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Kidnapping the Boss
As he sat in a taxi on the streets of Paris on March 31, Francois-Henri Pinault found himself surrounded by an angry mob of protesters. The car's metal and glass were the only things separating the crowd from the 72-year-old billionaire head of Paris-based luxury brand holding company PPR SA. The company's holdings include Gucci, Yves St. Laurent and Chateau Latour. Demonstrating against a plan to cut 1,200 workers at department stores Fnac and Conforama, the protestors obstructed the vehicle for about an hour before police finally cleared a path. And he was one of the lucky ones. That same day, workers stormed a Caterpillar Inc. factory in Grenoble, France, capturing four managers and holding them hostage in their offices overnight. The workers were protesting the company's plan to cut 733 jobs -- or 25 percent of its French workforce. Caterpillar plans to fire 22,000 worldwide, according to news reports. The hostages -- including the HR director, who suffered from heart problems -- were released after the company agreed to reopen talks on layoffs, with mediation by the state, according to Agence France-Presse. If that weren't enough, "boss-nappings" as they have been called, also occurred in March at 3M Co.'s factory in Pithiviers and at Sony Corp.'s Pontonx-sur-l'Adour plant. Last year, the English boss of a car-parts factory in eastern France was held for 48 hours and said he felt like "a prisoner in Alcatraz," according to the Guardian U.K. newspaper, which also detailed an incident last year in Saint-Dizier, in which police stormed an ice-cream factory to free a manager held hostage by workers angry over job cuts. While this "boss-napping" trend may seem like a disturbing and dangerous tactic to Americans, many French citizens actually agree with this kind of behavior. A recent poll of 1,012 French citizens by the CSA Institute for Le Parisien newspaper says 45 percent believe sequestering a boss is "acceptable" during protests over layoffs or other company action. Bill Sheridan, vice president at the National Foreign Trade Council in New York, says that American companies that have operations overseas should pay close attention to local laws and customs before setting up shop -- in France or any country. "HR needs to fully understand that the protocols or procedures [for layoffs or plant closings] are much more stringent in local law [abroad]," he says. "If you don't adhere to the process, the employer is going to be subject to aggravation." Companies don't easily downsize in western Europe, says Sarah Rohmann, employment lawyer at White & Case in Paris. First, they need to send a registered letter (with acknowledgement of receipt) to the employee about a pre-dismissal meeting. After at least five business days, the company can conduct the meeting. The company must then wait at least two business days -- and no longer than one month -- before notifying the employee of his or her dismissal, again by registered letter and acknowledgement of receipt. If the employee's behavior qualifies as serious or willful misconduct, the employer may release him or her from work until a final decision is made about dismissal, says Rohmann. Then comes an informational and consultative procedure with employee representatives, before finally, a worker can be laid off. If the employer cites redundancy as a reason for the action -- probable for mass layoffs -- the company must show that it tried to redeploy the employee elsewhere in the organization. The process can take months. "French employment law is one of the most restrictive and inflexible," says Donald C. Dowling, international employment counsel at White & Case in New York. "Employment law in the U.S. is the least restrictive and most flexible. Americans don't realize that." French law is so rigid that Jerome Kerviel -- the fraudulent trader who lost $7.2 billion in January for French bank Societe Generale -- couldn't even be immediately let go without a series of meetings and letters. "They couldn't even fire that guy!" says Dowling. French workers actually see their jobs as lifelong employment, he says. Dowling compares the situation to marriage -- you can get divorced but it's a long process that can easily get messy. He suggests that companies utilize a probation period -- common in western Europe. Once a company puts a worker on probation, the grounds for firing are much less stringent. He warns, however, that companies must be careful. "Track the end of the probation period and do a rigorous review before the probation ends," he says, noting that once it's over, the tougher laws go back into affect. So how can HR restore morale to both management and the workforce after a boss has been kidnapped? While it depends on how aggressive and threatening the protesting employees were, Sheridan says, HR should make sure management and employees go forward with an open dialogue in the aftermath. "Everybody has to be more transparent with each other," says Sheridan. "They're not going to be hugging each other going forward, but they should be hearing out any of the grievances -- and there could be some valid grievances [on both sides]." May 1, 2009 Copyright 2009© LRP Publications |
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© Copyright 2010 LRP Publications. All rights reserved.
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