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Adopted in furtherance of the Emergency Law No. 2020-290 of March 23, 2020 to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic, Ordinance No. 2020-318 dated March 25, 2020 adapting the rules relating to the preparation, closing, audit, review, approval and publication of accounts and other documents and information that private law legal persons and entities without legal personality are required to file or publish in the context of the covid-19 epidemic has introduced temporary exceptional derogations, particularly with regard to the approval of accounts.

Decree No.2020-356 of March 27, 2020 provides for the implementation of an algorithm called DataJust for a period of two years. This algorithm aims in particular at developing an indicative baseline of compensation for personal injurie.

This baseline system will be made available not only to judges, but also to lawyers, insurers and, above all, victims, in order to assess the amount of compensation to which the latter may be entitled, with the aim of encouraging out-of-court settlements.

In order to ensure the continued operation of French criminal courts necessary to maintain public order, the Government adopted on March 25, 2020 Ordinance 2020-303 in furtherance of the Emergency Law of March 23, 2020 . The Ordinance adapts the rules applicable to courts ruling on criminal matters.

These derogations from the procedural rules usually applicable in criminal matters were taken primarily for obvious health reasons, in order to reduce physical contacts, but also to ensure the continued operation of the French public Justice System.

One of the Ordinances adopted in furtherance of the Emergency Law of March 23, 2020 to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic provides – for a limited period of time – for (i) the suspension of the effects of clauses sanctioning contractual non-performance, and (ii) the extension of contractual deadlines for the termination or renewal of contracts.

How long does the suspension period last? Which contracts are concerned? What happens with periodic penalty payments and clauses aimed at sanctioning non-performance?

More than a year after the Take Eat Easy decision in which the Labor Chamber of the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) had for the first time ruled on the legal classification of the contract between a deliverer and a digital platform and recognized the existence of an employment contract, it recently took position once again on the issue of platform workers, this time in a case concerning the very famous company Uber.

The Labor Chamber reiterated its position in a decision dated March 4, 2020 and upheld the ruling of the Paris Court of Appeals of January 10, 2019: the contract between Uber and its 28,000 drivers in France is to be analyzed as an employment contract!

Three Ordinances on labor and employment matters adopted in furtherance of the emergency health law to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic were published in the Official Gazette on Thursday March 26, 2020.

These Ordinances concern (i) derogations, subject to certain conditions, regarding paid vacation, working hours, rest days and work on Sundays, applicable until December 31, 2020, (ii) extension of the deadline for payments under mandatory and optional profit-sharing schemes to December 31, 2020, and (iii) extension of the scope of employees eligible for the supplemental allowance paid by the employer in the event of medical leave until August 31, 2020.