On 1st April 2014, the French Collective Bargaining Agreement for Consulting Companies (‘SYNTEC’) was amended in relation to working time.
The social partners have reiterated their wish to ensure the respect of health and safety of employees, by adding new provisions regarding the working time system called ‘forfait en jours’ (i.e. the working time system applicable to ‘autonomous managers’).
In this respect, new obligations for employers have been introduced. The main new obligations are :
- The individual agreement signed with the autonomous manager must be completed with specific provisions (Article 4.2).
- The individual agreement must now provide for an accurate description of the employee’s autonomy and a list of specific items (the missions justifying the ‘forfait en jours’, the number of days worked per year, the employee’s remuneration)
- The employer must better control the autonomous managers’ working time (Article 4.7).
- The document established by the employer in order to monitor the number of days worked by every autonomous managers must show both the number and the date of days worked and the qualification and the date of days not worked.
- The employer must guarantee both rest periods and a reasonable balance between working time and personal life (Articles 4.8.1 and 4.8.2)
- The employer must ensure that the autonomous managers benefit from a daily rest of 11 consecutive hours and a weekly rest of 35 consecutive hours.
In this respect, the employer must :
- display a note on the company’s premises which specifies the daily and weekly periods within which autonomous managers are authorised to work;
- ensure that employees do disconnect their phones and emails, so that they can benefit from their rests ;
- include these provisions in the company’s Internal Rules, if any.
The employer must also make sure that the autonomous managers benefit from a reasonable balance between working time and personal life by (Articles 4.8.2 and 4.8.3) :
- scheduling at least two meetings per year with the employee, in order to review the employee’s working organisation, the length of professional travels, the employee’s burden of work, the number of accrued days of rest, the balance between working and personal life;
- organising a specific meeting within an eight-day period if the employee triggers an alert regarding an abnormal burden of work.
The staff representatives must be informed and consulted on this matter (Article 4.9).
The employer must inform and consult the works council every year, as well as inform the health and safety council, regarding the use of the ‘forfait en jours’ and the burden of work monitoring.
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