An ordinance has just temporarily extended the possibility for SMEs to use videoconferencing to hold Social and Economic Committee (CSE) meetings until February 16, 2021. However, employee representatives will be able to object to the use of videoconferencing for meetings on "sensitive" issues. Here's how it works.
A few reminders about the Social and Economic Committee
The CSE is a staff representation body (IRP) made up of the employer and a staff delegation comprising an equal number of full members and alternates.
The Social and Economic Committee is mandatory in companies with more than 11 employees. Its powers and operation vary according to the size of the company.
The limit of three meetings per calendar year no longer applies
In principle, in accordance with Articles L 2315-4 and L 2316-16 of the French Labor Code, the use of videoconferencing for CSE or central CSE meetings must be authorized by agreement between the employer and the elected members of the staff delegation, or failing that, is limited to three meetings per calendar year.
An ordinance amending the rules governing meetings of employee representative bodies was published in the Journal Officiel on November 26, 2020. This authorizes, on a temporary and derogatory basis, the use of videoconferencing for all CSE and central CSE meetings taking place during the state of health emergency, after the employer has informed their members.
The ordinance therefore allows the employer to impose meetings by videoconference, provided he has informed the committee in advance. In other words, the limit of three meetings per calendar year is no longer applicable during the state of health emergency declared by Article 4 of the law of March 23, 2020.
Conditions for exercising elected members' right of refusal
Contrary to the ordinance of April 1 on the same subject, the ordinance of November 25 provides for the right of employee representatives to object to remote meetings. The elected members of the IRP, if they are in the majority, may object, no later than 24 hours before the start of the meeting, to the use of telephone conferencing or instant messaging if the meeting concerns one of these four themes:
- Collective redundancies
- Collective performance agreements
- Collective bargaining agreements
- Implementation of the specificpartial activity scheme
The same members may object to meetings held by videoconference when the limit of three meetings per calendar year has been exceeded. In this case, the meeting must be held in person.
These new provisions apply to meetings convened since November 27, 2020, and will remain in force until the end of the state of health emergency, currently set at February 16, 2021.