Suffering at Work

Suffering at work is a recurrent and important theme, both because of the need to prevent it by all means and by the seriousness of its consequences when it can not be prevented.

Obligation for employer to prevent suffering at work

Multiple tools, at the individual and collective levels, have been implemented to try to avoid suffering at work by all means.

Collective means of prevention through staff representatives

It is up to the employer to lay down the rules for anticipating and preventing psychosocial risks within the company, in particular through:

* Rules of procedure: this is a mandatory document in companies with more than 20 employees. It must recall the prohibition of harassment acts and the penalties provided for by law. 

* Single risk assessment document: the employer must update it annually by assessing the risks of each factor and considering possible measures to prevent these risks from occurring. 

The legislator has chosen to give an important role to the staff representatives in order to try to avoid any feeling of malaise at work. Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee, also has an important role in prevention. In addition to the search for improvement measures in the prevention of occupational risks, it proposes prevention and awareness-raising measures, particularly in the area of ​​harassment.

An obligation of individual prevention

The first obligation of the employer, in order to avoid any risk to the health of his employee, is to ensure compliance with information and prevention visits, the medical examination of aptitude within the framework of the strengthened medical follow-up (and periodic renewal), and recovery visits.

The purpose of the information and prevention visit and periodic visits is to:

* to question the employee about his state of health;

* to inform him of the possible risks posed by his workstation;

* to raise awareness of the prevention means;

* to identify whether his or her health or the risks to which he is exposed require referral to the occupational physician;

* to inform him of the possibility to benefit from a visit at his request with the occupational physician.

In the case of malaise at work, these visits allow the healthcare professional to refer the employee to the occupational physician.

It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that the employee is not overworked, which could result in burn-out. That is why, in the case of lump sum agreements in days, Labor Code provides that the employer regularly ensures that the workload of the employee is reasonable and allows a good distribution over time from his work.

Suffering at work: recourse available to the employee

Above all, means open on an individual basis

Except in the case of pathogenic management, work-related malaise is most often directed to a single employee.

In this case, it is up to the latter to have his difficulties acknowledged in order to make his health easier. It is important to record these problems in writing: in case of disputes, these letters or emails will be important for the employee. The employer must prove that he has responded.

Today, burn-out or malaise has not yet been recognized as likely to be classified as an occupational disease in one of the occupational diseases tables.

Good to know: burn-out is recognized as an occupational disease "off-table". This recognition allows employees' rights to be increased, but above all to make employers financially contributory, through the contributions "occupational disease-related accidents".

Accidents at work that reflect specific events that have given rise to health problems can be more easily recognized. They must have occurred at the time and place of work. This is the case, for example, of a verbal aggression by a colleague against another, resulting in discomfort for the latter, which will be recognized as having occurred at the time and place of work. These events are important because they will make it possible to have a possible procedure of dismissal for incapacity as being of professional origin.

As a last resort, the employee may apply to the Labor Court to obtain a judicial termination of his employment contract on the grounds that the employer has breached his security obligation.

The employer is bound by a duty of safety to his employees (he must take all measures to ensure the safety and the physical and mental health of his employees: prevention, information, adapted means, etc.). This obligation was previously an obligation of result (the responsibility of the employer could not be excluded). The Court of Cassation decides that the employer's liability could be rejected in respect of psychological harassment if he justified taking immediate measures to put an end to the harassment and the necessary measures prevention (information and training). The result security obligation thus slips towards a medium security obligation.

The employee may also take note of the employment contract termination but this action is more risky: the employee is then deprived of the rights to unemployment as long as the Labour Court has not considered that the act is justified.

Possible actions at the collective level

In this context, the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee also has a specific role. The employee representative on the health, safety and working conditions committee who finds that a serious and imminent danger exists, in particular through a worker, immediately alerts the employer. If the employer does not react, this may give rise to an industrial action following this "right of alert".

The employer may ask to stop conduct or request an investigation in the case of bullying.