CORONAVIRUS COVID-19: Update and information

2 Mar 2020

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On February 13, each Regional Health Agency was asked to activate the ORSAN REB plan in its region. The aim was to mobilize the healthcare system in preparation for any active circulation of the coronavirus on French territory.

For further information:

In the absence of specific measures taken by the French government, we recommend :

Provide for the repatriation of employees who are expatriated, seconded or traveling to areas affected by the Covid19 Coronavirus or likely to be affected in the near future.

If the employee is on secondment, or assigned abroad under a mobility clause as part of an assignment order of less than 3 months’ duration, which has not been contractualized by a rider, the employer may impose repatriation on the employee as part of the exercise of his or her managerial authority, giving sufficient notice where necessary.

If the employee is expatriated or assigned abroad for a specific period of time, as stipulated in his or her employment contract, repatriation will require the employee’s prior agreement. If repatriation is refused, the employer may not punish the employee.

Minimize employee travel in high-risk areas, in particular by using videoconferencing whenever possible.

Inform, raise awareness and train employees, with priority given to those likely to have been exposed or to be exposed to the Coronavirus 2019-nCoV (via posters, website, e-mails, information sessions, training sessions, etc.).

Telecommuting
“In exceptional circumstances, such as the threat of an epidemic, or in cases of force majeure, telecommuting may be considered as an adaptation of the workstation made necessary to ensure the continuity of the company’s activity and the protection of employees” (Article L 1222-11 of the French Labor Code).

Employers may ask employees returning from a high-risk area to remain at home for 14 days (the isolation period recommended by the health authorities).

Provide employees with personal protective equipment: disinfectant soap, hydro-alcohol solution, and, if necessary, protective masks for employees likely to contaminate their colleagues.

Ensure hygiene in the workplace (cleaning of surfaces likely to be contaminated).

Updating the DUER

Employers should consider updating their Document unique d’évaluation des risques (DUER) in line with observed work situations, and adopting or updating their Plan de Continuité d’Activité (PCA). Failure to draw up and update the DUER exposes the employer to a fine, as well as a conviction for inexcusable fault in the event of the risk being realized.

What reactions can employers expect from their employees?

Employees can exercise their right to withdraw, or, on an individual basis, their right to warn of serious and imminent danger.

Indeed, if an employee has reasonable cause to believe that his or her work situation presents a serious and imminent danger to life or health (e.g. being sent to a high-risk area, or observing a defect in the protection and prevention systems put in place by the employer), he or she can exercise the right to withdraw.

As part of their mandate, members of the CSE or the SSCT Commission may exercise their right to alert the company to serious and imminent danger.

In such cases, the employer must carry out an investigation.

Employees who suffer an accident at work or occupational disease, even though they or a staff representative on the social and economic committee had informed the employer of the risk (Article L. 4131-4 of the French Labor Code), are entitled to the benefit of inexcusable fault.

Consequences of the employee’s isolation ordered by the authorities

Decree no. 2020-73 of January 31, 2020, published in the Journal Officiel of February 1, sets out the derogatory conditions for granting cash health benefits issued by health insurance schemes for people subject to an isolation measure due to having been in contact with a person ill with the coronavirus or having stayed in an area affected by an epidemic outbreak of this same virus and in exposure conditions likely to transmit this disease.

Regional health agencies identify employees likely to have been exposed to the Coronavirus. The regional health agency doctor designated by the agency’s Director General issues them with a work stoppage notice, which is sent without delay to the insured person’s health insurance organization and to their employer.

Upon receipt of the notice, the employer immediately forwards the certificate to the insured’s health insurance organization.

The decree waives the waiting period, allowing daily benefits to be paid from the first day of sick leave.

These exceptional conditions will end two months after publication of this decree, i.e. on March 31.

When employees are off work, the employer must maintain their salary in addition to the IJSS.