What we do

Drafting employment contracts

We provide you with assistance in drafting the clauses of your employee’s contracts to correspond to the company’s remuneration policy (objectives, bonuses and variable salaries), the need to protect its interests (non-compete, non-poaching, inventions) and flexibility requirements (mobility, working time) by taking into account the specific features of the business sector.

• Drafting template permanent and fixed-term contracts
• Revising and updating clauses in existing contracts
• Drafting guidelines on using contracts

Employment due diligence, acquisitions and sales of companies

Our experience in business law and our network enable us to efficiently and pragmatically grasp the employment aspects of M&A operations, including due diligence and the vendor’s guarantee to pay for unrecorded or contingent debts or liabilities, consulting the staff representative bodies and harmonizing the employees’ status.

• Compliance audits
• Acquisition due diligence, vendor due diligence, drafting the clauses of agreements and the guarantee to pay for unrecorded or contingent debts or liabilities
• Studying the employment impact on individual and collective status
• Providing assistance throughout the staff representative consultation process (drafting documents required by Book II of the Labour Code)
• Providing assistance in harmonizing the employees’ status after restructurings and mergers
• Providing assistance in the scope of transfers of undertakings and outsourcing (challenging the employees’ collective status, future of the staff representative bodies, employee savings measures, social cover schemes, etc.)

Working time organization

By taking into account the considerable risks of litigation (unpaid overtime, health issues, right to disconnect from IT device, etc.) in a complex and vastly reformed area over recent years, we can show you how to adapt working time arrangements to improve your company’s organization and productivity:

• Revising working time agreements
• Implementing working time agreements
• Implementing new methods for calculating working time (packages)
• Optimizing the overtime system, time off in lieu, implementing individualized working hours and changing working hours
• On-call time, Sunday work, night work

Optimizing remuneration

We are familiar with the taxation and social security law constraints in a period where increased constraints are being laid down by the labour authorities and we provide assistance to managers and companies in your projects relating to optimizing remuneration with the objective of reconciling the company’s interest and employees’ motivation.

1. Individual remuneration

• Implementing a remuneration policy adapted to the company
• Implementing variable salaries, bonuses and benefits in kind
• Providing assistance with amending remuneration methods
• Optimizing individual remuneration from a tax and social security standpoint

2. Collective and deferred remuneration

• Implementing and monitoring collective remuneration schemes: mandatory profit-sharing schemes, optional profit-sharing schemes and employee savings plans (company savings plans, collective pension plans)
• Implementing adapted employee shareholding plans (share purchase or subscription plans, stock warrants)
• Implementing and monitoring deferred remuneration (collective retirement plans) and, in general, complementary disability and life insurance plans
• Providing representation in the scope of related litigation, in particular before the social security authorities and the social security tribunals.

Pensions, social security and employee benefits

Our expertise relating to pension plans and disability and life assurance plans enables us to provide assistance to companies and their employees in order to organize and optimize taking retirement, implement adapted complementary pension plans and disability and life insurance plans (collective pension plans, Art. 39, 82, 83, gradual retirement), help employees obtain their pension benefits (formalities and checks) and define a strategy taking into account the available opportunities (purchasing quarters, combining employment and retirement).

Regulated state-owned companies

At a time when these companies are undergoing in-depth reforms and are now open to competition, we advise regulated state-owned companies (in particular, transport companies) on employment matters (employment contracts, dismissals, collective relations) by taking into account their status and regulations, corporate culture and the need to protect the company’s interests (protection of expertise and competition).

Consultation and negotiation with works councils and trade unions

Given the new judicial arsenal on staff representation and changes to collective negotiations encouraging the rapid increase in collective bargaining agreements at company level, we provide our clients with expert assistance in:

• Defining the framework for implementing staff representative bodies (staff delegates, works council, central works council, sole staff representative body, economic and social unit, group works council, European works council)
• Organizing elections (timetable for the election process, drafting documents relating to the election process)
• Preventing and dealing with any litigation related to elections
• Preparing meetings, defining the staff representative bodies’ areas of jurisdiction
• Facilitating dialogue between the employer and staff representative bodies and collective negotiations
• Implementing collective company agreements
• Applying codes of conduct and warning policies

Managing individual employment relations

We are aware of the risks of litigation facing entrepreneurs and their objective to find concerted and profitable solutions for the company. We help employers make use of their powers relating to running and managing the company.

