2019. MB.
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Jurisprudence heatwave
Some sectors such as the building are more concerned. The court of appeal of Nancy has given an opinion favourable to employees in February 2010. “The case took place in 2003, the year of the heatwave,” says Patrick Brabant. An employee of a construction company who had worked more than five hours in full sun, had refused to continue without being protected. The court of appeal of Nancy has given him reason.” For the CONSTRUCTION sector, the employer must therefore provide a local for the home of employees in conditions that preserve their health and safety, or, failing that, the facilities in the construction site (article R. 4534-142-1 of the labour code).
This article has been updated to the 24/06/2019. MB.