New law to improve social dialogue in France

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A new law published in August 2015, aims to improve social dialogue, to improve the quality of life at work and to promote the value of union membership and employees’ collective involvement and representation.  Social dialogue is the process of negotiation between an employer and employee representatives to reach agreement on policies related to the workplace.

The changes try to make it easier to group existing staff representative bodies and to simplify all annual consultation and negotiation processes for employers.

Under the new rules companies with less than 300 employees may have a single staff representative (“délégation unique du personnel”) encompassing the roles of employee delegates, the works council and the health and safety committee.

Companies with 300 employees or more may also be able to combine their various employee representative bodies if a collective agreement can be signed with the trade unions representing at least 50% of votes cast during the last professional elections.

Further Information

For further information or to discuss any of the issues raised, please contact Sandrine Henrion on +33 1 58 22 16 87.

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