CSE Elections & Collective Agreements | HReact

HR Project Management

CSE Elections & Collective Agreements in France: anticipate your obligations

French labour law places two structural obligations on every employer, regardless of their country of origin. You must apply the correct collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for your sector. And once your French headcount reaches a certain threshold, you must organise elections for a Social and Economic Committee (CSE). Often underestimated by foreign companies, these requirements can create significant legal risks if not properly managed.

A software company growing from eight to twelve employees in its Paris office can suddenly find itself facing both obligations at the same time. This is a common situation, which we can manage on your behalf as part of our HR Project Management offering.

Secure my HR obligations in France

What these obligations mean for your business

Collective agreements and CSE elections are not administrative formalities. They are legal frameworks that directly affect how you pay your employees, what benefits you owe them, and how decisions affecting your French team must be handled.

The two obligations tend to arrive together: a growing headcount that triggers the CSE threshold is often also the moment when a misapplied CBA becomes financially exposed. Addressing one without the other leaves risk on the table.

Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA):
finding and applying the right one

How your CBA is determined

France has approximately 500 active collective agreements (conventions collectives), covering almost every sector of economic activity. In practice, approximately 80% of French employees are covered by fewer than 50 major agreements, which means finding the right one is manageable, but not automatic.

The primary determinant is your APE code (also referred to as the NAF code), which is assigned by INSEE when your company registers in France. This code defines your principal activity and points, in most cases, toward the applicable agreement.

Where a company operates across several distinct activities, the risk of incorrect classification increases, and the financial consequences of a mis-applied CBA (unpaid salary scales, missing benefits, incorrect notice periods) are retrospective.

Our team guides you through the provisions of your collective agreement to ensure every obligation is correctly applied.

Our role: CBA identification and transition support

We identify the collective bargaining agreement applicable to your French operation based on your principal activity and APE code. Where there is ambiguity, particularly for companies with mixed or evolving activities, we conduct the analysis necessary to reach a defensible conclusion.

Our support includes:

Identification of the applicable convention collective and verification against your current employment contracts

Gap analysis between your current salary structures, benefits and working conditions versus CBA obligations

Transition support where a change of collective agreement is required, including communication to employees and updated contractual documentation

Written analysis report with a prioritised remediation plan

One example from our HR Project Management portfolio

An Australian company in the medical devices sector engaged us to manage their transition to a new collective bargaining agreement following a change in their principal activity classification.

CSE Elections: a legal obligation you must manage

When does the obligation apply?

The obligation to establish a Comité Social et Économique arises when a company reaches 11 employees for 12 consecutive months. Once that threshold is met, the employer must initiate the electoral process within 90 days of informing employees and trade unions.

The electoral mandate runs for four years. Elections must be renewed at the end of each mandate. If a second round is required, it must take place within 15 days of the first.

Organising CSE elections is a legal obligation that should be taken seriously. If a trade union or employee formally requests elections and the employer does not act within one month, the obligation becomes immediately enforceable. Anticipating this step allows you to approach social dialogue with confidence from the start; and that is exactly what we help you do.

Our role: end-to-end CSE election management

We manage the full electoral process on your behalf. You provide the employee list. We handle the rest.

Our support includes:

Electoral back-planning aligned with legal deadlines

Drafting and sending formal notices to trade unions (syndicats)

Negotiating the pre-electoral agreement (protocole pré-électoral - PAP) with trade union representatives

Defining electoral colleges and managing candidate nominations

Organising the vote, whether physical or electronic

Drafting the CSE Internal Regulations (règlement intérieur)

Training elected members (élus du personnel) on their rights, obligations, and role in social dialogue

One example from our portfolio

An Irish pharmaceutical company engaged us for the full organisation of their CSE elections in France, from the initial notice to post-election training of elected representatives.

Why these obligations deserve your full attention

Correctly applying your collective agreement and setting up the CSE on time protects you from situations that are far more complex to unravel after the fact. A properly identified CBA from the outset ensures fair salary scales, compliant benefits, and employment relationships built on solid foundations. CSE elections organised proactively establish constructive social dialogue with your team.

Foreign employers are not making poor decisions when they overlook these obligations, they are operating within a complex French regulatory system without in-house institutional knowledge. That is precisely the gap we close.

If in doubt, it’s best to check quickly. We assess your situation and clearly outline what applies to your team.

Book a meeting to review your obligations