International

BI-ANNUAL TRAINING SESSIONS We offer all our clients training sessions every six months to help them adjust their HR work to include the latest changes in laws and legal rulings. The modules are organized in small groups of ten to generate an interaction between lawyers and participants and allow each person to provide feedback.   OUR TRAINING WORK Tailored training courses and skills enhancement Learning – Accessibility - Pragmatism At our clients’ request, we also provide in-house training on more specific subjects either for HR staff training or skills enhancement. The firm also ensures clients are kept abreast of developments on the issues entrusted to it and notified of any legal updates that might concern them. More generally, the daily support and advice we provide to companies enhances the skills of their staff members and secures their practices in matters of employment law. Through their daily practise and their teaching work in universities, ELSE’s lawyers have a pedagogical and pragmatic approach that allows people to understand even the most technical aspects of labour law.

How should an investigation be organized when a case of moral or sexual harassment has been reported? Which companies are required to negotiate an occupational health risk agreement? What is the procedure in the event of an employee being declared unfit to work by an occupational doctor? How long must employee files be kept? Can video surveillance evidence be used against employees? Can employees’ professional computer records and e-mail be accessed? What should be done if corrupt activities are reported? What should the code of conduct include? If obligations in matters of health and safety have always been at the forefront of employers’ responsibilities, recent legislative reforms have seen their scope widened further. Companies have become active participants in the fight against corruption and the protection of personal data.   Health and safety: company rules and regulations, psychosocial hazards, moral/ sexual harassment/ sexist behaviour surveys, procedures further to unfitness for work, gross misconduct… Personal data: Charters covering personal data management within the company, in compliance with GDPR, data conservation time limits, use of personal data as evidence in litigation proceedings, social networks etc. Anti-corruption measures: Setting up anti-corruption codes, outlining risk areas, “Sapin II” Law compliance audit, whistle-blowers’ status…

How to plan for an URSSAF inspection? What action needs to be taken on receiving notification of proceedings involving undeclared labour? In which cases is it appropriate to challenge an URSSAF inspection? Does the demand have to be immediately paid in full? [separation] ELSE is recognized for its expertise in URSSAF inspection assistance. Our lawyers’ technical competence, coupled with a great tenacity, ensures that companies’ chances of successfully challenging an URSSAF adjustment demand are maximized. Identifying risk areas (consultant / service provider contracts) Inspection assistance Employer support and representation before the Arbitration Committee and social security tribunals

PERCO or excess retirement pension scheme (Article 83)... what is the best scheme for topping up your employees’ retirement pension? How should the profit-sharing payments be made? How can an effective profit-sharing agreement be implemented when a company has several business units? What are the rules regarding the distribution of free shares to employees? [separation] Employee savings schemes are a lever for optimizing salaries. ELSE provides assistance with the setting up of employee savings schemes and employee share ownership plans adapted to each company’s needs. Profit-sharing: Auditing the structuring and optimization of group profit-sharing schemes, drafting and securing agreements (collective and fortuitous character), replying to observations made by the DIRECCTE, assisting in the event of any questioning of social contribution exemptions. Savings schemes: PEE, PEI, PEG, PERCO, PERCOG, managing matching contributions… Worktime savings scheme (Compte épargne temps - CET)  Employee and management share ownership: bonus shares, BSE, BSPCE, stock options

How should a unilateral decision regarding health costs be drafted? Are employees obliged to contribute to the scheme put in place by the employer? What exceptional cases does the company need to anticipate? Can the cover per minimum health benefit basket be increased as part of an excess benefits scheme? [separation] Our teams provide complementary social protection solutions adapted to each company’s requirements. Putting in place a company private pension scheme or provident scheme (health, invalidity, incapacity, death) adapted to the company’s needs provides better protection for your staff and optimizes wage costs (exemption scheme).   Setting up, modifying or cancelling complementary benefits schemes: excess retirement pension (e.g. Article 83), health cover, incapacity, death. Social protection scheme audit: checking of the collective nature and compulsory status, evaluation of URSSAF adjustment risk and remedial action.

At what level should the works council be introduced? What aspects need to be anticipated with regard to works council elections? When should a health and safety commission be put in place? Can the contents of the BDES (company economic and social database) be modified? Can the compulsory consultations by the works council and their timeframe be modified? When does a European works council need to be put in place? In which cases does the European works council need to be consulted? [separation] Changes in legislation mean that social dialogue is at the heart of modern labour law. Mindful of these changes, the firm provides its clients with assistance in their relations with staff representative bodies. Works councils /Local representatives: Impact study on set-up (health and safety commission, local representative, number of officers, delegation hours…), ad-hoc and compulsory annual consultations, contents of the BDES, relations with experts and consultation timeframes. Managing representative bodies within a group: elections and set-up in multi-business unit companies, allocation of duties between  central council / business unit council,  works council (drawing up agreements, nomination of the representative bodies), transnational bodies (negotiating and drawing up agreements for setting up a European works council).

