PARIS, July 20 (Reuters) – The government pledged on Wednesday for the third time its responsibility on the bill disputed reforming the labor market, lack of majority for the vote. According to the Department of Labor, 127 decrees will be needed to implement this text and the majority will be published in December. This sets including the rule of company agreements for the organization of work, generalizes the rule of the majority agreement and introduced the “right to switch off” for employees users of digital tools. * REORGANIZATION OF THE LABOUR CODE Each section of the Code is reorganized into three parts: what belongs to the law ( “peace”), social negotiation and supplementary provisions in the absence of collective agreement. “The primacy of the company agreement on working time becomes the common law principle,” said the memorandum. This is particularly the case for overtime pay, for which the text gives priority to the company agreement on the branch agreement. The legal duration of 35 hours is maintained, but the scope of bargaining has expanded considerably. In the absence of collective agreement on working time, the current law will apply. Trade unions and employers organizations will be involved as a result of the rewriting of the Labour Code, as part of the High Council of the social dialogue. * COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND REFERENDUM To be valid, a company agreement or settlement to be signed by unions that received at least 50% of the vote of the employees in professional elections. This provision will apply on 1 January 2017 the duration of work, rest, leave and agreements promoting employment, on 1 September 2019 for other subjects. Otherwise, if the agreement is signed by unions that received at least 30% of the votes, they may request an employee consultation. The agreement will be validated if it is approved by a majority of votes cast. * ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL BRANCHES The branches will make an annual assessment of company agreements to check their impact on working conditions and competition. They can then make recommendations that will be considered by the social partners. The branch trading defines warranties for employees in the same sector, occupation or form of activity and aims to regulate competition between companies in the industry. The social partners will engage in each branch within two years from the enactment of this law negotiation to determine the topics on which company agreements may not be less favorable than sectoral agreements, where the law does not specify the primacy of the former over the latter. The primacy of sectoral agreements is maintained in six areas, including minimum wages, classifications, preventing hardship and equality between men and women. The branches will set the trading method in companies with no agreement on this and conclude the applicable standard agreements for very small businesses and SMEs. * RESTRUCTURING OF BRANCHES PROFESSIONAL Labour Minister commit to December 31, 2016 the merger of branches whose scope is only local or regional and have not concluded a collective agreement or an amendment during the 15 years preceding the publication of the law. At the end of a period of three years after enactment, commit the merger of those with fewer than 5,000 employees or who have not concluded an agreement for 10 years. * MANDATED AND EMPLOYEES UNION ACTIVITIES In companies no union delegate (that is to say de facto TPME-SME), an employee or several employees will be instructed by one or more trade unions to negotiate on all open topics to collective bargaining, including the “offensive agreements.” Franchise networks of at least 300 employees, upon request of at least a company network or a representative union, put in place by negotiating a representative body. Delegation hours Stewards are increased by 20%. * MAXIMUM WORKING It will be possible to exceed the maximum weekly working time (44 hours) within the limit of 46 hours over 12 weeks in a row by company agreement, merely by branch agreement. A company agreement, establishment or branch can provide for a maximum working week of 46 hours over 12 consecutive weeks. Exceptionally, overtaking can be allowed under conditions determined by decree. A convention or a business or branch agreement may provide for exceeding the daily maximum of ten hours, provided they remain within the limits of 12 hours. * OVERTIME AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION Time worked beyond 35 hours is an additional hour. A company agreement, establishment or branch can set the overtime pay at a rate not less than 10%. Such an agreement may provide for the replacement of all or part of the payment for these hours by a “compensatory rest”. Failing agreement, the increase will be 25% for the additional first eight hours, then 50%. If the work is organized on a reference period than the week, a company agreement may bring to one year, three if a branch agreement allows. If no collective agreement, the employer may distribute working hours of up to nine weeks for companies with fewer than 50 employees, four for others. * PENALTY PAYMENTS, AND REST DAY PACKAGES A company agreement, establishment or branch can arrange periodic penalty payments, notice period and compensation. Otherwise, penalties and compensation
shall be determined by the employer after consultation with the works council or staff delegates. The annual packages in hours or days will be set up by a collective agreement of business or establishment or, failing that, by an agreement or a branch agreement. If no collective agreement, individual agreement annual working days may be concluded under certain conditions. The social partners must commit before 1 October 2016 negotiations on the development of remote working rules, the evaluation of the employees workload package-days, taking account of the use of digital tools and the possible splitting their rest. * AGREEMENTS “OFFENSIVE” The bill proposes to go beyond the maintenance of agreements in employment, for modulating working time and remuneration in companies in difficulty. It will now be possible to conclude this type of collective agreement for the “development of employment” if the company wants, for example, to conquer new markets. Its provisions will replace “of right to contrary and inconsistent clauses of the employment contract, including in terms of pay and working hours.” The text, however, that the agreement “shall not have the effect of reducing the monthly pay of the employee.” An employee refusing the modification of its contract under this agreement can be terminated according to the individual redundancy procedure without either get one, that is to say without involve compulsory reclassification. The dismissal of “specific pattern” will however be entitled to an enhanced support funded by the state. * ECONOMIC REDUNDANCIES The text incorporates the motifs from the case law that could justify redundancies: drop in orders or sales, operating losses, deteriorating cash gross operating surplus. These economic difficulties must be registered for at least one quarter in companies with fewer than 11 employees, two consecutive quarters in those aged 11 to 49 employees, three in those 50 to 299 employees, four for those 300 and older. Also considered as grounds for redundancy of technological change, a reorganization of the company “necessary to safeguard its competitiveness” or the cessation of its activity. The text does not mention geographic scope for appreciation of the difficulties. It will be determined by the present law. “It relies on the wisdom of the Supreme Court”, it is said a government source. * ACCOUNT PERSONAL ACTIVITY (CPA) The text sets up a first step of this device, designed to bring together all employment rights, regardless of the status of the holder, and follow him throughout his career, even if unemployment, job change, moving abroad, or for a person who asserts his right to retire. It is extended to all young people over 16 years and in particular to artists authors and freelancers. In this first step, it consists of personal training accounts (CPF) and the prevention of hardship and new account “citizen engagement”. This will identify the activities of volunteer or volunteers, giving in particular the right to earn training hours in the 60 hours. For employees without qualifications, the CPF will be fed at the rate of 48 hours of training per year instead of 24 in the common law, with a ceiling of 400 hours. The implementation of the CPA is scheduled for 1 January 2017 (one year later for the self-employed). * WARRANTY YOUTH “youth guarantee” which offers 16-25 non student without financial support from their parents, no job, no training an “accompanying course” towards employment and independence, will be a right universal from 1 January 2017. * REPRESENTATION oF eMPLOYER ORGANISATIONS to measure the employers audience, are taken into account, each at 50%, the number of member companies of employers’ organizations and the number of salaried employees by the same companies. The credits of the National Joint Fund, fed by a fee of 0.016% of payroll and a state grant, will be divided among these organizations to 50% depending on the number of employees, 50% according to the member companies. For mandates within the fund, the distribution key will be based 30% on the number of member companies and 70% on that of their employees. (Emmanuel Jarry, edited by Yves Clarisse) 
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