Case law news: Referral to the DREETS on the allocation of staff and seats automatically extends mandates
Cass. Soc., 8 novembre 2023, no.22-22.524
When negotiations on the distribution of staff and seats between colleges with a view to the
CSE elections fail to produce an agreement, the employer must refer the matter to the
Labour authorities. The legal effect of such a referral is to extend the current terms of office
until the election results are announced, even if the Dreets refuses to rule on the grounds that
no fair attempt was made to negotiate.

Case law news: Accrual of paid leave during sick leave: case referred to the Constitutional Council
Cass. Soc., 15 novembre 2023, no.23-14.806
Even though the precedents of the Labour Court of September 13, 2023, are currently under review of the Constitutional Council, the Government has announced that the legislator will intervene during the first quarter of 2024 to transpose into French law the case law resulting from the rulings on the acquisition of paid leave during sick leave.

Case law news: Contractual termination may be offered as an alternative to dismissal
Cass. Soc., 15 novembre 2023, no.22-16.957
In this ruling, the Labour Court held that, as long as the employee did not prove a defect in consent, the prospect of dismissal for gross misconduct did not affect the validity of the approved
contractual termination of an employee’s contract, who had not exercised his right to withdraw and had not established that the contractual termination had been imposed by the employer. As a result, there is no reason to question the contractual termination agreement.

Case law news: Notice of the preliminary interview cannot be sent during maternity
leave
Cass. Soc., 29 novembre 2023, no.22-15.794
During the period of protection corresponding to maternity leave and the paid leave associated with it, the employer may not initiate the dismissal procedure by sending the letter of invitation
to the preliminary interview.

Case law news: duty of care in cases of harassment, undeclared work and unlawful
subcontracting
Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris, 05 décembre 2023, no.21/15827
For the first time before the French courts, a company (La Poste) has been ordered, on the basis of a breach of its duty of vigilance, introduced by law no. 2017-399 of 27 March 2017, to accompany its vigilance plan with a more detailed risk map, in particular on the existence of risks related to illegal employment, on the implementation of an alert and reporting mechanism, and
on the implementation of a monitoring system to ensure the implementation of measures related to psycho-social risks or harassment.

FOCUS ON THE 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES :

D. n°2023-1078 of 23 November 2023, published in the Journal Officiel on 24
November. 2024 Olympics: derogation from the weekly rest period for broadcasting and
organizing the Games

Certain companies, particularly in the audiovisual sector, which will be experiencing an
extraordinary increase in workload due to the 2024 Olympic Games, will be able to
derogate from the obligation to grant their employees weekly rest from 18 July to 14
August. In return, the employees concerned will benefit from compensatory rest granted
immediately after 14 August 2024, and the companies will have to inform the Labour
Inspectorate in advance.