France was given a second chance to pass a strong law to protect witnesses in the workplace from retaliation. Though receiving public praise, new legislation passed earlier this month does little to advance whistleblower protections in a country practically synonymous with human rights.
The Law to Improve Whistleblower Protection (Law visant à améliorer la protection des lanceurs d’alerte) gives no additional authority to the French public agency in charge of protecting whistleblowers. The Defender of Rights (Défenseur des droits) is only able to recommend that an employee be protected from retaliation or reinstated if they are dismissed. The agency cannot order protection, reinstatement or compensation. These decisions are left to the courts, where victimized employees typically face long and expensive legal battles with uncertain outcomes. The new law, which updates a 2016 law known as “Sapin II,” maintains this status quo.
The highest-ranking independent constitutional authority in France, the Defender of Rights said in December 2019 that it had issued “repeated warnings on the weaknesses of the French [whistleblower] system.” The agency urged officials to pass a new law stronger than the 2019 EU Directive on whistleblower protection: “the Government [should] not content itself with a strict transposition of the Directive, but go further.”
While heading the Defender of Rights in 2019, Jacques Toubon said a “great deal more clarity [is needed] in order to keep...
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