France Implements Key Labor and Social Policy Updates in June 2025
France updates labor laws to enhance worker protections and equity in June 2025.
Key Points
- • New law expands labor group action to all employer obligations
- • Proposed law protects employees in parental projects
- • New CDI introduced for job seekers aged 60 and over
- • Gender equality index reform aligns with EU transparency directive
In June 2025, France introduced significant updates to its labor law and social policies aimed at enhancing protections for workers and ensuring equity in the workplace. A pivotal new law, enacted on April 30, broadens the scope for group actions in labor disputes, allowing unions and associations to pursue lawsuits against employers for a wider range of contractual obligations, not limited to discrimination. Employers are required to receive notifications of alleged violations and must engage in mediation before legal action can commence, with a six-month notification period before any lawsuit is filed (2857).
Additionally, a proposed law adopted by the National Assembly on May 5, 2025, seeks to safeguard employees involved in parental projects, such as assisted procreation and adoption. This legislation ensures these employees receive protections similar to those offered to pregnant workers, including provisions against discrimination in hiring and promotion based on parental status, as well as an expansion of parental leave rights (2857).
France is also introducing a new permanent contract tailored for job seekers aged 60 and above, supporting older workers in the labor market. Alongside this, as of June 1, 2025, France Travail will refine its monitoring processes for unemployed individuals to better assess their active job search efforts, introducing sanctions that temporarily reduce benefits without fully cutting support for non-compliance (2857).
Furthermore, the gender equality index is undergoing reforms to sync with European wage transparency guidelines. This initiative aims to address pay disparities between genders, with a consultation process with social partners planned to lead to proposed legislation by September 2025 (2857).