The Paris Industrial Tribunal (conseil de prud’hommes) is made up of around 800 industrial tribunal advisors.
In 2023, it recorded 10,358 referrals to the merits.
The Court of Auditors published a report on industrial tribunals in June 2023.
1) Saisines au fond
After a drop in the number of referrals to the merits in 2022, the Paris industrial tribunal once again experienced an increase in its number of referrals to the merits in 2023.
Thus, 10,520 referrals to the merits were made in 2021, compared to 9,731 in 2022 and 10,358 in 2023.
With 4,271 referrals, it is the management section which is the most referred to the Paris industrial tribunal, followed by the commerce section seized 3,001 times.
This figure is particularly interesting, especially since at the national level, it is the commerce section which is the most seized.
2) Affaires terminées au fond
While in 2022 10,513 cases were completed on the merits, this figure is decreasing: 9,275 were completed on the merits in 2023.
More generally, while on average 13,321 cases were concluded on the merits per year between 2016 and 2020, this average drops to 10,331 per year between 2019 and 2023.
This slowdown can, however, be partly explained by the covid-19 pandemic which had a major impact on the functioning of justice in 2020, a year during which 8,629 cases were terminated.
It is interesting to see that in 2023, among the 9,275 cases concluded on the merits, 1,505 cases ended at the conciliation stage before the conciliation and guidance office, 5,212 ended with a judgment on the merits , and 2,558 ended for another reason.
It should be noted that there has been a development in amicable settlement of disputes via a conciliation report pursuant to article L1235-1 of the Labor Code.
In this regard, the number of conciliations taking place in BCO is much higher in the management section than in the other sections.
3) Referrals (référés).
As for summary proceedings, the figures are increasing, both for referrals and for completed cases.
Thus, in 2022, the Paris industrial tribunal had 1,352 referrals for summary proceedings, compared to 1,511 in 2023.
Regarding completed cases, there are 1,456 in 2022 and 1,499 in 2023.
4) Business in stock.
At the end of 2023, the Paris Industrial Court had 14,900 cases in stock, that is to say awaiting judgment, of which 6,269 fell within the jurisdiction of the Supervision section.
This figure is up compared to the year 2022, at the end of which the Paris industrial tribunal had 13,739 cases in stock.
However, this figure can be correlated with the increase in the number of referrals to the merits.
5) Procedural deadlines.
While the average duration of procedures increased significantly in 2020, particularly due to the covid-19 pandemic, to reach 20.5 months, this figure has since fallen.
Thus, the average duration of a procedure before the Paris Industrial Tribunal is 16.7 months in 2021, 17.5 months in 2022 and 17.1 months in 2023.
6) High call rate.
The Court of Auditors notes in a report established in June 2023 that
“With more than one in two decisions subject to appeal, the industrial tribunals constitute the jurisdictions for which the appeal rate is the highest, far ahead of the former high courts on judgments in the first instance. More significantly, for justice rendered by non-professional judges, the appeal rate for commercial courts is very lower: 15% in 2019 compared to 60% for industrial tribunals.
The industrial tribunal is therefore still a jurisdiction whose quality of judgments can be strongly called into question.
5,212 ended with a substantive judgment, and 2,558 ended for another reason.
It should be noted that there has been a development in amicable settlement of disputes via a conciliation report pursuant to article L1235-1 of the Labor Code.
In this regard, the number of conciliations taking place in BCO is much higher in the management section than in the other sections.
7) Report from the Court of Auditors (cour des comptes) of June 2023.
The Court of Auditors, in a report published in June 2023, establishes a worrying observation on the activity of industrial tribunals in France:
• Partial jurisdictions with a significant volume of activity;
• Substantial reforms with limited effects on the performance of labor justice;
• Performance indicators not showing progress;
• A considerable deficit in terms of information and management systems;
• The need to improve efficiency by ensuring effective management of these courts.
In order to remedy this observation, the Court of Auditors makes 9 recommendations:
• Extend the minimum term of office of president and vice-president and strengthen their role in programming and monitoring initial and continuing training for advisors.
• Carry out an annual report on the number of registry staff by the industrial tribunal.
• Encourage heads of courts and jurisdictions to conclude protocols with industrial tribunals in order to strengthen their relationships (disposition, appeals, returns of calls) and to specify the operating conditions of the latter (objectives and means) .
• Expand the composition of the higher industrial tribunal council to include a magistrate from a court of appeal, a magistrate from a judicial tribunal and a registrar.
• Reform the continuing training system for industrial tribunal advisors by entrusting the National School of the Judiciary with the development of a master plan and the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the training system.
• Take stock of the implementation by the industrial tribunals of the modifications made in terms of conciliation and the preparation of cases and support the industrial tribunals by disseminating methodological guides and good practices, as well as case law analysis notes.
• Establish quality indicators for each industrial tribunal to assess the rates of appeals, overturning and confirmation of judgments.
• Give industrial tribunal advisors access to Portalis and the documentary bases necessary for their mission in compliance with the security rules of the Ministry of Justice.
• Initiate the overhaul of the map of industrial tribunals and the sections that make them up by considering the groupings of councils and sections whose activity is too low; request proposals from the Superior Council of Labor Court in this regard.
Sources.
Prud’hommes : statistiques du conseil de prud’hommes de Paris en 2020
Les Conseils de prud’hommes (rapport de la Cour des comptes)
[1]
Références Statistiques justice 2023 [2]
Prud’hommes : les avantages à concilier par le barème de conciliation
Statistiques de l’année judiciaire 2023. Ministère de la justice.
Frédéric CHHUM avocat et ancien membre du conseil de l’ordre des avocats de Paris (mandat 2019-2021)
Mathilde Fruton Létard élève avocate
CHHUM AVOCATS (Paris, Nantes, Lille)
e-mail: chhum@chhum-avocats.com
https://www.instagram.com/fredericchhum/?hl=fr
.Paris: 34 rue Petrelle 75009 Paris tel: 0142560300
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