Thematic feature - individual labour/employment disputes and the courts

Download article in original language : FR0403107tFR.DOC

This article examines how individual labour/employment disputes are handled through the courts in France, as at March 2004.

In March 2004, the EIRO national centres in 24 European countries were asked, in response to a questionnaire, to give a brief overview of their country's system for dealing with individual labour/employment disputes through the courts, along with data on: the volume of cases; the costs; the timeframe; alternatives to going to court; and any current debate on these issues. The French responses are set out below (along with the questions asked).

System

Please give a brief description of how disputes concerning individual employees' employment and labour rights are handled in your country by courts, tribunals or other official judicial bodies.

Individual labour/employment disputes are dealt with differently depending on whether they took place in the private sector or the civil service.

In the private sector, the body competent to deal with individual labour/employment dispute cases is the industrial tribunal (Conseil de prud’hommes). These tribunals have jurisdiction over all litigation between employers and employees linked to the conclusion, execution and termination of an employment contract. For example, they have responsibility for all cases relating to probation periods, the setting and payment of wages, the length of and payment for paid holidays, compensation for non-compliance with dismissal procedures, compensation relating to notice periods, compliance with the provisions of collective agreements, promotion, harassment, discrimination, disciplinary procedures and individual rights to vocational training and retirement. Legislation has expressly established that the tribunals have jurisdiction over temporary agency workers. They also deal with cases arising from employment-related disputes between employees.

There are around 270 industrial tribunals in France. Each tribunal is divided into specialised sections for management staff, industry, commerce, agriculture and miscellaneous activities, in order to respond more effectively to the particular circumstances of these areas.

The industrial tribunals are solely comprised of non-professional elected lay judges, evenly split between those representing employers and employees. The industrial tribunal elections, organised by the Ministry of Labour every five years, are a significant event in French industrial relations. They enable the influence wielded by the various trade unions and employers’ associations to be gauged through the support for the various slates run by these organisations (FR0301107F).

Procedures in industrial tribunals aim to be simple and easily accessible. Hearings are oral and, formally, do not require the services of a lawyer. Each case is heard first in the relevant section of the tribunal (agriculture, commerce, industry, management, miscellaneous activities etc) before a 'conciliation committee' (bureau de conciliation), made up of two tribunal members (an employee and an employer representative), who should make every effort to resolve the dispute amicably. The conciliation committee does not deliver a verdict: it is the two parties who decide whether or not to agree. The conciliation committee may decide on particular measures (presentation of legal documentation, payslips etc) that are immediately binding. If disagreement persists, the conciliation committee passes the case on to a 'judging committee' (bureau de jugement) and possibly orders an investigation (eg through the appointment of a specialist).

The case is then heard by the judging committee, which is composed of at least two tribunal members elected by employers and two elected by employees. The judging committee hears the parties and studies the case. It may summon witnesses and demand that extra investigatory steps be taken. The judging committee’s decision must be made by an absolute majority, and is binding on the parties. However, if the vote is split evenly, there is a final vote, with a professional magistrate assisting the judging committee.

In an emergency, a case may be referred to a 'joint fast-track hearing team', whose jurisdiction covers all the sections of the industrial tribunal. The injunctions made by this team are binding as soon as they are announced, but are provisional - ie they can by amended by the judging committee which then makes a ruling. This team enables urgent measures to be granted in cases where there is relatively little doubt over the facts, to pre-empt damage that may be imminent, or otherwise stop an obviously unlawful state of affairs.

The 'main' decisions handed down by the tribunal (those where the sum claimed is above a certain amount - EUR 3,980 as of 1 January 2004) can be appealed against. The content and the procedures of the case are then reviewed by the local court of appeal (Cours d’appel), which is made up of professional judges (who are civil servants employed by the Ministry of Justice). Court of appeal rulings may be challenged in the Cour de cassation (the highest court in the French judicial system), but only the procedures, not the content, are reviewed

The decisions arrived at by industrial tribunals are implemented either freely by those concerned or by a tribunal bailiff.

Trade unions and employers’ associations are not active participants in individual employment dispute cases, as such. However, they may offer indirect backing, especially by supporting the parties (with legal aid or by supplying a lawyer etc).

Individual employment disputes between civil servants and their employers are not dealt with by the industrial tribunals but by the administrative courts (tribunaux administratifs), which are comprised of professional magistrates. The principles for determining individual employment disputes are similar to those operating in the private sector, apart from the appeals procedure being carried out before an administrative court of appeal. The Conseil d’Etat is the highest administrative tribunal in France.

Number of cases/disputes and costs

How many cases have been dealt with in your legal system by each category of court? Where possible, please provide statistics on the number of disputes in your country each year from 1990 to 2003 (or the latest year for which data are available). Where possible, please provide statistics on costs.

Tables 1 and 2 below set out details of the new cases submitted to industrial tribunals and courts of appeal each year from 1995 to 2002 (the first and last years for which data are currently available). The figures are from the Ministry of Justice's Statistical Yearbook (Annuaire statistique de la Justice) and concern the private sector only.