The next social elections will in principle take place in May 2024, subject to confirmation, but the reference period begins now.
To know whether or not a company should set up a works council (EC) or a committee for prevention and protection at work (CPPT), it is necessary to check whether the thresholds of 50 or 100 workers are crossed at the level of a given “technical operating unit” (UTE). In short, the UTE is an entity that enjoys a certain economic and social autonomy. It can coincide with the legal entity, be made up of several legal entities, just as an entity can have several UTEs.
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To know whether or not a company should set up a works council (EC) or a committee for prevention and protection at work (CPPT), it is necessary to check whether the thresholds of 50 or 100 workers are crossed at the level of a given “technical operating unit” (UTE). In short, the UTE is an entity that enjoys a certain economic and social autonomy. It can coincide with the legal entity, be made up of several legal entities, just as an entity can have several UTEs. Admittedly, if the next social elections do take place in May 2024, the procedure will only start in December 2023, but the end of 2022 and especially the year 2023 will be strategic from two points of view for employers. On the one hand, unless modified, it is on the average of the Dimona declarations for the last quarter of 2022 and the first three of 2023 that it will be necessary to see whether the thresholds of 50 or 100 workers have been reached. Indeed, since the last elections, the reference period is anticipated by one quarter and therefore begins on October 1, 2022. For companies close to these thresholds which wish to avoid a CPPT or a CE, it is therefore necessary to monitor commitments now. and outings over this period or use externals. In addition, the second quarter of 2023 will be decisive for the use of temporary workers because it is over this last quarter that it will be necessary, unless there is a change, to calculate the average of the temporary workers who would be employed (excluding replacement contracts) in the company in order to add it to the average of all workers. Here too, it is a novelty. On the other hand, to determine the UTE(s) to be taken into account to assess the thresholds, 2023 will also be crucial. Indeed, a strategy to avoid the establishment of a CPPT or a CE is also to play on the notion of UTE by taking care to organize or maintain several UTE which each remains below the threshold. But this strategy requires – especially for groups – to ensure that the social criterion, which takes precedence over the economic criterion, is met. So keep separate worker populations with separate leadership/management, different contracts, policies and regulations, in geographically separate premises, with different company culture, etc. It may thus be recommended to wait until after the election to launch the integration of two companies. In short, it is already time to set the company’s strategy for the elections, today’s decisions binding it until 2024. Indeed, contrary to the union delegation, the assessment of the UTE and thresholds for elections is historical and not dynamic. That is to say that this determination occurs once in December 2023 and that if a company does not reach 50 workers over the reference period, it will not have to set up a CPPT before 2028, even if it were to exceed the threshold in the meantime.An article by Christophe Delmarcelle, Cabinet DEL-Law Substitute judge at the Brussels Labor Court
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