In small businesses, elections to the CSE are necessary even in the absence of a candidate. The exemption according to which, if no employee declared their intention to present themselves, companies with 11 to 20 employees were exempt from organizing elections to the CSE, ended in July 2023. Emmanuel Labrousse, one of the leaders of Walter France's Social working group, explains the obligations incumbent on businesses.
Employers must take care, From now on, to organize these elections, whether or not an employee declares their candidacy in advance. It is a very standardized electoral procedure. When the threshold of eleven employees has been crossed for twelve consecutive months, the employer must inform the staff, every four years, of the organization of the CSE elections. The electoral procedure begins with an invitation to trade union organizations to come and negotiate the pre-electoral memorandum of understanding and continues with the holding of a first round of voting and a second round of voting. (only in the absence of a quorum or in the absence of seats filled during the first ballot). However, Article L2314-5 of the Labor Code provides for an exemption for companies with 11 to 20 employees. In these companies, the employer is only required to invite trade union organizations to come and negotiate the pre-election memorandum of understanding on the condition that at least one employee has stood as a candidate in the elections within thirty days from the date of information about the holding of elections. In practice, this simplified procedure for companies with 11 to 20 employees resulted in, until then, in the absence of a candidate within thirty days, by completing the electoral process and drawing up a specific deficiency report, without organization of the two rounds of voting.
Two mandatory rounds of voting
Since last year, in very small companies with 11 to 20 employees, even if no employee expresses their intention to report within the thirty-day period, two rounds of voting must be organized. The Cerfa deficiency report has been modified in this sense.
Exemption from the memorandum of understanding
However, it remains possible for employers, when there is no candidate, to dispense with the invitation to trade union organizations to come and negotiate the pre-election memorandum of understanding in compliance with the conditions referred to above. In this scenario, the terms of organization of the election must be set out in an information note established by the employer.
To note : the minutes of professional elections must be sent to the following address : CTEP — TSA92315 — 62971 Arras Cedex 9.
