If a worksite has to be stopped or suspended due to hot weather, your employees can now benefit from financial compensation. This measure, which affects thousands of employees in the building and civil engineering sector, is the result of a decree published on June 28. The decree provides for the payment of compensation to workers in the event of an orange or red heatwave alert.
A specific "unemployment in bad weather" scheme for building industry employers and their employees
In the building and civil engineering sector, an employer may decide to suspend a worksite due to bad weather, when this makes it dangerous or impossible to carry out the work. Bad weather includes periods of snow, ice, rain, strong winds and flooding.
Under the unemployment scheme, the employer or his representative on the site, after consulting the social and economic committee (CSE), must set up a work stoppage. He must check that employees meet the conditions for entitlement to unemployment benefits (having worked 200 hours during the last 2 months in a construction company). The declaration of work stoppage and request for reimbursement of indemnities paid to employees must be sent to the paid leave fund within one month of the date of resumption of work. This date is decided by the employer or the project manager's representative on site.
During periods of unemployment, employees also have obligations. In particular, they must remain at the company's disposal throughout the period of site inactivity. Employees may lose their compensation if they refuse to carry out work requested by the company when it can be done during the period of bad weather. For example, some work can be carried out in the workshop or office. When a work stoppage has been declared, employees are informed of the resumption date by a notice posted at the company's head office, office or at the entrance to the worksite.
Compensation paid during heatwaves
Following the publication of a decree on June 28, 2024, heatwaves are now included among the weather conditions giving entitlement to the specific unemployment-weather scheme. Until now, this coverage, instituted by the law of October 21, 1946 to limit the costs associated with work stoppages, only applied in the event of snow, frost, ice, rain or strong winds. The long-awaited measure is the result of work carried out by building trade organizations (CAPEB, SCOP, FFB, FNTP), the Ministry of Labor and the public authorities.
In detail, the employer will be able to suspend his worksite under one of the following conditions:
- An orange or red heatwave alert has been issued;
- A prefectoral decree is published in the department concerned.
The compensation scheme will be managed by the Congés intempéries BTP network, which comprises 13 funds. Reimbursement will be made in two stages: application of a reimbursement coefficient not exceeding 80%; adjustment of the final reimbursement on March 31 of the following year.
"It's really good that we're adapting to today's climate": compensation for construction companies in the event of a heatwavehttps://t.co/Ao7i7wsxpP
- franceinfo (@franceinfo) July 16, 2024