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What I've Been Reading This Week


A few months ago, I watched a documentary on Netflix of French President Emmanuel Macron in his campaign to become president of France.  While the documentary, Emmanuel Macron: Behind the Rise, was compelling, given the fact that Macron came from 'relative' obscurity to eventually winning the run-off election, it left me wondering how his presidency would play out.  Well it did not take long for him to announce an ambitious agenda, including a proposed reform of the country's Labor Code.  While I will not attempt to act like I know the inner workings of that Labor Code (in fact, it appears many legal scholars in France grapple with a thorough comprehension themselves), I did not want to highlight an article from Bloomberg which gives readers an idea of what kind of fight President Macron might be in for as he attempts to reform the country's Labor Code.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


French President Seeks to Reform Labor Code

Angeline Benoit at Bloomberg wrote a great article a few days ago that touched on newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron as he inches ever so closer to reforming France's Labor Code.  While others have tried (and failed), Macron has made this one of the potentialally defining moments of his young presidency.  As Benoit notes, Macron is seeking to make it easier for employers in the country to terminate employees and limit the amount of compensation they could recover in court, among other related labor reforms.  Unsurprisingly, unions in France have fought these types of reforms in the past and are drawing a line in the sand with Macron now.  Whether or not he has enough capital to make this reform a reality is difficult to say.  With that being said, with labor reform having been one of his primary talking points during his campaign, there are plenty of supports (and detractors) closely watching how this plays out.



In late March, a Miami-Dade circuit judge struck down a law that would have raised minimum wage rates in Miami Beach from its current rate of $8.10/hour, to $10.31/hour by January 1, 2018, and then increase by $1/hour every year thereafter until 2021.  Kate Rogers at CNBC looks at how a few local businesses in Miami Beach are dealing with the minimum wage struggle (as there is speculation that the matter could eventually reach the Florida Supreme Court) and how some businesses are facing the dilemma of having to increase wages to attract quality employees while juggling how to manage the steadily rising labor costs without having to go out of business.  While I do not think there is an 'answer' either way on how Miami Beach businesses can handle the minimum wage fight, this article gives some good insight into how things are currently playing out while the disputep makes its way through the legal system.

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