Actually, this article says that French companies also use the tactic of job assignment against "problem employees" -- except that French workers can retaliate by taking employers to labor court, if they get tired of getting paid to do nothing.
<blockquote>March 26, 2006 Ideas & Trends Four Ways to Fire a Frenchman
By CRAIG S. SMITH Paris
The French government wants to make it easy to fire young workers. Easier firing, easier hiring, the logic goes. Who wants to add people to the permanent payroll if it's painful and costly to undo a mistake?
The laws on "licensement," as firing in France is called, are complex enough to fill a book, but in the end there are essentially four ways for an employer to deliver a pink slip. All involve time or money or both, because employees who don't want to go quietly can file a complaint with the Conseil des Prud'hommes, the court that rules on terminations. CRAIG S. SMITH
1. PROVE YOU CAN'T AFFORD THE JOB
Dismissing a person for economic reasons is legal but complicated. A company must be able to prove in court that eliminating the position is necessary either because of economic woes or because it is essential to remain competitive.
Companies must also show that they can't transfer the employee to another job. If employers have more than one person in the same position, they must explain why they are firing Pierre instead of Jean-Paul. And an employer must show that the decision was made using purely objective criteria.
If the company has more than 50 employees and wants to fire more than 10, it must create a "social plan" that includes efforts to minimize dismissals and provide for job training or other support for employees who are cut.
"That is huge work," said Joël Grangé, a lawyer for the Paris firm Gide Loyrette Nouel who represents employers. If the judge doesn't consider the social plan adequate, he can demand that the employer reinstate the jobs.
In any case, employers must first summon the workers to a preliminary meeting to warn them that they may lose their jobs. Then they must send a registered letter telling a worker he is fired, listing the reasons and explaining the efforts that were made to find him another position in the company and detailing the support he will receive later on — usually a training program.
It's worth getting it right, because if the procedure is not followed and the employee has worked at the company for two years or more, he may be entitled to damages. "Clearly the litigation on this is more and more," Mr. Grangé said.
2. PROVE HE DID A BAD, BAD THING
"You can't just fire someone just because you don't like them," Mr. Grangé said. But you can fire him for doing a job badly. Again the company has to be able to prove in court that the grounds are real and serious, which can be difficult.
"For a salesman, for example, you have to demonstrate that his performance is not due to a bad product or market," Mr. Grangé said.
The employee will most likely counter that the reason isn't serious, and the courts are inclined to favor employees, he added.
"Judges ask for evidence that is very difficult to gather," he said, "They say, 'When you say he's a poor performer, are you sure it isn't due to a lack of organization in your company?' That's a very difficult thing to show."
3. PAY HIM TO SCRAM
Most cases brought by fired workers are settled out of court, but they include a hefty payment to avoid a trial, which can take years. Still, because settlements are exempt from taxes, it is usually in both the employer's and the employee's financial interest to go through that legal process rather than opt for the faster solution of paying the employee directly to resign. Settlements are usually calculated to include payment for a notice period, or the time between notification and actual termination, during which employees continue to draw a salary. For blue-collar workers, that is usually two or three months, but it can be as long as six months for white- collar workers. Settlements can also include several months' salary to pay for job training and include a severance payment that is determined by how long the employee has worked for the company and which industry he is in. Bank employees, for example, get at least one month's salary for every year they've worked.
Finally, there are damages, which can be just a few months' salary for a young person who has worked at a company less than two years but can be several years' salary for someone closer to retirement with many years at the company.
4. PUT HIM IN A CUPBOARD AND THROW AWAY THE KEY
Some managers with problem employees simply "put them in the cupboard," as the French saying goes, which usually means moving them out of the way and leaving them alone in hopes that they eventually quit.
"But putting them in a cupboard is a very expensive way to do it," Mr. Grangé said, because the employees continue to draw a salary as long as they show up and don't give the company cause to fire them. Mr. Grangé added that such a strategy also carries risks. If Sophie has been set aside with nothing to do, she can ask the court to declare that she has been effectively fired without due process and then can claim damages.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/weekinreview/26smith.html></ blockquote>
Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>