In France, the legal working week is 35 hours (i.e., 1,607 hours per year) and applies to all salaried employees, regardless of the activity carried out and the type of employment agreement (indefinite term or fixed term). Over the years however more flexible working time arrangements have been introduced to increase the working time of employees. As a result, today more than half of full-time employees work more than 35 hours per week, particularly executives.
In M&A transactions, consideration of the financial impact and legal consequences of a violation of French rules governing working time, is one of the key points of the social audits carried out as part of the due diligence process on the company or business being sold. It is very rare, if not exceptional, not to discover multiple instances of non-compliance with the applicable regulations. From experience, the risks involved in this area are generally poorly understood, and often unknown.
This article highlights the main issues that are likely to arise during an audit on working time and the most common violations, many of which can have serious financial and criminal consequences.
How to calculate the legal working hours?
Legal working time is calculated on the basis of the time actually worked by the employee, which is defined by the labour code as « the time during which the employee is available to the employer and complies with his directives without being able to freely go about his/her personal...
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