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Industrial tribunal procedure the law of August 6, 2015 , in its social section, aims to speed up industrial tribunal justice. To do this, the prerogatives of the conciliation office, renamed the conciliation and orientation office for the occasion, are extended. In addition, a new possibility has been introduced, the possibility for the conciliation office to refer directly to the judgment office chaired by a professional judge either at the request of the parties, or because of the complexity of the case .
Extension of the prerogatives and role of the Conciliation and Guidance Office:-
First of all, the so-called Macron law enshrines the primary mission of the BCO in the Labor Code: “The conciliation and orientation office is responsible for reconciling the parties.
As part of this mission, the conciliation and guidance office can hear each of the parties separately and in complete confidentiality.
Each party must appear personally at the hearing before the BCO, be represented or be able to invoke a legitimate reason to justify their absence.
Article L. 1454-1-3 of the Labor Code also specifies that: “If, except for legitimate reasons, a party does not appear, personally or represented, the conciliation and orientation office can judge the case , in the state of the parts. and means that the appearing party has communicated in a contradictory manner.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods under the Macron Law: –
In this case, the Conciliation and Orientation Office decides as a judge in its restricted composition mentioned in Article L. 1423-13”.
Thus, the parties can no longer consider the summons before the conciliation and orientation office as optional at the risk of seeing the dispute be decided directly by the BCO in restricted formation.
Then, if no conciliation is possible, then the BCO can refer the parties, according to the new article L. 1454-1-1 of the Labor Code: before the trial court in its restricted formation composed of an employer adviser and a staff adviser. This referral to the restricted training is only possible with the agreement of the parties and for disputes relating to a dismissal or a request for judicial termination. This training has three months to decide;
before the Judgment Office in its tie-breaking formation, if the parties so request or if the nature of the dispute justifies it. Litigation judges are now magistrates of the tribunal de grande instance and no longer of the district court. They are appointed each year by the president of the TGI in particular for their particular knowledge in the matter;
and failing that, before the judgment office in its traditional composition (two advisers from the personnel and two advisers from the employer).
In addition, the conciliation and guidance office now has a real role in bringing cases to light. During this phase, the parties will exchange their documents and submissions, respecting the adversarial principle, in order to present the final submissions before the registry. One or two rapporteur advisers can be appointed so that the case can be judged. They prescribe all the necessary measures for this purpose. The control agents communicate to the reporting advisers, at the request of the latter and without being able to oppose professional secrecy, the information and documents relating to concealed work, bargaining or the illicit loan of labor in their possession.
Finally, and before any trial, it is possible to resort to alternative dispute resolution methods. To unclog the labor courts, the Macron law generalizes the possibility for the parties to resort to two methods of amicable settlement of disputes. In both cases, the parties try to reach an agreement.
On the one hand we find conventional mediation, with this procedure, the parties try to find an agreement for the amicable resolution of their disputes, with the help of a third party, the mediator. It is defined by article 1530 of the code of civil procedure which specifies: “Mediation governed by this title designates, pursuant to articles 21 and 21-2 of the law of February 8, 1995 referred to above, any structured procedure, by which two or more parties attempt to reach an agreement, outside of any legal proceedings, with a view to the amicable resolution of their disputes, with the help of a third party chosen by them who accomplishes his mission with impartiality, competence and diligence. »
On the other hand, it is possible to use the participatory procedure. Established by Law No. 2010-1609 of December 22, 2010, it allows the parties, before any trial, to settle the conflict amicably with the assistance of a lawyer . In this context, they can benefit from legal aid. From now on, the employee and the employer can use the participatory procedure in the context of disputes related to the employment contract, hitherto excluded. In the event of failure of the participatory procedure, the parties are not exempted from appearing before the BCO.
To complete this article, we invite you to read our brief published in 2016 concerning the implementing decree .
