CSE member or union delegate: the guide to negotiating a PSE

If your company has just announced a PSE and you sit on the CSE or are a union representative, you are entering a short procedure (2 to 4 months depending on company size — see our PSE timeline guide) that can nonetheless be worth several million euros to the employees concerned. Here is how to maximise your impact, from the first R1 meeting through to signing.

Three golden rules to keep in mind from the outset:

• Timing is crucial — acting early multiplies your room for manoeuvre.
• The choice of expert determines the quality of your counter-proposal.
• The consistency between the economic justification put forward and the supra-legal severance payments is your main legal lever.

1. The financial power at your disposal (which many overlook)

Article L1233-34 of the French Labour Code provides that the PSE expert assignment is entirely funded by the employer — not by the CSE's budget. This is one of the most powerful levers available to you.

In practical terms, you can appoint:

• An expert-comptable (chartered accountant) to analyse the company's economic situation and challenge (or not) the economic grounds.
• A technical expert to assess the organisational impact.
• Possibly a free-choice expert on health and working conditions.

The employer cannot refuse these appointments. It can challenge the cost or scope before the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire), but that slows down the procedure — which works in your favour.

2. Choosing the right expert: the decisive criterion

Not all CSE expert firms are equal. A generalist firm will produce a descriptive report. A firm specialised in employee representation will go further: challenging the economic justifications, proposing alternatives to job cuts, and providing support all the way to the final signature.

Firms frequently retained in large PSEs: Syndex, Apex-Isast, Sécafi, Tandem, CE Expertises. Ask for references from recent agreements they have supported.

Selection criteria:

• Experience in your sector (banking, pharma, tech, industry).
• Track record on PSEs of comparable size.
• Ability to propose costed counter-projects (not merely to criticise).
• Availability within the 2-4 months of the consultation.

3. The 5 negotiation levers ranked by difficulty for the employer

Lever	Difficulty for the employer	Typical margin
Supra-legal severance payment (lump sum, months/year, cap)	🟡 Moderate — this is the heart of the negotiation	Often ±30% around the initial offer
Duration and rate of the redeployment leave (congé de reclassement)	🟡 Moderate	4 → 9 months; 65 → 80% of salary
Training and reskilling budget	🟢 Easy to concede — low cost per employee	€1,500 → €5,000 / employee
Business start-up assistance	🟢 Easy — often few applicants	€3,000 → €10,000 lump sum
Selection criteria (critères d'ordre) (who leaves first)	🔴 Very difficult — affects HR strategy	Little margin except in cases of blatant discrimination

4. Where to focus your energy: supra-legal severance payments

Three types of severance payment combine: statutory (Labour Code), contractual (collective bargaining agreement), and supra-legal (negotiated within the PSE — see our supra-legal severance guide).

The supra-legal payment has no statutory cap. This is therefore where negotiation has the greatest impact.

To support your claim, draw on 3 sources:

1. The company's financial capacity — quantified by your expert-comptable. Cash position, dividends paid, results over the last 3 years, the group's situation.
2. Sector benchmarks — comparing with recent PSEs in your sector. OpenRecourse references 39 of them over the 2013-2026 period.
3. Argumentative consistency — if the employer invokes economic difficulties, it cannot at the same time offer 1 month/year while paying out €2bn in dividends (the Sanofi 2024 case).

5. Document requests: what you can (and must) demand

At the start of the procedure, demand in writing (book 1 and book 2):

• The social and economic scope — company, UES (economic and social unit), group, redeployment perimeter.
• The annual accounts for the last 3 years + forecast accounts.
• The detailed list of professional categories and the number of cuts per category.
• The proposed grid of selection criteria (critères d'ordre).
• The internal redeployment measures envisaged (positions available within the group, mobility conditions).
• The overall PSE budget (financial measures + support + outplacement).
• The outplacement firm retained and its specifications.
• The detailed economic case (the grounds invoked by the employer).

The employer has an obligation to disclose. Any refusal or delay can be challenged.

6. Reading the employer's mind: what is "easy" to concede

Understanding the psychology of the negotiation from the employer's side saves you time. Here are the typical margins of manoeuvre:

What the employer concedes readily

• Qualitative measures at limited cost: training, enhanced outplacement, start-up assistance.
• Marginal improvements to the redeployment leave: duration +2 months, rate +5 points.
• Bonuses for specific categories (seniors, families, RQTH) — fewer employees concerned, lower financial impact.
• Cosmetic improvements that are easy to present to employees and the press.

