Environmental protection and labor relations within the company

With the recent law for “tackling climate change and strengthening resilience”, the issue of environmental protection becomes part and parcel of labor relations within the company.

Subsequently, from now on, in companies with at least 50 employees, the Social and Economic Committee (Comité Social et Economique (CSE)) must be informed about the environmental consequences of the company’s activity during the recurrent consultations about its strategic orientations, economic and financial situation, social policy, working conditions and jobs.

Similarly, the CSE must be informed and consulted about the environmental consequences of the measures which are the subject of the specific information and consultations relating to the organization, management, and general operation of the company and particularly about:

- measures likely to affect the volume or structure of the workforce;

- the modification of its economic or legal organization;

- jobs and working conditions (working hours, vocational training, etc.);

- the introduction of new technologies, any major adjustments modifying health and safety conditions or working conditions;

- the measures taken to facilitate the placing, return or retention at work of injured and disabled workers, particularly about the adaptation of workstations.

Remark: The information on the environmental consequences of the company’s activity must be recorded in the economic and social database (Base de Données Economiques et Sociales (BDES)), now renamed the “economic, social and environmental database” (Base de Données Economiques, Sociales et Environnementales (BDESE)).

In addition, in companies with at least 300 employees that have not concluded the so-called “adaptation agreement for periodic negotiations”, the negotiation to be conducted every three years about manpower and skills forecasting must now meet the challenges of the ecological transition.