European Social Charter

Visual identity of the European Social Charter

Contact us

Site Map

The decision on the merits of the complaint No. 68/2010 European Council of Police Trade Unions (CESP) v. France is public

CESP v. France, Complaint No. 68/2011

[13/03/2013] The decision of the European Committee on Social Rights of the Council of Europe on the merits of Complaint No. 68/2011CESP v. France became public on 6 March 2013.

In this case, registered on 18 May 2011, the complainant trade union alleges that the situation in France is not in conformity with Article 4 (right to a fair remuneration) of the Revised European Social Charter. In particular, CESP claimes that neither the command bonus paid to the members of the national police command corps (senior police officers), nor the periodical increase in the amount paid, compensate for the withdrawal of the overtime payments, which the senior police officers received before the current regulations were introduced.

The Committee unanimously concluded that there is a violation of Article 4§2 of the Revised Charter. This decision is based on the fact that the increase in the command bonus applied could compensate only for a very small number of hours of overtime. Therefore, the increase in the command bonus is not in conformity with Article 4§2 of the Charter. In addition, the Committee noted that some duties cannot give rise to compensatory time off because they are taken into account as part of the payment system connected with the command bonus. With this in mind, the Committee held that as the arrangements for compensatory time off provide in other cases that senior police officers working overtime when performing certain duties may only claim equal or equivalent rest periods calculated on an hour for hour basis, they are not in conformity with Article 4§2 of the Charter.

Complaint No. 68/2010
Summary of the decision on the merits
Collective complaints website