What preparations are required for compulsory annual negotiations (NAOs)? Can NAOs be scheduled at a different frequency? How can NAOs be implemented to take into account gender equality? Can exceptions be made to certain provisions in a collective agreement? How can a company agreement lead to cost-savings? [separation] ELSE provides companies and HR managers with innovative and pragmatic solutions in high added-value areas (working hours, remuneration, career management…). Identifying areas for optimizing collective statutes: adjusting provisions of a collective agreement by way of a company-level agreement, in particular in matters of working hours and pay, drawing up collective statutes tailored to the company and its business. Assistance with periodic negotiations: salaries, gender equality, the right to “switch off”, GEPP/GEPC Negotiating and drawing up specific collective agreements: performance, agreements, collective contractual termination and mobility leave agreements. Working hours: identifying business-specific needs (seasonality, unforeseeable variations, itinerant staff…), choice of appropriate legal regime, optimizing exclusion modifications through company-level agreements, assisting negotiations with union or employees’ representatives, drafting of agreements.

What preparations are required for staff expatriation? Secondment/expatriation: which status to choose for staff being sent overseas? What are the tax implications for employees going to work overseas? How should an international mobility policy be decided within a group? What requirements are there for a foreign employer hiring staff in France? How do foreign companies with no French-registered entity pay salaries and social contributions in France?   Companies of all sizes are faced with managing labour relations in an international context (foreign employees, expatriation, secondment…). ELSE is able to provide bilingual lawyers with the expertise and experience needed to assist its clients on all international issues. ELSE also has a network of preferred partners in high-growth international zones Europe, United Arab Emirates, North America for global support on all questions an international business might face (immigration, tax, insurance, local legal assistance etc…). Setting up overseas: staff expatriation or secondment, choosing the appropriate legal status, identifying and optimizing the applicable social welfare schemes (CFE, CRE IRCAFEX, bilateral social security arrangement, territorial extension, private insurance). Foreign employees in France: secondment, foreign service providers/subcontractors, identifying risk areas, residency permits, prior administrative authorisation, statutory provisions, workers’ rights. Location assistance for foreign companies: setting up in France (registering with the URSSAF, hiring, work permits), assistance with labour relations (employment contracts, disciplinary measures, termination, transactions…).

How should a day-based remuneration agreement be worded to avoid any risk of subsequent litigation? In which cases should an invention clause be included? Should invention clauses include remuneration? What financial compensation should be envisaged in a restraint of trade clause? Does an employment contract have to include provisions on GDPR? [separation] ELSE assists companies with the issues encountered from the signing of the employment contract to its termination.   Employment contract matrices Technical clauses: intellectual property, invention, restraint of trade, reimbursement of training costs, variable remuneration, objectives, telecommuting, personal data (GDPR)… Contract termination: assistance with decision-making and drawing-up documents, negotiating mutual consent agreements, evaluating severance payments and assessing industrial tribunal litigation risk. Company pay policy: drawing up policies relating to variable pay, commissions, fringe benefits and remunerating inventions.

In which cases should a transition agreement be put in place? Is it preferable to negotiate an anticipatory substitution agreement? Which social status applies after a merger/ spin-off/ partial transfer of assets? What consequences does a retroactively-effective merger have on profit-sharing? Which procedure needs to be implemented when making more than 10 employees redundant for economic reasons? How is a collective contractual termination applied? How to determine the job positions impacted by a collective contractual termination? How can a reorganisation be carried out in the absence of any economic difficulty? How to negotiate a collective performance agreement? [separation] Whether it’s a merger-acquisition, demerger, partial transfer of assets or reorganisation due to economic difficulties (job preservation or voluntary redundancy scheme), ELSE puts its technical and strategic expertise at its clients’ disposal throughout the restructuring process. Social impact studies: costed estimation of the harmonizing of collective statutes, employee salaries, working hours, staff representative bodies, employee savings schemes, benefit schemes… Individual and collective redundancies for economic reasons: identifying the economic basis, procedural calendar, drawing up documents, consulting with works council, calculating severance payments and evaluating industrial tribunal litigation risks. Job preservation schemes (PSE)/ Voluntary redundancy schemes (PDV): economic report and measures included in the PSE, procedural calendar, agreement on methods, consulting with works council/European works council, redeployment procedure, termination notices, PSE follow-up and assisting with litigation.