The 12 Key Points of the Government’s Social “Renovation”

(Source ANDRH)

We have summarized for you the 12 major points of the social renovation, including six ordinances that were published in the Official Journal on September 23, 2017. We wish you a good read and remain at your disposal for any further explanation.

New Framework for Industry-wide and Company-level Negotiations

Definition of three blocks of competencies at the industry level: (Immediate application)

A first block mandatory for companies

For example:

• Minimum hierarchical wages;
• Job classifications;
• Pooling of joint committee funding and vocational training funds;
• Supplementary collective guarantees;
• Measures relating to working hours, distribution and scheduling arrangements (equivalent hours, minimum number of hours triggering reclassification as a night worker over a reference period, minimum part-time hours and additional hours, overtime premium rates for additional hours, additional hours by amendment)
• Those relating to fixed-term employment contracts, temporary employment contracts (total contract duration, transfer of fixed-term contracts, successive contracts, renewal) and project-based permanent contracts;
• Professional equality between women and men;
• Conditions and duration of probationary period renewal;
• The terms under which the continuation of employment contracts is organized between two companies when the conditions for applying article L. 1224-1 are not met;
• Cases of temporary employee assignment to a user company;
• The minimum remuneration of the portage employee, as well as the amount of the business contribution allowance, referred to in articles L. 1254-2 and L. 1254-9 of this code;

A second block mandatory if a lock-in clause provides for it

For example:

• Prevention of the effects of exposure to occupational risk factors;
• Professional integration and job retention for workers with disabilities;
• Workforce threshold from which union delegates can be appointed, their number and the recognition of their union career path;
• Bonuses for hazardous and unhealthy work;

A third optional block from which companies may derogate by company agreement

Everything else

Ability for companies to derogate from collective agreement provisions not covered by the first two blocks

(collective bonuses, for example)

Generalization of Majority Agreements (from May 1, 2018)

Reminder: For a majority agreement to be valid, it must be signed by one or more representative trade unions having received more than 50% of votes cast in favor of representative organizations in the first round of the last elections for full members of the works council or the single employee delegation, or failing that, of staff delegates, regardless of the number of voters.

Employer-initiated Referendum (Immediate Application)

Reminder: For non-majority agreements, the possibility of validating them by referendum if signed by one or more representative trade unions having received more than 30% of votes cast in favor of representative organizations in the first round of the last elections for full members of the works council or the single employee delegation, or failing that, of staff delegates, regardless of the number of voters.

• Currently, this option is only available to signatory trade unions;
• The employer could now use it under the same conditions, but in the absence of opposition from “all representative trade unions having received more than 30% that are signatories.”

Negotiation in Companies with Fewer Than 50 Employees Without a Union Delegate

• Possibility of submitting a draft agreement for employee consultation
• Validity subject to a two-thirds majority (Application subject to publication of a decree)

For companies with fewer than 11 employees or up to 20 employees, in the absence of staff representatives: negotiation possible with mandated employees or with one or more elected members of the Social and Economic Committee without a mandate

For companies with between 11 and 50 employees: (Immediate application)

Replacement of Works Council, Health and Safety Committee, and Staff Delegates with a “Social and Economic Committee”

(Application subject to publication of decrees + transitional provisions until January 1, 2020)

• Mandatory merger of Works Council, Health and Safety Committee, and Staff Delegates for all companies regardless of their size;
• Retention of current bodies until the end of mandates and no later than January 1, 2020;
• A mandatory health, safety and working conditions committee in companies and establishments with at least 300 employees and in all establishments comprising a nuclear installation or classified as SEVESO;
• Absence of alternates if full members are present at meetings;
• Allocation of an operating budget that can be combined with the social and cultural activities budget;
• Co-financing of expert assessments at a rate of 20%;

Competencies and responsibilities adapted for companies with fewer than 50 employees, with missions corresponding to those currently held by staff delegates.

Possibility of Merging Union Delegates and the CSE into a “Company Council” by Industry or Company Agreement

• Full merger of employee representative bodies possible within the company (CSE and union delegates) including the authority to negotiate collective agreements;
• Implementation by company agreement or extended industry agreement;
• Possibility of implementation at the level of a single economic and social unit;

Introduction of a Scale for Compensation Awarded by Judges in Cases of Dismissal Without Real and Serious Cause

(Immediate application to dismissals pronounced after the publication of this ordinance)

• Introduction of minimum and maximum amounts varying according to employee seniority;
• Specific minimum amounts for companies with fewer than 11 employees;
• Scale applicable to judicial terminations due to employer fault, and to constructive dismissals recognized by the judge;
• Removal of the indicative scale that had been introduced by the 2015 “Macron” law;

“Exclusion from the scale” in cases of discrimination, harassment, violation of a fundamental freedom or protected status (sanctioned by the nullity of the dismissal)

Increase in Statutory Severance Pay

(Applicable to dismissals and mandatory retirements notified, as well as mutual termination agreements concluded, from September 27, 2017)

New Art. R.1234-2 of the Labour Code:

Severance pay may not be less than the following amounts:

1. One quarter of a month’s salary per year of seniority for years up to ten years;
2. One third of a month’s salary per year of seniority for years from ten years onward

Securing Voluntary Departure Plans Through the Introduction of “Collective Mutual Termination”

(Application subject to publication of a decree)

• Formalization of “collective mutual termination” and “mobility leave” agreements
• Possibility of concluding mutual termination agreements with the employee within the framework of collective mutual terminations or mobility leave
• Inapplicability of rules relating to collective redundancies for economic reasons
• Same tax and social security treatment as severance payments made under a job protection plan

Limiting the Scope of Economic Redundancies to National Level

(Immediate application to economic redundancy procedures initiated after the publication of the ordinance).

• Assessment of economic difficulties at the company level, or at the sector level common to companies established at national level, when the company belongs to a group.
• Definition of the group by reference to the group committee
• Same concepts and scope applied to the redeployment obligation (same for the redeployment obligation in cases of unfitness)

Easing the Conditions for Remote Working

(Immediate application + transitional provisions for existing employment contract amendments regarding remote working)

• Practical arrangements defined by agreement or, failing that, by a charter (after consultation of the future CSE) or by any means for occasional remote working
• A new “enforceable right” for the employee? An employer refusal must be justified for positions defined as eligible
• Possibility of occasional remote working + removal of the requirement to sign an employment contract amendment for occasional remote working

Simplification of the Professional Prevention Account (Arduous Work)

• Renaming of the C3P to C2P = “professional prevention account“
• Mandatory electronic declaration for risks related to an aggressive physical environment or certain work rhythms + removal of the declaration requirement for factors related to marked physical constraints
• Decree forthcoming for the exclusion of hazardous chemical agents
• Removal of arduous work contributions as of January 1, 2018
• New early retirement arrangements from October 1, 2017 (subject to the publication of a decree and a ministerial order).