French Corporate Employment

In France, corporate transactions such as mergers, acquisitions and spinoffs are affected by complex labor law provisions which can delay -- and even threaten -- their completion.  While these constraints affect all companies, they are particularly applicable to subsidiaries or companies destined to become subsidiaries organized in such a way that the true decision-making takes place at a level outside of the legal structure of the company that is responsible for the employees’ pay and other duties.

In this complicated environment, company directors need legal advisors with a high level of expertise in both company law and labor law.  Such counsel can identify the labor obstacles that may impinge on the transaction right from the start and seek solutions to prevent these constraints from holding up the project and impacting performance.

To meet this need, Hughes Hubbard has established in our Paris office a Corporate Employment Group comprised of lawyers who are specialized in company law and expert in complex corporate transactions, and lawyers concentrated in labor law who are specifically qualified in areas of audits and management of staff members, as well as relations with employee representation bodies.  The Group is primarily designed to provide advice and assistance in the implementation of corporate transactions but is also qualified to handle disputes and litigation if necessary.  Our attorneys are particularly skilled in handling problems which may occur in the context of the following situations:

• Restructuring: employee transfers, redeployment of personnel and reductions in the number of employees
• Acquisitions and Dispositions: integration of new teams with existing teams
• Outsourcing: external redeployment of employees whose activity is externalized by the original company
• Reindustrialization: redeployment of employees to other activities developed by external companies
• Reorganization: management of employment by companies in financial difficulty and, where relevant, companies in receivership or other procedures

The members of our Corporate Employment Group are multilingual and are able to communicate fluently in French and in English.  They regularly work as part of task forces and steering committees with the legal and human resources departments of our clients and with consulting firms specializing in areas associated with management changes, such as management coaching and mentoring, organization, audits, accounting, recruiting, team evaluation and crisis communications.