The principle of equality is of long-standing in the French legal order, being mentioned prominently in the Declaration of Human Rights of 1789 and in more recent constitutional texts. In the field of employment law, it has numerous applications, both in terms of the treatment of employees by the employer, and in the context of relations between the parties to the employment relationship itself. It has become a multi-faced concept, one which, at its broadest, requires transparency, rationality and legitimacy in the exercise of power. As such, it can be seen to have a complex relationship to the market: far from being a constraint upon efficiency, it is, in many instances, a condition of market access, and a standard for effective organisational decision-making.
International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations