2023-07-05 17:51:40
Posted Jul 5, 2023, 5:51 PM
Coincidence of calendar, the National Assembly put online this Wednesday a bill directly linked to one of the causes of the violence triggered by the death of Nahel in Nanterre. The object of the text presented by the Renaissance deputy Marc Ferracci? Fight against discrimination in hiring, housing and access to public services from which young people in the neighborhoods in particular suffer. How ? By practicing individual or statistical tests.
Age, sex, place of residence, or even surname… “There is no sign that discrimination is decreasing significantly,” underlines Marc Ferracci. In the field of work alone, the 14th barometer published in 2021 by the Defender of Rights highlighted that more than one in three young people report having been a victim of it, compared to one in five people in the population as a whole.
The failure of 2018
In addition to the consequences in terms of personal resentment or social tensions, there is an economic cost. A 2016 study by France Stratégie estimated that eliminating discrimination in hiring would increase GDP by 4% to 14% over the long term. The legislative arsenal is not lacking, however, but it is in the implementation that it fails.
For Marc Ferracci, the solution involves the generalization of tests, statistical or individual. The former are generally practiced by researchers with bursts of fictitious CVs which differ on one criterion. They are not admitted as evidence but the publicity that can be made of them (“Name and shame” in English) does not leave companies indifferent. Evidenced by the exercise launched in 2018 by Muriel Pénicaud, when she was Minister of Labor, but remained without follow-up because based on a biased methodology. The individual tests them, because not fictitious, make it possible to establish a repairable damage with the penal law, but are very little practiced.
A public service placed under Matignon
How to generalize them? The bill, which learned from the failure of 2018, advocates the creation of a public service under the authority of Matignon. It would be the Interministerial Delegation for the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hatred (Dilcrah) in practice whose missions will be expanded. Any citizen could seize it to carry out an individual test and would be helped in the legal procedures according to the result.
For statistical tests on companies or public bodies – the program of which would be defined by the government – a committee of stakeholders would be established. It would include two deputies and two senators, qualified personalities and representatives of legal persons likely to be tested.
“Giving an effective right to reparation”
It is up to this committee to establish the test methodology and to propose whether or not to publish the results. The “Name & shame” would not be automatic: in the event of proven discrimination, the legal entity could avoid seeing its name in the media, as well as paying a fine, by establishing, through social dialogue in particular, a corrective plan . Provided it is deemed conclusive.
The objective, sums up Marc Ferracci, “is good for behavior to change and for it to be seen, and to give an effective right to compensation”. It is still necessary that the means follow to carry out as many individual tests as necessary. Everything will be decided during the discussion of the draft budget for 2024 in Parliament in the fall. The examination of Marc Ferracci’s text is envisaged for him in November, perhaps a little before.
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