Debate rages over freelance worker status in France's hospitality sector
Covid led to many former salaried staff switching to freelance roles
Auto-entrepreneurs increasingly use online platforms to find work
Denis Stankovic / Shutterstock
The growth of internet-based platforms arranging jobs for auto-entrepreneurs in hotels, restaurants and the medical sector has thrown up questions over their employment status.
Work in hotels and restaurants in France is highly regulated, with collective agreements set out for how employers should treat staff, and with systems in place to ensure social security, health and retirement payments are made.
The main trade body, the Union des métiers et des industries de l'hôtellerie (UMIH), makes clear that its members prefer to employ workers on salaried contracts, be that saisonnier, contrat à durée déterminée or contrat à durée indéterminée.
The union says that having salaried workers makes both for easier planning by employers but also provides staff with better protection, training opportunities and career paths, which auto-entrepreneurs do not have.
Read more: Do self-employed people have to take out mutuelle health insurance?
Hiring platforms used
During the Covid crisis, however, many workers in the sector were laid off, and some now prefer to work as auto-entrepreneurs, using platforms such as Brigad.
In 2020, France’s highest court, the Cour de cassation, ruled that Brigad’s work putting auto-entrepreneurs in touch with employers did not imply a “subordinate link” and so it was legal for workers to keep their freelance status if they found jobs through the platform.
Brigad has become increasingly popular, although the numbers are relatively small, with some 40,000 contracts out of one million employees in the sector in France.
However, some employers who have used auto-entrepreneurs have since been fined by Urssaf, the government agency which collects funds for social services and retirement, on the grounds these workers should have had salaried contracts.
UMIH says that controls are on a case-by-case basis and it does not know how many instances there have been.
Read more: New pension boost for self-employed workers in France
Legal issues
So far there have been no legal challenges to Urssaf decisions that UMIH knows about.
Brigad, which raised €33million from four funds last year, has not commented on the matter, and did not respond to requests for an interview. Its platform provides workers with reporting tools to Urssaf and help declaring earnings in annual tax returns.
It has also started operating in the UK.
Founded in 2016, Brigad said last year that 5,000 firms had used its service, and it had 15,000 auto-entrepreneurs who regularly find work through the platform.
It aims to have three million accumulated job placements by 2027.
