“We should be more coercive.” Olivier Dussopt did not mince his words when discussing companies and the employment of older employees. If the government already plans to impose the publication of an “index” on them, the Minister of Labor has driven the point home by evoking financial penalties if they do not publish this index. “We can have in mind that (…) some companies would not play the game so much that it would be necessary to be more coercive”, judged on France Inter Olivier Dussopt.
As part of this project, the government plans to require a large number of companies to publish a “senior index” which reflects their situation in terms of employment of older workers. This measure would be immediately mandatory for groups of more than 1,000 employees, then from 2024 for those of more than 300 employees. The government is thinking of eventually extending this constraint to companies with more than 50 or 60 employees, an objective confirmed on Saturday by Mr. Dussopt without further details. The measure thus provides for the financial sanctioning of the companies concerned which do not publish this index, and which do not engage in wage negotiations on the subject, as Elisabeth Borne announced on Thursday on France 2.
“Sanctions have never demonstrated their effectiveness” for Ciotti
“(If) a company which must publish the index does not do so, there will be a financial penalty (…) of approximately 1% of the payroll”, announced the minister, while the exact amount of the penalties remained unclear until now. However, as the text currently stands, there is no sanction provided for a company that does not make real progress on the issue over the years. “In this case, if when we take the second index measurement, we see that there has been no progress or worse that there is a deterioration, we have to find a way that is a little more coercive. “warned Mr. Dussopt.
Éric Ciotti, the president of the Republicans whose vote will weigh heavily in the balance, believes on the contrary that “the sanctions have never demonstrated their effectiveness”. In an interview to read in our columns this Saturday, the right-wing leader pleads for a reduction in contributions for the employment of seniors.
For Éric Ciotti, “we have to trust companies and encourage them to improve the employment of seniors”. It “proposes a major tripartite conference between the State, union officials and employer officials to define the framework of a major policy to revive employment for seniors”. In his balance of power with the government, Mr. Ciotti also says he is “very confident” in LR’s ability to “obtain satisfaction” on the “essential point” of long careers.