1. Designing the status of key individuals

• Defining the best package and contractual relations for individuals who are both corporate officers and employees
• Adapting standard provisions to key employees (e.g., exclusivity obligation, mobility clause, non-compete obligations, etc.)

2. Disciplinary law

• Implementing disciplinary procedures
• Drafting warnings and dismissal letters

3. Terminating employment contracts (dismissal on personal grounds, collective redundancies, termination by mutual consent between the employer and the employee, retirement)

• Calculating costs
• Reverse scheduling
• Providing assistance with the implementation of the termination procedure
• Drafting the documents required

4. Negotiating settlement agreements

• Providing assistance with negotiations based on the estimated risks before the Employment Tribunal

• Drafting settlement agreements

5. Handling protected employees (e.g., employee representatives)

Managing international mobility

We work with a network of reliable and well-proven professional correspondents. Given the concern to control the costs and risks relating to expatriation and secondment, we assist you with the management of your international mobility policy:

• Optimizing mobility from a tax and social security standpoint
• Optimizing remuneration (split payroll, expatriate bonus, employee savings and employee shareholding plans) and calculating the costs incurred
• Drafting secondment and expatriation riders
• Managing the social security aspects, implementing adapted social security cover and applying bilateral or multilateral social security treaties
• Monitoring immigration procedures: obtaining and renewing residence and work permits
• Managing returns from expatriation and secondment (providing assistance with negotiations and any litigation)

Managing health and safety issues

French employers are submitted to a strong obligation of result in terms of  health and safety at work. We assist you in:

• Implementing a risk prevention policy
• Working with the Health and Safety Committee, Occupational doctors and Labour administration
• Dealing with occupational disease and accidents at work
• Dealing with litigation in this respect

Restructuring, RIF and careers & skills management plans

Faced with business imperatives to deal with your economic difficulties and to safeguard your competitiveness, we assist you in the implementation and support of your restructuring and foster an encrypted and pragmatic approach.

• Assistance in the development of the strategy, quantifications of costs, fear of the economic situation of the company and the group
• Consideration of alternatives to social plans (cost reductions, partial unemployment, Forecast Management Employment and Skills, Voluntary Departure Plan)
• Drafting of all required documents (including Books II and I)
• Daily assistance in relations with all stakeholders (staff representatives, experts, labor administration, redeployment unit)

Employment and social security litigation

In an area of law where legal action has risen on an exponential scale, the lawyers at MGG Legal take into account the risks of litigation in their approach and aim to prevent disputes and optimise employment relations through negotiations. The experience, work and rigorous approach of our team enable us to defend your interests before the courts by applying an adapted court strategy:

1. Litigation before the Employment Tribunal
2. Litigation before the Administrative Courts

• Litigation relating to mass redundancies
• Litigation relating to dismissal authorizations of employee representatives

3. Litigation before the Civil Courts

• Litigation relating to elections
• Judicial challenge against trade union delegate appointments
• Recognition of an economic and social unit

4. Litigation relating to social security law

• Social security contribution adjustments
• Workplace accidents/work-related illnesses

Criminal employment law

The increase in offences and directors’ criminal liability relating to moral and sexual harassment, breach of employees’ privacy, and health and safety regulations in the workplace has led the lawyers at MGG Legal to develop training and advisory services specific to the early stages (in particular in relation to powers of attorney, drawing up professional risk assessment and prevention policies, managing subcontracting and preventing harassment) and to handle defense cases for companies and directors in the event where the risk occurs.

• Breaches of the law on working time
• Breaches of health and safety rules
• Moral and sexual harassment
• Illegal loaning of employees
• Undeclared work