The mask could still be imposed in businesses and shops

Is this really the end of the mask? Guest of the 1 p.m. news from TF1 on Thursday March 3, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced new health relief measures given the favorable evolution of the epidemic. From March 14, the vaccine pass will be suspended wherever it was required and above all, the French will no longer be obliged to wear the mask in closed places whose access was not subject to the presentation of a QR code. . Everywhere, it will be possible to move around without a mask, indoors and outdoors, with the exception of public transport. And this, to the great dismay of certain French people who are well attached to the mask.

May those who follow barrier gestures be reassured. The end of the legal obligation to wear a mask does not prohibit certain establishments from imposing it. Like companies for example. “Employers have an obligation under the labor code to take measures to protect the physical and moral health of employees.” reminds Capital Me Éric Rocheblave, lawyer specializing in labor law. It is therefore not excluded that, after having assessed the risks, your company will continue to impose the wearing of a mask on its premises. “Some employers may either follow government recommendations 100% or be more cautious. Which I advise them, especially since we have already seen the government claim that wearing a mask was useless in 2020”, adds the lawyer.

Thus, the employer can “question the occupational physician, consult staff representatives, or even the labor inspectorate to assess the risk. And, knowingly, maintain the wearing of the mandatory mask”, adds Me Rocheblave. Concretely, the mask could be assimilated to any protective equipment imposed on employees in the company’s internal regulations. Like overcoats, helmets and safety shoes.

What shops and supermarkets can decide

The mask is therefore not definitively buried in the office. But what about the shops, boutiques and supermarkets that are bustling with people every day? They too can, if they wish, continue to impose the mask, both on their employees and on customers. “A shop is not a public space. When you go shopping, you enter a private enterprise. And in each private company, entrepreneurs can choose the rules for people who enter. There are rules for entering a bakery as there are for a nuclear power plant”, explains Me Rocheblave. But beware, “it remains a choice of the merchant, the customers must accept it, otherwise they will go elsewhere where the mask is not compulsory”, he warns.

And at the general practitioner?

During his interview, Prime Minister Jean Castex mentioned only one exception to the end of the wearing of the compulsory mask, public transport. We thus deduce that, on paper, a patient could soon go to a medical office without a mask on his face. But as with companies and supermarkets, the general practitioner can also choose to impose the mask. “Just two or three years ago, we all found ourselves with people coughing in the same room. But it would not shock me if a doctor had the right to impose on his patients to wear a mask and take hydroalcoholic gel”, estimates Me Rocheblave who is betting on a change in morals.

What rules in schools?

On the other hand, maintaining the obligation of the mask in a public establishment such as town halls can be more complex. “The mayor can always issue an order but it can be challenged before the administrative courts”, underlines Me Rocheblave. This reasoning can logically apply to schools, for which Matignon confirmed in a press release issued Thursday March 3 that the mask will also no longer be compulsory in classrooms, both for teachers and for students.

Something that did not please the collective Schools and forgotten families, worried by the level of viral circulation among children in certain departments. “In the Grand Est incidence rate in 6-10 year olds exceeds 1000 #OuiAuMasque“, posted the group of parents of students in response to a tweet from Jean Castex on the lifting of the wearing of the compulsory mask. Perhaps the parents of pupils and heads of establishments will be able to consult each other to decide on the procedure to follow according to the epidemiological indicators. “The Minister of National Education will provide the necessary details on these developments in the school environment, during the meetings which will be held next week with the unions and representatives of the parents of pupils”, however specified Matignon in his communicated. In the meantime, Me Éric Rocheblave points out that, obviously, “even if the mask will no longer be compulsory, nothing prohibits wearing it on your own”.

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