“It was already mission impossible even before the first wave of Covid”, reacted Monday January 3 on franceinfo Gérald Le Corre, CGT representative of the Ministry of Labor and labor inspectors, while the government has promised a strengthening of teleworking controls from Monday. He noted an already tense situation for labor inspectors, “we have 1000 companies to control, we cannot be in the oven and in the mill”. According to him, the creation of a new sanction for companies that do not play the game is however good news. “The government finally recognizes that the Labor Code is not sufficiently applied”, he said, specifying that solutions “already exist”.
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franceinfo: The government promises a 25% increase in controls in January compared to December. Do you have the means to carry out these checks?
Gerald Le Corre: For several years now, we have not had the means to do the minimum that labor inspectors should do. We arrive at figures which are staggering, that is to say, an inspector for almost a thousand companies. Obviously, we have companies of all activities, of all sizes, ranging from the baker with an apprentice to the multinational with several thousand employees. When you have 1,000 companies to control, it was already mission impossible even before the first wave of Covid.
“We can always reorient the activity, but the Covid adds to a situation in the world of work which is already disastrous.”
Gérald Le Corre, CGT representative of the Ministry of Labor and labor inspectorsto franceinfo
There are risks that persist, such as asbestos, the risk of falls from heights, psychosocial risks that persist, suicide attempts in a company, etc. The minister from her ivory tower asks the control officers to be on all fronts, but at some point, we cannot be in the oven and in the mill.
A fine of 1,000 euros per employee will be created for companies that do not respect the rules. Is this going in the right direction?
What is going in the right direction is that the government finally recognizes that the Labor Code is not sufficiently applied and that its regulations are insufficient. We have been talking about the national protocol in business for almost two years, which the Council of State has recognized as not binding. Today, at the heart of the fifth wave, the government realizes that the Labor Code is insufficiently strong, especially in terms of penalties.
“The system of administrative fines already exists in certain areas, it will be extended but it will be a real gas factory.”
Gerald Le Correto franceinfo
First, there will be a first check by the inspector who must see if the position is teleworkable and if the employee who is not teleworking is exposed to a dangerous situation. After an exchange with the employer, he can be put on formal notice. A new check is then carried out to see if the employer has made arrangements, and this may lead to a proposal for an administrative penalty, which will be dealt with at the regional level. There will also be a possible recourse system. In short, in the best situation, it would take three or four months for this device to be effective.
What do you think should have been done?
There are already solutions, in particular on exposure to asbestos, falls from a height or electrical risks that may apply to Covid. This is called suspension of activity. The labor inspector can make a decision within 10 or 15 minutes after observing a dangerous situation of exposure to Covid risks on a teleworking workstation. He takes the decision to temporarily suspend an activity, for example a platform on a teleoperator company. From there, everything goes very quickly. The company will find the resources to implement teleworking.