[smcphile]

> From what I heard France has strong worker protection laws, even stronger than Germany. Do you think this is/could be a problem for startups?

Yes, France has strong worker protection laws, but if someone is found to have been abusively fired there’s a cap on how much they can sue for. The amount is based on how long they’ve been with the company. For example, after 2 years, the amount is 3 months salary, after 5 years, 6 months salary. The complete table is here: https://droit-finances.commentcamarche.com/faq/54743-bareme-...

[pkaye]

If an employer has layoffs what kind of severance does the employee get?

[smcphile]

It depends, there's no simple, standard answer.

Layoffs in France correspond with the idea of a "licenciement économique" and the details of how that is managed are presented here: https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/N481 .

Simply put, it's a negotiated process between the company, union representatives, and the government / legal representatives.

In France, layoffs are difficult to do if a company is making money, but can be done to keep a company from losing money or shutting down or moving somewhere else (i.e. another country).