Collective agreements: the judge who pronounces an annulment can decide to modulate its effects over time
Since the Macron ordinances, more specifically Ordinance No. 2017-1385 of September 22, 2017 relating to the strengthening of collective bargaining, when a judge cancels a collective agreement, he has the possibility of modulating the effects of this nullity over time. . The purpose of this system: to secure collective agreements, by limiting the negative consequences that retroactive cancellation can entail.
For the first time, the Court of Cassation was led to look into this subject, on the occasion of a dispute involving the collective agreement for phonographic publishing. This, signed on June 30, 2008, was extended to the entire sector by decree of March 20, 2009. Several unions have requested the cancellation of certain articles of its appendix no. 3, relating to employment conditions, remuneration and social guarantees for salaried performers.
The first judges had pronounced the cancellation of the litigious articles. However, they had decided to postpone the effects of this cancellation to 9 months, i.e. to October 1, 2019. For the judges, the goal was to leave a reasonable period of time for the social partners to agree on a new...
