Multilingual information campaign for posted workers and their employers in the construction sector

Raising awareness of workers' rights and employer procedures

The European Labor Authority, a European organization dedicated to the cooperation of member states' labor inspectorates, develops information projects to facilitate access to workers' rights and the procedures for employers operating across national borders in the European Union. Its aim is to ensure that EU rules on worker mobility are observerd in a fair, simple and effective manner.

The 2024 information campaign focuses on three main objectives:

• To inform employers about their posting obligations under labor and social security law;
• To raise awareness among employees and inform employers of the fundamental rights of posted workers when working in the construction and public works sector in France;
• Remind people of the imperative health and safety rules applicable to construction sites in France.

To achieve these objectives, the campaign provides companies and workers with a set of 21 information sheets. These documents will be posted on social networks and on the Ministry of Labor website under the banner #Together : build and protect.

Every year, more than 250,000 workers are posted to France, the construction and public works sector leading the way in international service provision. Let's inform employers and mobile workers about their rights and obligations, we can together: build and protect!

Essential information about posting workers to France

As a foreign company, you can send your employees to France to work on a construction or public works site. In this case, you are providing an international service. To do this, you need to comply with a number of conditions. 

You are a foreign company providing services in France in the building and public works sector. In order for your employees to be ‘seconded’ to France, certain conditions must be met by both your company and your employees. 

If you work for a company that sends you to France for a temporary service or assignment on a building site, depending on the conditions under which you are sent to France, there are two possible situations. 

Before providing services in France

As a worker seconded to France to provide a service in the building and civil engineering sector, you and your employer must contact the social security body to which they are affiliated and request the portable A1 document, which will certify that you are still covered by the social security system in the country where you usually work. You must be able to present this document during your assignment in France in the event of any checks by the French authorities.

If you are a foreign company, before seconding any of your employees to France, you must complete a labour law declaration of secondment using the SIPSI teleservice. This declaration protects you and your seconded employees.

If you are a company based abroad, before you second your worker to France, you must complete a secondment declaration. This declaration protects both you and your seconded employee.

If you are a self-employed person seconded to France to provide a service in the building and civil engineering sector, you must contact the social security organisation.

If you are a self-employed person seconded to France to provide a service in the building and public works sector, you must contact the social security body.

Before arriving in France, you must meet the conditions for entry and residence in France, and in particular, depending on the case, apply for a work permit.

Employers working on a building or public works site in France are obliged to register their seconded employees with the relevant fund in France (except in the case of bilateral agreements).

Employers are obliged to order the BTP card for their seconded employees before the start of their assignment in France.  

While providing services in France

Employees are required to have a BTP card when working on a building site in France.

As a seconded worker working on behalf of your employer on a building or public works site in France, you enjoy the same protective rights as workers employed by French companies in many areas, whatever your nationality.

The collective agreement applicable in France to your seconded employees is determined according to the activity carried out by the seconded employee while working in France. The reference agreement is the one applicable to French employees employed by a company whose main activity is identical to that carried out by the employee on secondment in France.

If you are a posted worker working on a building or public works site in France and you encounter a problem in the course of your work, you have rights and there are solutions.

As the owner of a building site in France, I have obligations in terms of providing information to posted workers working on the site.

On building and public works sites, information on the regulations applicable to posted workers is displayed in the workplace in one of the official languages spoken in each of the countries to which the posted workers belong.

When you post employees to France to work on a building or civil engineering site, the principle of equal treatment with employees of French companies applies. The French rules on health and safety at work must therefore be complied with.

General safety training and specific training for seconded workers are the responsibility of the employer in France.

Foreign companies seconding staff to France are not obliged to provide accommodation for seconded employees. However, if the employer does provide accommodation for seconded employees, certain rules must be observed.

A company established outside France that posts staff to France must comply with the rules on worker safety in France.