The communities, convened on Thursday February 24, had invited hundreds of agents to gather in front of the gates of the administrative court of Melun to express their opposition to the obligation to comply with the 1607 annual hours (35 hours per week), and to give up the days that were hitherto granted by the cities on certain occasions.
The prefecture of Val-de-Marne had seized the court because the communities had until January 1 to deliberate in order to comply and had not yet done so. A procedure launched both on the merits and urgently (referred to).
A week after this hearing, the judge in chambers ruled on the ten procedures filed by the prefecture of Val-de-Marne against the municipalities of Arcueil, Bonneuil-sur-Marne, Fontenay-sous-Bois, Gentilly, Kremlin-Bicêtre, Ivry-sur-Seine, Vitry-sur-Seine, Villejuif, Thiais, and the territory of Grand-Orly Seine Bièvre.
Outright rejection in five of the cases
To carry the conviction of the judge in chambers, it was necessary to demonstrate a serious doubt on the non-decision of these communities not to implement this law.
However, in five of the cases, the judge considered that the refusal to apply the law had not materialized. Gentilly thus voted a deliberation fixing the working time of its agents at 1607 hours, on February 16th. The municipalities of Arcueil, Kremlin-Bicêtre, Thiais and Grand Orly Seine Bièvre are also preparing deliberations in this direction and were in the process of completing their consultation phases.
“Despite the delay noted, the adaptation process, which involves a long procedure due to the consultation of personnel, the reorganization of services and the vote of the deliberative assembly, was effectively underway, and that there is no therefore had no sufficiently serious decision of refusal of application. It should also be noted that some communities have adopted the new rules between the referral to the court and this decision, or have already convened the municipal councils so that they decide during the month of March. In these cases, the request of the prefecture was rejected”explains the court in a press release.
“The prefect of Val de Marne will ensure that each of these communities deliberates on the dates indicated”, reacts the prefecture in a press release.
Bonneuil, Fontenay, