FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Laetitia Tombarello and Audrey Demourgues, Bredin Prat
a limited number of cases, namely for the breach of provisions relating to: • discrimination; • health;
• Conciliation is an optional alternative dispute resolution method for collective labour disputes whereby the parties try to reach a mutually accept - able settlement of their dispute via a third party. Conciliation takes place before a commission con - sisting of three members, representing employees, employers and the state. This type of conciliation process must not be confused with the conciliation hearing, which takes place before the Labour Court and is part of the common judicial procedure. • Mediation is another alternative dispute resolution method, which may be implemented following a failure of the conciliation process or upon request. Unlike the conciliator, the mediator has certain powers (to make enquiries, seek expert opinions, etc). Mediation can be used in collective or indi - vidual labour disputes. • Arbitration is a third alternative dispute resolution method whereby the parties entrust an arbitrator to take a decision either at law or in equity with regard to the dispute. However, case law has specified that arbitration clauses provided in employment contracts are not enforceable against individual employees – ie, employees can still choose to refer their case to the Labour Court instead, even if a clause provides for mandatory arbitration. 9.3 Costs Courts in France typically order the losing party to pay for the costs of proceedings ( entiers dépens ). In addition, parties usually make a specific claim for the payment of a lump-sum indemnity pursuant to Article 700 of the Civil Procedure Code, which covers their attorney’s fees and other legal fees in whole or in part. In most cases, the losing party is sentenced to pay this indemnity, although its amount may be lowered if the court deems it to be too high, which it is more likely to do when the losing party is the employee.
• environment; and • data protection.
Such class actions may seek to obtain compliance with the law and, if appropriate, the award of dam - ages. A new Act dated 30 April 2025 (the “DDADUE Act”) implements a comprehensive overhaul of class action procedures, establishing a unified regime and broad - ening the scope of class actions. These new provi - sions, which apply to all class action proceedings initiated on or after 3 May 2025, are expected to sig - nificantly impact labour law litigation in the coming years. For more details on the regime applicable to labour law disputes, see theTrends and Developments chapter in this guide. Representation Representation in front of the Labour Court is not mandatory, and employees sometimes represent themselves or are represented by certified trade union representatives instead of attorneys. However, attor - ney representation is mandatory in front of the Court of Appeal and the Civil Court. 9.2 Alternative Dispute Resolution Alternative dispute resolution is not common practice in labour and employment law matters in France; in the event of a dispute, the matter is usually referred to the courts. That being said, in practice, collective labour disputes such as strikes may be resolved by various means other than judicial proceedings, such as arbitration, mediation and conciliation, which con - stitute alternative dispute resolution.
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