Court of cassation investigates overtime quotas

Following a judgment taken on 1 March 2017, the Court of Cassation ruled against the fixing of the quota of overtime through a joint agreement.

 

The value of the said agreement, which derogates from the branch agreement, is thus known.

 

In the case which led to the judgment in question, an undertaking was subject to the national collective agreement of the chemical industries.

 

It signed with the Single Employee Delegation a company agreement dated April 19, 2011, mentioning the annual quota of overtime hours at a threshold of 220 hours per employee, which was well beyond that defined by the Branch agreement.

 

The agreement was even validated by the joint committee on 31 August 2011 and registered by the DIRECCTE on 08 September 2011.

 

However, the parties to this agreement were summoned before a regional court by the National Federation of Chemical Industries (CGT)

 

The Appeal Court judgement

 

It was through a judgment handed down on the 3rd of November 2015 that the  Appeal Court of Versailles gave a verdict in favour of the national federation.

 

The enterprise agreement of the 19th of April 2011, which defined an overtime quota higher than that initially fixed by the branch agreement, was to be canceled.

 

It was further clarified that although the Constitutional Council had decided that the parties concerned could agree, via company agreements, on a different number of hours since the law of 20 August 2008 had been published, Would only be possible if prior agreements were terminated.

 

Obviously, this was not the case with the sectoral framework agreement of 8 February 1999.à travers un arrêt du 3 novembre 2015 que la Cour d’appel de Versailles a donné un verdict en faveur de la fédération nationale.

 

The contrary ruling by the Court of cassation

The Court of Cassation clearly had a different view on the matter, stating that, according to certain provisions of the Labour Code, an annual number of overtime hours could be worked on on the basis of an enterprise agreement, even if the number of hours planned was different from that provided for in the branch contract.