50

A few days ago Hank posted about the danger in being employee #50. With Obamacare hanging over employers like a dark cloud, you don't want to be employee #50.     

It seems Yanks aren't the only ones considering employee #50. Frogs have the same issue, but for different reasons.

Here’s a curious fact about the French economy: The country has 2.4 times as many companies with 49 employees as with 50. What difference does one employee make? Plenty, according to the French labor code. Once a company has at least 50 employees inside France, management must create three worker councils, introduce profit sharing, and submit restructuring plans to the councils if the company decides to fire workers for economic reasons.

In an attempt to avoid government imposed bureaucracy and interference, the French don't care much for their 50th employee either.

Companies say the biggest obstacle to hiring is the 102-year-old Code du Travail, a 3,200-page rule book that dictates everything from job classifications to the ability to fire workers. Many of these rules kick in after a company’s French payroll creeps beyond 49.

Sound familiar?

There are now 2.9 million people out of work in France, almost 10 percent of the workforce and the most in 12 years. “Every time a social security contribution changes, which is frequently, we have to update software and send our HR people for training. We can’t fire anyone without exorbitant costs.”

The code sets hurdles for any company that seeks to shed jobs when it’s turning a profit. It also grants judges the authority to reverse staff cuts years after they’re initiated if companies don’t follow the rules. The courts even deem some violations of the code a criminal offense that could send executives to jail.

Don't give the Bozo's in DC any ideas. They seem to come up with enough ways to stifle the economy without help from frogs.