Collective Bargaining Agreement Telecommunication

An insight into the French collective bargaining agreement of the telecommunication industry.

When is the CBA telecommunication applicable?

The CBA telecommunication applies to companies whose main activity it is to provide services for the transmission of information or access to information to third parties. For instance, companies selling telecommunication services, internet service providers, telecom operators, cable operators, broadcasters of audiovisual programs, etc.
The code of the CBA telecommunication is IDCC 2148.

Main characteristics of the CBA telecommunication

The collective bargaining agreement telecommunication fixes minimum salaries, severance payments as well as employee benefits.

Non-competition clause based on the bargaining agreement telecommunication

Based on the collective bargaining agreement telecommunication it is possible to insert a non-competition clause in the employment contract to protect the employer’s legitimate interests.
The maximum duration is 12 months. A financial compensation has to be fixed by mutual agreement between the parties. For a one-year clause, this must at least correspond to 50 % of the annual salary.
Waiver: The employer can waive the execution of the non-competition clause within 15 days following the notification of termination.

Severance payment based on the collective bargaining agreement telecommunication

The collective bargaining agreement telecommunication increases significantly the severance payment in case of a termination of an employee.
For employees with one year of seniority, the severance payment based on the CBA telecommunication applies. It is higher than the severance payment based on the French Labor Code.
– 3% of the annual gross salary per full year of seniority, up to 9 years of seniority completed;
– 4% of the annual gross salary per full year of seniority for the bracket between 10 and 25 years of seniority.
In addition, employees aged 50 or older receive an additional severance of 5% after 10 years of service and 10% after 20 years of service.
Based on the CBA telecommunication, the severance pay is capped at 101% of the gross annual salary.
The calculation is based on the annual gross salary subject to social contributions.

Example :
Executive with a salary of 80000 € per year, 12 years of service, 52 years old

Seniority Severance payment per year Additional payment
based on age
Severance payment of the bracket Amount
up to 9th year of service 3 % of annual salary 0 % 27 % of annual salary 21600 Euro
10th to 12th year of service 4 % of annual salary 5 % 17% 13600 Euro
Total Severance payment for 12 years 44 % 35200 Euro

As a comparison, the severance based on the labor code would only be 21111,11 Euro.

Child’s sickness

The collective bargaining agreement telecommunication fixes paid time off in the event of a child’s sickness for employers of the HUMAPP employer bargaining organization. As a comparison, the French Labor Law does not provide for any paid days.
Employees benefit from additional paid leave within the limit of 3 working days per year and per employee for children under 16 years old. For children under 3 years old, employees can take up to 4 working days per year. The employee must provide a medical certificate.
These days can be taken as half-days.

Sickness Payment

In the event of an employee’s sickness, for staff with 6 months of seniority, the collective bargaining agreement telecommunication stipulates a net salary maintained at 100 % for the first 45 days, without application of a waiting time. After this period the employee receives 75 % for another 60 days.