The Executive Order of April 22nd, 2020 amends the conditions of partial activity by allowing, on the basis of a collective agreement, or in the absence of an agreement, after a favorable opinion from the Social and Economic Committee (“CSE”) or the works council, the partial activity of employees on an individual basis or according to a non-uniform distribution of hours worked or not.

The agreement or the document submitted for the opinion of the CSE or the works council shall determine in particular:

1° The skills identified as necessary for maintaining or taking over the activity of the company, establishment, department or workshop;

2° The objective criteria, related to the positions, functions occupied or professional qualifications and skills, justifying the appointment of employees who are maintained or placed in partial activity or who are subject to a different distribution of hours worked and not worked;

3° The procedure and periodicity, which may not be less than three months, according to which the criteria mentioned in 2° are periodically re-examined in order to take into account changes in the volume and conditions of activity of the company, if necessary, to amending the agreement or document;

4° The specific arrangements for reconciling the professional life and the personal and family life of the employees concerned;

5° The procedures used to inform the employees about the application of the agreement during its duration.

If the sum of the partial activity allowance and the additional allowance paid by the employer pursuant to a collective agreement or unilateral decision is higher than 3,15 times the hourly minimum wage, the part of the additional allowance paid in excess of this amount will be subject to social security contributions applicable to the income from activity.

In other words, when the partial activity allowance + the additional allowances paid by the employer exceed 3, 15 SMIC, then these additional allowances are subject to the social contributions applicable to the income from activity, but only for the part exceeding 3, 15 SMIC.

This rule applies to periods of activity as of May 1^st, 2020. Consequently, additional allowances paid before that date remain exempt regardless of their amount.

For employees having a lump sum agreement in hours and for those whose working hours are longer than the legal duration in application of an agreement or collective labor agreement, overtime is now taken into account to determine the number of non-worked hours compensated under partial activity.

Indeed, the working hours stipulated in the contract are taken into account instead of the legal working hours to determine the reduction in working hours pursuant to Article 5122-1 of the Labor Code.

For instance, an employee whose working time is contractually fixed at 37 hours per week with an hourly rate of 15 euros gross and who is in 100% partial activity could previously only claim compensation of : 35 hours x 70% x €15 = €367.5, whereas he/she can now claim 37 hours x 70% x €15 = €388.5.

Article 11 of the Executive Order sets out the extension of the time limits applicable to the procedure concerning the recognition of work accidents and occupational diseases, mentioned in Articles L. 411-1, L. 411-2 and L. 461-1 of the Social security code, for the duration of the state of health emergency.

With regard to accidents at work, the time limits are extended by:

• 24 hours for the declaration of the work accident by the victim,
• 3 days for the declaration of the accident by the employer to the CPAM,
• 2 days for the formulation of reservations to the CPAM,
• 10 days to answer the questionnaire on the circumstances or cause of the accident.

For occupational diseases, the following deadlines are extended by:

• 15 days for the declaration of the occupational disease by the victim to the CPAM,
• 2 months for declarations to the CPAM in the case of a revision or addition to the table of occupational diseases,
• 10 days to answer the questionnaire on the circumstances or cause of the accident,
• 20 days for the duration of making the file available within the framework of the procedure for the recognition of occupational diseases.

In the event of a relapse or new injuries, an additional period of 5 days is granted to reply to the questionnaire.

Finally, the time limits after which the CPAM decides to make a decision or to initiate additional investigations into the occupational nature of the accident or illness are extended until a date set by decree (and no later than October 1^st, 2020).

The decree of April 21st, 2020 extends the conditions for the prescription of derogatory work leave to parents of disabled children who are unable to telework. Thus, the age condition of 16 years is abolished for children with a disability.

In addition, the maximum period of validity of leave for vulnerable persons, initially 20 days, is extended to the duration of the measure of isolation, eviction or home support.

These derogatory work leave may now be established by local doctors.

The Executive Order of April 22^nd, 2020 provides for the possibility, by decree, to modify, for a temporary period, the time limits for consultations and expertise of the CSE concerning the employer’s decisions aimed at dealing with the economic, financial and social consequences of the spread of the covid-19 epidemic.