This article explores the system of legal regulation of labor relations in France at the present stage. The main focus is on the analysis of the 2017 reform launched by the President Emmanuel Macron, as well as on the measures to protect the labour market taken in 2020—2022 in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The importance of political context of the reform and the president’s intention to adapt legal mechanisms to modern economic realities giving them additional flexibility is emphasized. The main substantive accents of the presidential project are revealed: emphasizing collective agreements to the detriment of branch and individual agreements; creation of a new representative body at enterprises (CSE); changing the regulation of working hours, etc. The most significant decisions of the government — that affected labour relations during the COVID-19 crisis — are summarized, including the “state of emergency” in the field of health care as well as state financing of wages and support of youth. It is emphasized that during this presidency, Macron’s policy has repeatedly faced public opposition, expressed, in particular, in the “yellow vests” crisis. His steps even deepen a socio-economic split, which the Fifth Republic has been experiencing for several decades, while their positive effect turned out to be mostly situational and does not lead to the restructuring of the entire model of French welfare state. As a result of the study, the authors come to the conclusion that some of the decisions of the French government can be equally interesting for Russia (mainly as for supporting medium and small businesses). However, in Russian realities a liberal message of Macron’s reform would lead to excessive benefits for employers at the expense of workers.