do you have the right not to go to work?

While a second day of strikes against the pension reform is scheduled for Tuesday, January 31, public transport will be largely disrupted. Which makes it difficult for employees to get to their jobs. Can they invoke the lack of transportation to keep them from moving?

A day heralded as hell. The call for a massive strike against pension reforms on Tuesday 31 January will be followed by representatives of RATP and SNCF. In their forecasts, the two organizations anticipate disrupted data traffic in their networks. This could prevent workers who want to use public transport from getting to work.

In order to be able to skip his working day in the event of a strike, there must be a case of force majeure.

This case of force majeure implies that the event is unforeseen, insurmountable and independent of a person’s will. It is therefore difficult to invoke it in a pre-announced mobilization.

What risk?

Anyone who, despite warnings from the strikers, did not go to work will face the deduction from wages. Barring a specific collective agreement, the boss is under no obligation to pay an absent employee, even in the event of a strike.

Disciplinary proceedings for serious misconduct can be initiated by the employer in the case of repeated absences, but such proceedings are unlikely to end up in the labor court in the event of a strike. In this case, evidence and press clippings issued by RATP may constitute evidence of your good faith.

Which solutions?

In order to avoid trouble, it is always possible to request a day off in the form of RTT or a day off, in agreement with the employer, who, however, cannot impose it on his employee.

Exceptionally, the employer may also offer teleworking or the opportunity to work from premises closer to home. The “enforceable right” to telework created by work orders can also allow workers “not to suffer too much from the strike movement”.

If the employer now refuses to telework one of his employees, he must “justify his reaction”. While this possibility should have been provided for in the employment contract or in an addendum, today telework is implemented through a collective agreement or articles of association and can even be formalized “by any means” by the worker and employer if practiced on an “occasional” basis. In order not to be surprised, some users go mobile and resort to carpooling.

Also, some employers are more accommodating than others. In order to avoid deductions from wages, it is also possible, in consultation with your supervisor, to compensate for your absence or tardiness by making up for the lost hours before or after your working day or on Saturdays.