DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN LABOR RELATIONS: LEGAL REGULATION ON THE EXAMPLE OF FRANCE

Abstract

The article discusses some aspects of the use of digital technologies by an employer in French practice, substantiates the relevance of their application. The author focuses on French legal regulation, since it is in France that labor law plays an important role in the system of legal relations. Trends in the use of document management system and e-mail, for example, for the purpose of dismissal of employees, are noted, nuances regarding the reasons for dismissal and procedural aspects are considered. It is concluded that the dismissal depends on the employee’s call for a preliminary conversation with the employer and on a written notification of the reasons for the dismissal. The position of the French courts on the possibility of notifying an employee by sending a letter by e-mail is analyzed, according to which the illegality of dismissal does not come from the format of sending a notification, but from the reasons for dismissal. In addition, the author analyzes judicial practice on proving the actual time worked by an employee using digital technologies, describes the advantages of an employer over an employee in such disputes. It is noted that cases involving the transfer of corporate information by an employee via his personal or corporate mail are of rather great importance, as well as the fact that the courts in France take into account the totality of circumstances in which an employee transmitted this or that information related to official by corporate or personal e-mail. In particular, special attention is paid to the employer’s failure to provide evidence of «imminent damage» or «obvious illegal actions» on the part of the employee.