A French employment tribunal has awarded a former employee of fast food chain McDonald's a quarter of a million euros ($326,000) in overtime and holiday payments.

"/> A French employment tribunal has awarded a former employee of fast food chain McDonald's a quarter of a million euros ($326,000) in overtime and holiday payments.

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BRITTANY

McDonald’s forced to make €250,000 overtime payment

A French employment tribunal has awarded a former employee of fast food chain McDonald's a quarter of a million euros ($326,000) in overtime and holiday payments.

McDonald's forced to make €250,000 overtime payment
Rupert Ganzer

The bumper payment was made to the former manager of a store in the Brittany town of Guingamp, reported regional newspaper Ouest France.

The charge was made to cover four years of overtime payments as well as holidays the woman was owed.

“I worked regularly from 8am until midnight, seven days a week,” she told the newspaper.

The woman was supported by her union, the CFDT, in the action.

A spokeswoman for the union said she was “put under enormous pressure and found herself under the total influence of the company, not even realising what was happening to her.”

The decision is the first of its kind in France, although McDonald’s is reported to have been hit with a fine of €50,000 in Japan in 2009 for non-payment of overtime.

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BRITTANY

French town of Nantes votes for referendum on exiting Pays-de-la-Loire region

The French city of Nantes is to hold a referendum on exiting the Pays-de-la-Loire region and becoming part of Brittany instead.

French town of Nantes votes for referendum on exiting Pays-de-la-Loire region
Photo: AFP

On Friday the town council of Nantes voted in favour of requesting the French government organise a referendum so local people can have their say about whether they wish to remain in the Pays-de-la-Loire region or become part of Brittany – a region that many say the town has more historic and cultural connections to.

The vote on Friday was carried by 56 votes and concerns whether the département of Loire-Atlantique – which contains Nantes – should move regions.

READ ALSO The 20 essential maps you need to understand Brittany

 

The vote follows a petition in 2018 which gathered 105,000 signatures.

Nantes mayor Johanna Rolland said: “This strong citizen mobilisation cannot be ignored. It reflects the aspiration of our fellow citizens to be consulted to a greater extent, in a context of essential revitalisation of our democracy.”

The desire of people in the Loire-Atlantique to become Breton isn't new.
 
The départment was part of Brittany until World War II, when it was separated and made part of the neighbouring region by the Vichy government. That region eventually became the Pays-de-la-Loire in 1955.
 
The issue has been simmering since then and pro-Breton voices have become louder in recent years as they hope to take advantage of a law that allows départments to chose which region they belong to via a referendum.
 
The town, which is the historic seat of the Dukes of Brittany, also declared its intention to  “set up a permanent pluralist body to engage in a genuine consultation with the State on the organisation of this referendum, organise an in-depth debate on the issues and consequences of a redistribution in order to feed the citizen debate, and formulate proposals to strengthen cooperation between Nantes and the other Breton territories”. 
 
However the referendum will have to be approved by both the national government and the regional authorities.
 

France's regions were reorganised in 2016 and several were merged to create the current 13 regions of mainland France.

Brittany currently covers four départements – Ille-et-Vilaine, Côtes-d'Armor, Finistère and Morbihan – while Pays-de-la-Loire covers Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe and Vendée. Nantes is currently the largest town in the region.

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