Respecting Workers' Rights: Employer's Obligations

In France, respect for workers' rights constitutes the foundation of any lawful employment relationship. Whether it is a small business with five employees or a group with thousands of collaborators, the employer is subject to a precise set of obligations, arising from the Labor Code, European law and social jurisprudence. Failure to comply with these rules exposes the company to substantial civil and criminal sanctions, not to mention reputational impact. This article reviews the main categories of employer obligations — contract formalization, workplace safety, non-discrimination, training, privacy — and shows how compliant digital tools, notably electronic signature in business, concretely contribute to their compliance.

Formalization of the Employment Contract: A Foundational Act

The employment contract is the first concrete manifestation of the employee's rights. Although there is no general obligation to draw up a written contract for a full-time permanent contract (the law accepts verbal contracts), practice and European law impose increasing obligations.

What the European Directive on Transparent Working Conditions Requires

Directive (EU) 2019/1152, transposed into French law by Ordinance No. 2022-1389 of November 1, 2022, requires the employer to provide the employee, no later than the seventh calendar day following the start of the employment relationship, with a written document containing at minimum: the identity of the parties, the workplace, the job title or nature, the start date, duration and conditions of leave, remuneration, normal working hours, applicable collective agreements and procedures in case of dismissal. For fixed-term contracts, part-time permanent contracts, temporary agency contracts and seasonal contracts, writing remains mandatory from the outset.

This transparency obligation makes rapid and traceable signature process essential. This is precisely the contribution of electronic signature for HR, which allows distribution and signature of a compliant contract within minutes, with certified timestamp.

Mandatory Provisions and Regulated Clauses

Certain clauses require particular formality to be enforceable: the non-compete clause (mandatory financial consideration), the mobility clause (precise geographical scope), the trial period (maximum legal duration according to professional category). In the absence of writing or in case of deficient drafting, the employee may claim nullity of the clause, or even requalification of the contract.

Workplace Safety, Health and Conditions

Article L. 4121-1 of the Labor Code imposes on the employer a reinforced safety obligation with a result guarantee: it must take the necessary measures to ensure safety and protect the physical and mental health of workers. This obligation is broken down into nine general prevention principles (art. L. 4121-2).

The Document on Evaluation of Professional Risks (DUERP)

Any company, from the first employee, must establish and keep up to date a DUERP. Since the Workplace Health Law of August 2, 2021 (Law No. 2021-1018), companies with at least 11 employees must retain successive versions of the DUERP for 40 years and file it on a digital portal managed by skills operators (OPCO) from July 2023 onwards. Failure to establish the DUERP is subject to a fifth-class fine (€1,500 per unassessed work unit).

Psychosocial Risks and Harassment

The employer must implement prevention actions for psychosocial risks (PSR), notably moral harassment (art. L. 1152-4) and sexual harassment (art. L. 1153-5). In companies with at least 250 employees, the appointment of a sexual harassment referent has been mandatory since January 1, 2019. Failures to prevent harassment may result in the employer being condemned even if they are not the direct author of the facts (Cass. soc., June 21, 2006, No. 05-43.914).

Non-Discrimination and Professional Equality

The Labor Code (art. L. 1132-1) prohibits any discrimination based on 25 criteria, including origin, sex, religious beliefs, health status, disability or sexual orientation. The Law of September 5, 2018 for freedom to choose one's professional future added the obligation to publish an Index of Professional Equality for companies with at least 50 employees.

The Gender Equality Index

Calculated out of 100 points, this index measures five indicators: the remuneration gap, the gap in individual raise rates, the gap in promotion rates (for companies with more than 250 employees), the percentage of female employees who received a raise upon return from maternity leave, and parity among the ten highest compensated employees. A score below 75 points requires the company to define corrective measures under penalty of financial penalties that may reach 1% of the payroll.

Obligations Towards Workers with Disabilities

Any company with at least 20 employees is subject to the obligation to employ workers with disabilities (OETH) at the rate of 6% of its workforce. Non-compliance with this rate results in a contribution to URSSAF for the Agefiph, the amount of which can reach 1,500 times the minimum hourly wage per missing beneficiary.

Professional Training and Skills Development

The training obligation is twofold: the employer must ensure the employee's adaptation to their position (art. L. 6321-1) and ensure the maintenance of their ability to hold a job. The Court of Cassation regularly sanctions employers who dismiss an employee without having ensured their continued training (Cass. soc., October 23, 2019, No. 18-16.539).

The Professional Interview: A Mandatory Milestone

Since the Law of March 5, 2014, every employee must benefit from a professional interview every two years, separate from the performance appraisal interview. Every six years, this interview must provide a comprehensive overview of the employee's career path. In case of failure in companies with at least 50 employees, the employer must contribute €3,000 to the employee's Personal Training Account (CPF).

Financing and Mutualization via OPCO

Companies finance training through a contribution to their OPCO (0.55% of payroll for companies with fewer than 11 employees, 1% beyond). Models of professional training contracts can be generated and signed electronically thanks to the AI-powered contract generator, which reduces administrative delays and guarantees documentary compliance.

Protection of Employee's Privacy and Personal Data

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, No. 2016/679) applies fully to employee data. The employer, as the controller, must comply with the principles of lawfulness, minimization, storage limitation and security. The CNIL published specific recommendations in 2023 on employee surveillance in telework, emphasizing the prohibition of permanent surveillance software.

