Social and Economic Committee (ESC)

The ESC must be introduced in all companies with 11 or more employees:

• Employers governed by private law and their employees, whatever the legal form and the company's activity (commercial businesses, civil businesses, associations)
• Public industrial and commercial establishments
• Public administrative establishments employing staff under private law

The employer organizes all 4 years the election of the members of the ESC. A collective agreement may set a further period of between 2 and 4 years.

The ESC includes the employer and one staff delegation.

The staff delegation shall comprise an equal number of members and alternates. The alternate shall attend meetings in the absence of the holder.

In the companies less than 300 employees, on shop steward is automatically a trade union representative at the CSE.

In the companies more than 300 employees, each representative trade union organization in the company or the institution may appoint a representative to sit on the ESC.

The occupational physician and the internal head of the safety department shall attend the meetings of the ESC on health, safety and working conditions.

Terms of reference of the ESC

The role of the staff delegation to the EESC is to present the employer with individual or group claims on the following points:

• Wages
• Application of the Labor Code and other legal provisions concerning social protection
• Conventions and agreements applicable in the company

It contributes to promoting health, safety and working conditions in the company. She's doing investigations accidents at work or occupational or occupational diseases.

Members may refer to the Labor Inspectorate all complaints and observations relating to the application of the legal provisions which the ESC is responsible for monitoring.

The CSE is informed and consulted on matters concerning the organization, management and general operation of the company, including:

• Measures likely to affect the size or structure of the workforce
• Change in its economic or legal organization
• Conditions of employment, working conditions, including hours of work, and vocational training
• Introduction of new technologies, any major changes in health and safety conditions or working conditions
• Measures taken to facilitate the entry into or retention at work of the sick, the injured, the disabled and disabled workers, in particular the fitting-out of workstations

Expression of employees

The CSE's mission is to ensure the collective expression of employees allowing their interests to be taken into account on an ongoing basis in decisions on:

• Management and economic and financial development of the company
• Organization of work
• Vocational training
• Production techniques

General organization of the company

The CSE is informed and consulted on questions concerning the organization, management and general operation of the company, in particular on the following points:

• Measures likely to affect the size or structure of the workforce
• Change in its economic or legal organization
• Conditions of employment, working conditions, including hours of work, and vocational training
• Introduction of new technologies, any major changes in health and safety conditions or working conditions
• Measures taken to facilitate the entry into or retention at work of the sick, the injured, the disabled and disabled workers, in particular the fitting-out of workstations

The CSE may display the information it is responsible for making employees aware of mandatory locations and at the entrance doors to the workplace.

Health and safety in the company

In the field of health, safety and working conditions, the EESC has the following tasks:

• Analyzes the occupational risks to which workers, in particular pregnant women, may be exposed
• Helps to facilitate women's access to all jobs and to solve problems related to motherhood
• Participates in the adaptation and fitting-out of workplaces to facilitate access to and maintenance of all jobs for people with disabilities during their working life
• May initiate any initiative which it considers useful and may propose, in particular, measures to prevent bullying, sexual harassment and gender-based behavior

The ESC carries out regular inspections of health, safety and working conditions. It carries out investigations into accidents at work or occupational or occupational diseases.

Labor inspection

During the visits of the labor inspectorate control officer, the members of the staff delegation at the EESC are informed of his presence by the employer. They may make their comments.

The control officer shall be accompanied by a member of the delegation of the staff of the Committee, if the latter so wishes.

Proposals

The ESC shall, on its own initiative, draw up and examine, at the request of the employer, any proposal for improving the following points:

• Working conditions, employment and vocational training of employees
• Living conditions in the company
• Conditions under which they benefit from additional collective guarantees

Consultation

The EESC is consulted on the following topics:

• Company Strategic Directions
• Economic and financial situation of the company
• Company social policy, working conditions and employment
• Implementation of the means of monitoring the activity of employees
• Restructuring and downsizing
• Collective redundancy for economic reasons
• Takeover bid
• Safeguard, recovery and winding-up proceedings

Right of alert

The members of the ESC shall be entitled to right of alert allowing the employer to request clarification in the following situations:

• Violation of the rights of individuals (e.g. psychological harassment), their physical and mental health or individual freedoms (e.g. freedom of expression, opinion) in the company
• Serious and imminent danger to public health and the environment
• Knowledge of facts likely to have a worrying effect on the economic situation of the company
• Knowledge of facts that may characterize an abuse of fixed-term employment contracts (fixed-term contracts)

Membership of the Board of Directors

In the businesses, 2 members of the EESC staff delegation attend all meetings of the Management Board or Supervisory Board in an advisory capacity. They may also attend general meetings.

Commissions

The number of commissions varies according to the size of the company.

To carry out its tasks, the EESC benefits from means (budget, premises, billboard, training of EESC members...) according to the size of the company.

Yes, full members of the CSE benefit delegation hours to carry out their duties during their working time without losing pay.

This number of hours shall be at least 18 hours per month.

The time spent in the EESC meeting is paid as working time. It is not deducted from these delegation hours.

The number of members and the number of hours of delegation of ESC staff vary according to the size of the company.

The number of ESC meetings shall be fixed by collective agreement, but may not be less than 6 per year.

In the absence of agreement, the ESC shall meet at least:

• Once every 2 months in companies with less than 300 employees
• 1 time per month in companies with more than 300 employees

The meetings of the ESC bring together the employer or his representative and the members of the staff delegation.

Members of the staff delegation to the EESC shall benefit protection against dismissal : they are protected employees.

The protected employee status ensures that the dismissal of the employee is not related to his or her duties as employee representative. This protection is intended, in particular, to protect him from possible reprisals by the employer.