Book III: Employee dividends: incentives, profit-sharing and employee savings schemes

The purpose of profit-sharing is to guarantee employees the collective right to share in the company’s results. It takes the form of a deferred financial participation, calculated on the basis of the company’s net profit, constituting the special participation reserve. It is compulsory in the companies mentioned in this chapter. The obligation applies from the first financial year opened after the period of five consecutive calendar years mentioned in the…

Companies employing at least fifty employees guarantee the right of their employees to share in the company’s results. The same applies to undertakings constituting an economic and social unit referred to in article L. 2313-8 and comprising at least fifty employees. The basis, methods of calculation, as well as the methods of allocation and management of the profit-sharing are set by agreement under the conditions provided for by this title….

When a company that has entered into a profit-sharing agreement employs at least fifty employees, the obligations set out in this section do not apply until the third financial year after the profit-sharing threshold is crossed, if the agreement is applied continuously during this period. At this date, a profit-sharing agreement may be concluded under the conditions of article L. 3324-2 on a basis of calculation and distribution that is…

In new companies that are not the result of a total or partial merger of existing companies, profit-sharing agreements are concluded as from the third financial year following their creation.

Participation agreements are concluded in one of the following ways: 1° By collective labour agreement ; 2° By agreement between the employer and the representatives of representative trade union organisations in the company; 3° By agreement reached within the social and economic committee; 4° Following ratification, by a two-thirds majority of the workforce, of a draft contract proposed by the employer. If there are one or more representative trade union…

By way of derogation from article L. 3322-6, a group agreement may be concluded between the companies of the same group or only some of them. This agreement is concluded in one of the following ways: 1° Between the representative of the companies concerned and the employee(s) belonging to one of the companies in the group mandated for this purpose by one or more representative trade union organisations; 2° Between…