French Labour Code
In forceI.-In the event of receivership or compulsory liquidation, the employer, administrator or liquidator, as the case may be, who envisages redundancies, implements a redundancy plan under the conditions set out in articles L. 1233-24-1 to L. 1233-24-4.
The employer, administrator or liquidator, as the case may be, convenes and consults the social and economic committee under the conditions set out in article L. 2323-31 and in articles :
1° L. 1233-8, for collective redundancies of less than ten employees ;
2° L. 1233-29, first paragraph, for redundancies involving at least ten employees in a company with less than fifty employees;
3° L. 1233-30, I with the exception of the last paragraph, and the last paragraph of II, for redundancies of at least ten employees in a company with at least fifty employees;
4° L. 1233-34 and L. 1233-35 first paragraph and, where applicable, L. 2325-35 and L. 4614-12-1 of the Labour Code relating to the use of experts;
5° L. 1233-31 to L. 1233-33, L. 1233-48 and L. 1233-63, relating to the nature of information and the content of social measures sent to staff representatives and to the administrative authority;
6° L. 1233-49, L. 1233-61 and L. 1233-62, relating to the employment protection plan;
7° L. 1233-57-5 and L. 1233-57-6, for redundancies of at least ten employees in a company with at least fifty employees.
II - For redundancies of at least ten employees in a company with at least fifty employees, the agreement mentioned in article L. 1233-24-1 is validated and the document mentioned in article L. 1233-24-4, drawn up by the employer, administrator or liquidator, is approved under the conditions set out in articles L. 1233-57-1 to L. 1233-57-3, in the second and third paragraphs of article L. 1233-57-4 and in article L. 1233-57-7.
Notwithstanding 1° of Article L. 1233-57-3, without prejudice to the search, as appropriate, by the administrator, liquidator or employer, in the event of receivership or compulsory liquidation, for the resources of the group to which the employer belongs in order to draw up the job protection plan, the administrative authority approves the job protection plan after ensuring that it complies with Articles L. 1233-61 to L. 1233-63 with regard to the resources available to the company.
Exceptionally, in the light of the circumstances and reasons justifying the failure to draw up the statement of default referred to in article L. 2324-8, the administrative authority may take a decision to approve the plan.
The deadlines provided for in the first paragraph of article L. 1233-57-4 are reduced, from the last meeting of the social and economic committee, to eight days in the event of receivership and to four days in the event of compulsory liquidation.
The employer, administrator or liquidator may not, on pain of irregularity, terminate the employment contracts before notification of the favourable validation or approval decision, or the expiry of the periods mentioned in the fourth paragraph of this II.
In the event of an unfavourable validation or approval decision, the employer, administrator or liquidator shall consult the social and economic committee within three days. Depending on the case, the amended document and the opinion of the social and economic committee or an amendment to the collective agreement are sent to the administrative authority, which gives its decision within three days.
In the event of redundancies occurring in the absence of any decision relating to validation or homologation, or in the event of annulment of a decision having validated or homologated the agreement, the court shall award the employee compensation payable by the employer, which may not be less than the last six months' salary. Article L. 1235-16 does not apply.
In the event of annulment of a validation decision referred to in article L. 1233-57-2 or approval decision referred to in article L. 1233-57-3 on the grounds that insufficient reasons were given, the administrative authority shall take a new decision, giving sufficient reasons, within fifteen days of notification of the judgment to the administration. The employer shall bring this decision to the attention of the employees made redundant following the first decision to validate or approve, by any means capable of conferring a definite date on this information.
Once the administrative authority has issued this new decision, the annulment of the first decision by the administrative authority for the sole reason that it did not provide sufficient reasons has no impact on the validity of the dismissal and does not give rise to the payment of compensation by the employer.
III - In the event of the redundancy of at least ten employees in a company with at least fifty employees provided for in the safeguard plan drawn up in accordance with article L. 626-10 of the French Commercial Code, the periods provided for in the first paragraph of article L. 1233-57-4 of this Code are reduced to eight days. They run from the date of receipt of the application for validation or approval, which is subsequent to the judgment adopting the plan.
If the administrative authority refuses to validate or approve the plan, the employer must consult the social and economic committee within three days. Depending on the case, the amended document and the opinion of the social and economic committee, or an amendment to the collective agreement, are sent to the administrative authority, which gives its decision within three days.
