Great Disorder Under the Heavens: Is the Situation Excellent? The Proposed Reform of the Code Civil and the Control of Unfair Terms in Employment Contracts

Abstract

The proposed reform of the French law of obligations introduces a general remedy against “significantly imbalanced” which would apply, inter alia, to employment (and quasi-employment) contracts. The proposed rule looks very much like an terms rule such as the one existing in consumer law. Is this novelty going to have a revolutionary impact on the judicial control of labour contracts? The paper examines control mechanisms already in place in French labour laws and the news rules using the established model of (consumer law) unfair control as tertium comparationis. On this basis, it is possible to gain some insight into the way the new rules may impact labour law adjudication.