Processing Register and Employee Rights

Employees have rights of access, rectification and opposition regarding their data. The employer must inform employees of each processing through an information notice (generally attached to the contract or internal regulations). The processing activities register must list all HR processing: payroll, absence management, badging, video surveillance, etc.

Documentary Traceability and Digital Compliance

The dematerialization of HR documents — electronic payslips (art. L. 3243-2), contracts signed online, amendments — raises issues of proof and integrity. To be enforceable, an electronically signed document must meet the requirements of the eIDAS regulation and the Civil Code. The comprehensive guide to electronic signature details the levels of signature (simple, advanced, qualified) and their scope of application in labor law. In particular, it is appropriate to use an advanced or qualified signature for high-stakes contracts, in accordance with eIDAS 2.0 regulation.

Legal Framework Applicable to Employer's Obligations

The employer's obligations with respect to workers' rights are organized around a dense normative corpus, both national and European.

French Labor Code

• Art. L. 4121-1 to L. 4121-3: general safety obligation and prevention principles.

• Art. L. 1132-1: prohibition of discrimination on 25 criteria.

• Art. L. 6321-1: obligation of adaptation and training.

• Art. L. 3243-2: provision of electronic payslip.

• Art. L. 1152-4 and L. 1153-5: prevention of moral and sexual harassment.

European Law

• Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of June 20, 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions, transposed by Ordinance No. 2022-1389.

• Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR): protection of employees' personal data, applicable since May 25, 2018.

• Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014 (eIDAS) and its successor eIDAS 2.0 (EU Regulation 2024/1183): legal value of electronic signatures for contractual documents.

• Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (NIS2): applicable to companies that are operators of essential or important significance, with cybersecurity obligations affecting HR systems.

Evidentiary Value of Dematerialized Documents

• Art. 1366 of the Civil Code: electronic writing has the same evidentiary value as paper writing subject to identification of the author and integrity.

• Art. 1367 of the Civil Code: electronic signature consists of the use of a reliable process of identification guaranteeing the link with the act to which it is attached.

• ETSI EN 319 132-1 standard: technical specifications for advanced electronic signatures in XAdES format, applicable to employment contracts signed digitally.

Legal Risks in Case of Non-Compliance Sanctions are multiple: administrative fines (up to 4% of global revenue for GDPR violations), Agefiph financial penalties (OETH), forced CPF contributions, damages for compensation of loss suffered by the employee, or even criminal sanctions for harassment or discrimination (up to 3 years' imprisonment and €45,000 fine). On the contractual level, an employment contract not compliant with the requirements of Directive 2019/1152 exposes the employer to requalification or nullity of disputed clauses, with direct financial consequences in case of labor dispute litigation.

Concrete Use Scenarios

Scenario 1: An Industrial SME Dematerializes Its Hiring Contracts

An industrial SME of approximately 180 employees, subject to high seasonal turnover (40 to 60 fixed-term contracts per year), encountered recurring difficulties: signature delays exceeding 5 business days, lost contracts, inability to meet the 7-day deadline imposed by Directive 2019/1152. By deploying an advanced electronic signature solution compliant with eIDAS integrated into its HRIS, the company reduced the average signature time to less than 4 hours, eliminated mail shipments and created a timestamped archive accessible in case of labor litigation. The rate of documentary non-compliance dropped from 18% to less than 2% in one year, according to the internal report from the HR department.

Scenario 2: A Consulting Firm Secures Its Amendments and Sensitive Clauses

A strategy consulting firm with about sixty consultants with high international mobility had to regularly have amendments to mobility clauses and non-compete clauses signed. These high-stakes documents require advanced signature to be enforceable. By adopting an electronic signature tool with enhanced identity verification (advanced eIDAS level), the firm was able to demonstrate in a labor dispute the authenticity and integrity of a disputed amendment, thanks to the certified audit trail. The legal risk related to signature contestation was significantly reduced, and legal teams saved approximately 30% of the time spent on contractual document management.

Scenario 3: A Healthcare Network Structures the Traceability of Its Training Obligations

An intermediate-sized healthcare group (approximately 600 employees across several sites) had to prove, in case of DREETS inspection or litigation, that each employee had indeed benefited from their biennial professional interview and mandatory regulatory training. By digitizing professional interview reports and training certificates via an electronic signature platform connected to its LMS, the group created a complete dematerialized employee file. During a labor inspection check, all documentary evidence could be produced in less than two hours, compared to several days in paper format. The risk of forced CPF contributions (€3,000 per untrained employee) was entirely mitigated.

Conclusion

Respect for workers' rights is a permanent legal obligation that engages the employer's civil, criminal and administrative liability. From the formalization of the employment contract to the protection of personal data, through the prevention of professional risks, equal treatment and continued training, each dimension requires rigor and documentary traceability. Dematerialization of HR processes — provided it is implemented with eIDAS-compliant tools — is a powerful lever to guarantee this compliance while gaining operational efficiency.

Certyneo supports HR and legal teams in securing their contractual documents through advanced electronic signature, compliant with the eIDAS regulation and GDPR. Discover our HR-dedicated features or calculate the ROI of your dematerialization right now.