The Défenseur des Droits published on February 5, 2025 a framework decision confirming that employers are not required to conduct an internal investigation unless they receive claims of discrimination or sexual harassment that require further investigations to take protective measures aiming to safeguard the employees’ health and safety. This decision follows the French Supreme Court’s recent ruling that absolved employers of liability for failing to implement an internal investigation of moral harassment claims.
The employer’s duty of care toward employees is a case law-based construction first affirmed by the Highest Judicial Court in the French legal system in a February 2022 ruling. In this decision, the French Supreme Court held that, by virtue of the employment agreement between the employer and the employee, the employer is under a duty to safeguard the employee’s health and safety, especially in relation to occupational diseases resulting from products manufactured or used by the company. This decision was initially aimed for risks related to asbestos.
Since then, the employer’s obligation to protect the employees’ health and safety has been applied to all aspects of the employer-employee relationship where the employees could be exposed to risks of harm to their mental and physical health.
Under article L. 4121-1 of the French labor code, the employer is, in particular, required to take necessary measures to guarantee the workers’ safety and protect their mental...
Akon made headlines last week over claims that his Akon City project had been abandoned by the Senegalese government. Speaking with Philadelphia media personality Mina Saywhat on the Minas' House ...