What is hard to concede

• A sharp increase in the overall supra-legal lump sum — a multiplying financial impact across the entire perimeter.
• A reduction in the number of jobs cut — affects the company's strategic project.
• Changes to the selection criteria (critères d'ordre) — the employer wants to keep its best employees.
• Extending the procedure — each additional month is costly.

The negotiator's sweet spot

Combine a significant improvement in the supra-legal payment (your main demand) with concessions on the qualitative packages. The employer will agree more readily if it can showcase multiple, qualitative measures.

7. Timing tactics: using the calendar as a lever

The strict timetable of the French Labour Code (article L1233-30) gives you 2 to 4 months of consultation depending on the size of the plan. A few classic tactics:

• Request additional time for analysis at the first R1 meeting if the documentation is insufficient.
• Appoint the expert as early as R1 or R2 — suspending for analysis pushes back the deadlines.
• Multiply written questions to the employer — each documented answer strengthens your file in the event of litigation.
• Refer the matter to the judicial court (tribunal judiciaire) in the event of a breach of the duty to inform.

The employer has a strong interest in wrapping up quickly (each month of procedure = cash tied up, a deteriorated social climate, an impact on the share valuation for listed companies). This time works for you.

8. The expert report: your negotiating weapon

Your expert-comptable's report should lead to at least one of these outcomes:

• Challenging the economic grounds — does the company/group really face economic difficulties within the meaning of article L1233-3?
• Assessing financial capacity — the maximum sustainable amount of an improved supra-legal payment.
• Identifying alternatives — other restructuring scenarios less costly in terms of jobs.
• Calculating a "target package" — the level of severance the expert deems proportionate.

This report is the basis of your negotiation. It also gives you legal protection in the event of a subsequent challenge to the PSE.

9. The role of the DREETS

The DREETS validates (in the case of a majority agreement, 15 days) or approves (in the case of a unilateral document, 21 days) the PSE. It is your indirect ally:

• In the case of a unilateral document, it checks the adequacy of the measures in light of the company's resources — your expert report directly feeds into this review.
• You can petition it through written observations before its decision.
• Its decision can be challenged before the administrative court (tribunal administratif) within a period of 2 months.

A textbook case: Ford Blanquefort 2019 — the Direccte (now the DREETS) refused to approve the PSE a first time in January 2019, demanding resources proportionate to Ford's financial strength. The PSE revised in March 2019 reached an average of €190,000 per employee — a record in the OpenRecourse dataset.

10. Your allies and resources

Resource	Role	Cost to the CSE
Expert-comptable (Syndex, Apex-Isast, Sécafi…)	Economic analysis, counter-proposal	€0 (funded by the employer)
CSE advisory lawyer	Legal strategy, challenges	Variable (CSE budget possible)
Union federations (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC)	Sector expertise, benchmarks	€0 for members
Labour inspectorate (Inspection du travail)	Advice on the regularity of the procedure	€0
The industry branch's legal department	Interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement	€0 for members
OpenRecourse (this observatory)	Benchmarks across 39 PSEs referenced 2013-2026	€0

11. CSE negotiator's checklist

Before the first meeting (R1)

• Inter-union meeting to align positions.
• Identify an expert firm and prepare the appointment motion.
• Request the preliminary documentation from the employer.

During the consultation (R2-R5)

• Multiply documented written questions.
• Bring in the expert's report at every stage.
• Test costed counter-proposals.
• Maintain inter-union cohesion — the employer plays on division.

Before the final opinion

• Submit detailed observations to the DREETS.
• Anticipate administrative litigation if necessary.
• Prepare communication to employees.

In summary

• Financial power is on your side — free expertise via L1233-34.
• The choice of expert determines 80% of your negotiating margin.
• Concentrate your energy on the supra-legal payment — that is where millions of euros are won or lost for employees.
• Document everything — your file will be your best protection in the event of litigation.
• Time works for you — use it.

Across the 39 PSEs referenced by OpenRecourse, agreements signed with the support of a specialised expert firm deliver, on average, a supra-legal severance payment 1.5 to 2 times higher than PSEs without expertise.