Le Juge et les experts du comité d'entreprise : comparaison des situations respectives de l'expert en technologie et du médecin du travail

Abstract

Consultation of staff representatives in the decision making process of managing campantes implies, to be truly effective, that these representatives are thoroughly informed and dispose of appropriate means to verify such information. In France, two methods have been used extensively to achieve this goal with regard to working conditions. In the first case, an occupational medical doctor is employed directly by a company (or an association of several companies) and is officially in charge of such matters within the internal organisation of that (those) enterprise (s). His opinion concerning the physical condition of individual employees and their capacity to carry out their job function as well as his propositions concerning improvements in working conditions, is mandatory and must be taken into consideration by management. He is guaranteed by statute complete independance and freedorn in the exercise of his medical professional activities. He is the medical consultant for management, the employees and the staff representatives all at the same time. Yet, case-law has often deprived the medical doctor of his right to stop a management decision which in his opinion is detrimental to the health conditions of the employees. When introducing new technologies, the management Labour Council may legally seek the advice of an outside expert either in agreement with the chief executive officer of the company. or by requesting and being granted judicial permission. In this last case, the judge is entirely responsable for naming the expert, specifying his working conditions and limits, and granting him investigative powers. Such are the two different possible methods for informing the management Labour Council and limiting the extent of management 's monopoly on legitimate expertise. The position of the judge in this process underlines the basic weaknesses of the collective bargaining process on the company level within France.