DPD Group, a major European parcel delivery service part-owned by the French post office, has prevailed in a worker health and safety case brought by the French labor inspectorate over conditions at DPD's French facilities during the COVID-19 crisis.

Gide Loyrette Nouel advised DPD France in the case, which began on April 29 and ended June 11 with a French court's dismissal of the labor inspectorate's complaint.

DPD was able to continue its operations in France throughout the coronavirus lockdown after proving to the court that it had taken appropriate measures to protect workers and had consulted with worker representatives throughout the process, Gide said in a statement.

"DPD and the unions were on the same side of the case," said Guillaume Navarro, an employment law partner at Gide, who led the team advising DPD. "They worked together to change the way they worked every day and were able to demonstrate that to the court.

"As a result, DPD's delivery operations, which were essential during the crisis, could continue uninterrupted," Navarro said.

DPD is a pan-European company with operations in France, Germany and the U.K. Its French operations employ 2,100 workers and handle 320,000 parcels per day; it posted group annual revenue of €7.8 billion in 2019, according to its website.

On April 24, a French appeals court upheld a lower court ruling against Amazon France in a complaint brought by Amazon's unions. The lower court ordered Amazon France to limit its business to essential goods while it consulted with workers over health and safety measures or face heavy fines. Amazon closed its French operations rather than risk the fines; it resumed operations May 19.

DPD benefited from the Amazon rulings to craft its response to the labor inspectorate, Navarro said.

The company and its unions met two to three times a week to review safety measures and ended up implementing practices that went beyond government guidance, Navarro said. For example, he said, DPD required workers to wear masks in instances where physical distancing could not be observed even before the government required it.

In its ruling, the Judicial Court in Evry, outside Paris, noted that the health of DPD's personnel "had been duly taken into account and that efforts had been undertaken to reinforce coordination within the company and with its subcontractors following joint work sessions and thus ensure the safety of its personnel and premises."

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