Employment law

Employment issues play a decisive role in business transfers, restructurings and acquisitions. They are also central to corporate transactions affecting the governance, organisation or balance of the company. A poor grasp of employment commitments or Employment Tribunal risks can weaken a company's valuation and call into question the balance of a transaction.

Bruzzo Dubucq therefore works alongside executives and shareholders from the preparatory phase of transactions. The firm carries out in-depth employment audits to identify existing risks: review of collective commitments, analysis of employment contracts, assessment of Employment Tribunal liabilities and examination of internal practices that could give rise to the company's liability.

This analysis is part of a transactional approach. The firm's lawyers assist their clients in the legal structuring of transactions, the integration of employment risks into the contractual documentation and the implementation of information and consultation procedures with staff representative bodies at every level of the organisation.

The firm also advises on management packages, in connection with issues of governance, employment status, the departure of beneficiary executives or managers, and securing the arrangements put in place as part of equity transactions or capital reorganisations.

The firm supports employers in the day-to-day employment management of the company, from hiring to termination of the employment contract. This practice is a central focus of our work.

We assist our clients in drafting and securing employment contracts, changes in duties, managing probationary periods, disciplinary procedures, mutually agreed terminations (ruptures conventionnelles), dismissals, negotiated departures and, more broadly, all sensitive individual situations.

We also help structure internal practices and HR management tools: drafting charters, internal memos and policies, regulating remote working, monitoring working time, setting up and securing annual days-based working arrangements (forfaits jours), monitoring workload, organising working time and handling the recurring employment issues in the life of the company.

Our aim is not only to deal with difficulties when they arise, but also to prevent employment risk by securing the company's practices upstream.

This support provides executives and HR teams with responsive, practical legal backing suited to the company's real-world challenges.

Certain internal situations require the employer to act quickly, methodically and within a legally secure framework: reports of harassment, discrimination, interpersonal conflicts, management difficulties, internal whistleblowing or alleged breaches of health and safety.

Bruzzo Dubucq assists employers in conducting internal investigations, from analysing the report to deciding on the action to be taken. The firm ensures that the methodology adopted, the interviews and the traceability of the investigation are secure, as is the interplay between the investigation, the employer's duty to ensure safety and any disciplinary or precautionary measures.

These matters call for an approach that is at once legal, human and strategic, enabling the company to handle sensitive situations rigorously while controlling its litigation and reputational risk.

These matters require a swift, rigorous and legally controlled response, enabling the employer to take appropriate measures while securing its position.

Employment litigation is a demanding arena of legal confrontation, where economic stakes, human tensions and reputational risks intertwine.

The firm's lawyers mainly represent companies and their executives before the Employment Tribunals (conseils de prud'hommes), the Judicial Courts (tribunaux judiciaires), in particular in cases of inexcusable employer fault (faute inexcusable), the civil and criminal courts, and in disputes over URSSAF (social security contributions agency) inspections and reassessments.

The firm mainly acts in individual disputes, as well as in certain collective or related disputes where the situation so requires.

The team regularly handles sensitive matters: termination disputes with high financial stakes, disputes concerning working time, overtime, days-based working arrangements, variable pay, harassment, discrimination, workplace accidents and occupational illnesses, contentious departures of employees or executives, and litigation following internal investigations or reorganisations.

In each of these matters, the approach remains true to the firm's litigation culture: a strategy defined upstream, in-depth analysis of the case and a constant pursuit of judicial effectiveness.

The firm also assists employers in their relations with staff representatives, in particular in connection with the functioning of the CSE (social and economic committee), information and consultation procedures and certain reorganisation projects.

While collective bargaining is not a central focus of its practice, the firm advises on collective matters where they form part of the company's practical needs.