France attempts to limit foreign work

FRANCE is pushing for a law to impose new limits on foreign workers being employed in France on temporary contracts.

The EU's 28 labour ministers met in Brussels this week to debate the issue of travailleurs détachés, who are "seconded" by an employer in their country of origin to work in another member state.

France believes the system is being abused by employers, who avoid hiring locally based staff and rely on foreign firms to provide cheap labour without the need to pay social charges.

For example, a French property developer could hire a Cyprus-based temp agency to recruit builders from Poland for a project. The workers would be sent to France for the job but paid in their country of origin.

The government says the number of seconded workers in France - mainly from Poland, Portugal and Romania - rose 23% this year to 200,000. Most of them are in the construction industry.

It wants firms to provide more documentation to the tax and work authorities and become legally responsible for ensuring the sub-contractor is fully compliant with French labour law.