Law firm specialising in employment law
and social security law.
Law firm specialising in employment law
and social security law.
The Conseil de prud'hommes (CPH) is a French institution dedicated to resolving labour law disputes between employers and employees.
The CPH, then the Court of Appeal and finally the Court of Cassation play an essential role in relations between these two parties, and it is essential for employers to understand the various stages of the procedure and to be accompanied by a lawyer to defend their rights as best they can and to anticipate any disputes that may arise.
We know all too well. As lawyers specialising in employment law, we have walked the corridors of these courts for years, handling hundreds of cases; the industrial tribunal procedure holds no secrets for us !
What is the procedure, what are the jurisdictions and what are the particularities of litigation before the industrial tribunal in France?
We explain it to you through 7 major stages in the industrial tribunal procedure.
The CPH has jurisdiction to rule on individual disputes relating to the employment contract between an employee and his employer.
Among its many areas of expertise, it is possible to find a wide variety of requests. The most common are in the following situations:
To bring a case before the CPH, the employee or employer must file a request with the clerk's office of the relevant industrial tribunal.
Please note! Although it is possible to file a claim using the CERFA form available to all parties, it is nonetheless advisable to consult a lawyer from the outset of the case. New claims are not permitted once the application has been lodged, apart from in exceptional circumstances, which is why it is so important to be well advised
Applications may be made by post or lodged directly with the CPH. The application must contain the following information:
How can I find out which CPH has territorial jurisdiction?
The industrial tribunal with territorial jurisdiction is determined on the basis of a number of criteria. There are several possible options for bringing a case before the CPH.
By default, the competent CPH is that of the place where the establishment where the employee worked is located or, failing that, that of the employee's place of residence. The rules of territorial jurisdiction for defining the competent CPH are as follows :
It is important to note that the choice of the CPH with jurisdiction is crucial to the admissibility of the claim.
If you make a mistake, the CPH may declare itself incompetent and refuse to deal with the case. It is therefore advisable to seek advice from a lawyer or legal adviser to determine which CPH has jurisdiction before filing an application.
Initially, an attempt at conciliation is mandatory.
To this end, the Bureau de Conciliation et d'Orientation (BCO) summons the parties to a hearing in an attempt to reach an amicable agreement. The average time taken to be summoned to appear before the Bureau de Conciliation et d'Orientation (BCO) of the Conseil de prud'hommes varies according to the courts and their workload. In general, you are summoned to appear before the BCO a few months after filing your claim. However, it is important to note that deadlines can vary considerably from one court to another and depending on the period.
If an agreement is reached, it is recorded in minutes and is enforceable.
If conciliation fails, the case is referred to the Bureau de Jugement; the BCO sets a timetable for the preparation of the case and the date of the oral hearing (which generally takes place a few months after the date of the BCO).
During this period, the parties exchange their arguments and exhibits.
Once the case is in progress, the Judgement Bureau hearing can be held. The judgement phase is the stage in the Industrial Tribunal process during which the dispute is examined and decided by the Judgement Committee.
The Judgement Committee is made up of 4 industrial tribunal members, half representing employers and half employees.
At the hearing, the parties have the opportunity to present their arguments, submit supporting documents and answer questions from the labour tribunal members. After hearing the parties' arguments and examining the evidence, the labour tribunal members deliberate and reach a decision.
The judgement is handed down within a period that generally does not exceed 2 to 3 months.
The parties are then notified of the judgment by the court clerk's office, usually a few weeks after the hearing.
The CPH's judgement is enforceable as soon as it is notified to the parties, which means that the judgement must be enforced as soon as it is received, or at the latest in the absence of an appeal by either party.
If one of the parties fails to comply with the judgment, the other party may call on a court commissioner to enforce the decision.
If one of the parties is not satisfied with the decision handed down by the industrial tribunal, he or she may appeal to the competent Court of Appeal within one month of being notified of the judgment, assisted by a lawyer or a trade union representative.
Please note! The appeal procedure is governed by deadlines and must be carried out, when a lawyer is involved, via a platform known as "RPVA". It is therefore strongly recommended that you are assisted by a lawyer, as the appeal procedure is more complex and the stakes are often higher than before the industrial tribunal at first instance.
The Court of Appeal re-examines the case and may confirm or overturn the initial decision.
The decision handed down by the Court of Appeal may also be appealed to the Court of Cassation, if one of the parties believes that the decision violates the law or contains an error of law.
However, it should be noted that the Court of Cassation does not re-examine the facts, but confines itself to verifying the correct application of the law, and that this time it is necessary to be assisted by an avocat aux conseils.