Factsheet for measure
FR-2020-11/1021
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Updated
– measures in France
Emergency measures relating to employee representative bodies
Mesures d'urgence relatives aux instances représentatives du personnel
Background information
An ordinance of 1 April 2020, effective on 3 April 2020, allows the works council (CSE) to meet by videoconference, audioconference or instant messaging for the duration of the health emergency. It also provides for the suspension or postponement of ongoing or future electoral processes, extending the term of office and protection against dismissal of current elected officials. This text was adopted pursuant to the Emergency Act to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic of 23 March 2020. As a reminder, the state of health emergency was declared for a period of two months from 24 March 2020, by the said emergency law, and has been extended to the 10 July 2020.
Content of measure
The main provisions are the following:
1. Authorisation of meetings via video/audio conferencing or instant messaging
By derogation from the Labour Code, the employer may convene the social and economic committee (CSE), the central CSE or another staff representative body provided for in the Labour Code using:
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video conferencing;
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the telephone conference (audio conference), under the conditions to be laid down by decree;
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or instant messaging, under the conditions to be set by a decree to be issued, if it is impossible to use video conferencing or telephone conferencing, or when a company-wide agreement so provides. The employer may only have recourse to the instant messaging system in a subsidiary manner if it is impossible to organise the meeting by videoconference or telephone conference.
In all cases, the employer must first inform the members of the body of these meeting arrangements. This measure is applicable to meetings convened during a state of health emergency (24 March 2020-10 July 2020). The limit of three videoconference meetings per calendar year provided for, in the absence of agreement, by Articles L. 2315-4 (for the CSE) and L. 2316-16 (for the Central CSE) of the Labour Code only applies to meetings organised outside the period of the state of health emergency.
2. Consultation of the CSE in the event of a derogation related to working time
When an employer imposes or modifies the date of taking days off (within the limit of ten days), in application of the order no. 2020-323 of 25 March 2020, it must inform the CSE without delay and by any means. The CSE shall give its opinion within one month of receiving this information. The employer may act without waiting for the opinion of the ESC to be delivered.
The same applies when an employer implements a derogation from working hours or Sunday rest, as a decree allows him to do so in application of the above-mentioned ordinance of 25 March 2020.
3. Suspension of ongoing electoral processes
The ordinance suspends the ongoing professional election processes. Specifically, where the employer has informed the staff of the organisation of the elections before 3 April 2020, the current electoral process is suspended as of 12 March 2020. The suspension of the electoral process ends three months after the date of cessation of the state of health emergency.
Updates
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
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07 October 2021
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The Jean Jaures Foundation has published a study based on 122 responses from employee representatives and management to a questionnaire posted online between April and June 2021, seven monographs of establishments and five interviews with key witnesses from the world of management, trade unions and the administration (see Source). For the authors of the study, "e-social dialogue seems to be able to continue after the crisis provided that it is linked to face-to-face meetings in order to create and maintain the link between all the players in social dialogue". But in the end, it is the question of proximity (between employees and their elected representatives, between central and site representatives) that e-social dialogue and telework raise. "The health crisis has highlighted the need for a social dialogue close to the employees", the authors note. One of the challenges of modern social dialogue will be to combine the new forms of work organisation and social dialogue with this necessary proximity, they conclude.
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31 May 2021
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The law of 31 May 2021 postpones, from 30 June to 30 September 2021, the end of several emergency measures. In this respect
- the option of holding meetings of the works council (CSE) and other employee representative bodies remotely, by way of derogation, is maintained. These meetings can be organised by videoconference (for more than three meetings), by telephone conference or, failing that, by instant messaging.
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19 May 2021
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On 19 May, the Council of State (Conseil d'Etat) annulled the provisions adopted by the government to organise, until 23 August 2020, the temporary reduction of the time limits for consultation of the work council (CSE) and of the time limits for expertise in the event of a decision by the employer to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The High Court ruled that these measures did not respect the framework of the law granting to the government to legislate by ordinance.
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03 December 2020
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Following the extension of the state of health emergency, a decree of 3 December 2020 defines the modalities for meetings of works council by telephone conference or instant messaging, in application of order no. 2020-1441 of 25 November. The latter reactivated the possibility of using video-conferencing or, under certain conditions defined by decree, telephone conferencing or instant messaging, for all meetings held until the end of the state of health emergency, currently set at 16 February 2021. However, the members of the works council may object to the holding of remote meetings for certain information-consultation procedures.
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Use of measure
No data. The measures apply to all private companies that have a works' council (from 11 employees).
Target groups
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Workers
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Businesses
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Citizens
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Applies to all workers
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Applies to all businesses
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Does not apply to citizens
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Actors and funding
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Actors
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Funding
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National government
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No special funding required
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Social partners
Social partners' role in
designing the measure
and form of involvement:
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Trade unions
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Employers' organisations
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Role
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Consulted
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Consulted
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Form
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Direct consultation outside a formal body
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Direct consultation outside a formal body
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Social partners' role in the
implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
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Social partners jointly
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Main level of involvement: Company level
Involvement
Some social partners have probably been informally consulted to design the ordinance and decrees.
Views and reactions
Globally, social partners agreed the measures as it allows to keep an information and consultation process despite the health crisis.
Sources
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01 April 2020: Ordonnance n° 2020-389 du 1er avril 2020 portant mesures d’urgence relatives aux instances représentatives du personnel
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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10 April 2020: Décret n° 2020-419 du 10 avril 2020 relatif aux modalités de consultation des instances représentatives du personnel pendant la période de l'état d'urgence sanitaire
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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22 April 2020: Ordonnance n° 2020-460 du 22 avril 2020 portant diverses mesures prises pour faire face à l'épidémie de covid-19
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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02 May 2020: Ordonnance n° 2020-507 du 2 mai 2020 adaptant temporairement les délais applicables pour la consultation et l'information du comité social et économique afin de faire face à l'épidémie de covid-19
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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02 May 2020: Décret n° 2020-508 du 2 mai 2020 adaptant temporairement les délais relatifs à la consultation et l'information du comité social et économique afin de faire face aux conséquences de la propagation de l'épidémie de covid-19
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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27 May 2020: Décret n° 2020-639 du 27 mai 2020 adaptant temporairement les délais relatifs à la consultation et l'information des comités d'hygiène, de sécurité et des conditions de travail de La Poste et de l'instance de coordination de ces comités afin de faire face aux conséquences de la propagation de l'épidémie de covid-19
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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17 June 2020: Ordonnance n° 2020-737 du 17 juin 2020 modifiant les délais applicables à diverses procédures en matière sociale et sanitaire afin de faire face aux conséquences de la propagation de l'épidémie de covid-19
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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03 December 2020: Décret n° 2020-1513 du 3 décembre 2020 relatif aux modalités de consultation des instances représentatives du personnel pendant la période de l'état d'urgence sanitaire
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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19 May 2021: Conseil d'État, Chambres réunies, Décision nº 441031 du 19 mai 2021 Conseil d'État, Chambres réunies, Décision nº 441031 du 19 mai 2021
(www.conseil-etat.fr)
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31 May 2021: LOI n° 2021-689 du 31 mai 2021 relative à la gestion de la sortie de crise sanitaire
(www.legifrance.gouv.fr)
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07 October 2021: E-Dialogue ou nouvelles pratiques durables
(www.jean-jaures.org)
