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CLA/CBA... Easy Peasy? Or Nightmare?

Written by
Timothée Jacques
Estimated reading time:
...
Last updated on
6 December 2022
Quick Summary
CLA or CBA. 2 acronyms that will have a huge impact on your development in France. What are we talking about ? CLA/CBA = Collective Labour Agreement or Collective Bargaining Agreement.

📖 A CBA is a set of rules that have been negotiated by trade unions representing the employers and employees in a specific sector (industry, insurance, banking, transport etc.). They settle a lot of important topics in France: minimum wages, probationary period, notice period, working hours, training, health and life insurance etc.

Coming to France and thinking about hiring your first employees will mean identifying which CBA apply to your new business.

⚖️ Don’t worry, nobody in France knows how many CBAs we have!! Roughly between 600 to 700. Relax… 80% of our French employees are in 50 of them.

You would be unlucky if your activity was linked to a very isolated CBA!

How do you find yours?
🏢 Well…one criteria: your main activity. What is your company’s core business? This can be a simple question or a bit more complex one if your company has several activities.

It can be a strategic one even before creating your legal entities, if your business does many different things:
▶️ Would you prefer to split your activities into different legal entities? That way, each activity could benefit from the most appropriate CBA. But you will have the downside of having to manage more than one entity.
▶️ Would you just stick to one legal entity and usually one CBA which could be a poor fit for all your activities?

👋 Welcome to France guys! Every important decision has to be thought twice, to anticipate and always have “un coup d’avance”.

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Article written by
Timothée Jacques
Timothée is an HR and Employment Law professional with over 15 years of experience across banking, retail, and luxury industries in Europe. Holding a Master's Degree in Employment Law from La Sorbonne, he has built and secured HR operations for renowned brands such as Société Générale, Dr. Martens, Lululemon, and Richard Mille.
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