For the first time, the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) has prohibited the CSE (social and economic committee) from making access to all or part of its activities, services and benefits conditional on employees having a minimum length of service with the company. This clarification should encourage CSEs to modify their internal regulations.
A disputed minimum seniority requirement
In this case, the social and economic committee of an insurance group had decided at a meeting to amend its general regulations on social and cultural activities to introduce a 6-month waiting period before new employees could benefit.
Opposed to this decision, the union took the committee and the insurer's national agricultural mutual reinsurance fund to court. After an unfavorable ruling at first instance, the union appealed to the Paris Court of Appeal, arguing that the seniority criterion imposed by the company was unlawful, as it undermined equal treatment. It added that the criterion was discriminatory, since it excluded a proportion of employees. In its defense, the CSE argued that this condition was intended to apply to all the company's employees and to all employee categories, and was therefore in no way discriminatory.
In the end, the Court of Appeal agreed with the CSE, ruling that " seniority is an objective, non-discriminatory criterion, since it applies indiscriminately to all employees, whatever their age ".
It should be noted that in a similar case, the Rennes Court of Appeal ruled in the same vein, upholding the arguments put forward by URSSAF, which took the view that entitlement to social and cultural activities could be reserved for employees with 6 months' seniority.
An unprecedented solution from the Cour de cassation (French Supreme Court)
In a ruling handed down on April 3, 2024, the French Supreme Court ruled for the first time that the CSE cannot make entitlement to social and cultural activities conditional on a minimum length of service with the company. This solution runs counter to previous decisions in this area.
The Court aligns itself with the position of the Ministry of Labor, which in 2014 had indicated that " the difference in treatment between employees with regard to the same benefit must be based on objective and relevant reasons ". However, this did not seem compatible with criteria linked to professional activity, such as seniority or the actual presence of employees in the company.
This new verdict will mean that CSEs will have to amend their internal regulations if they include such a seniority condition. In the event of an audit, URSSAF may use this case law to reconsider exemptions from social security contributions linked to the use of the CSE pro account.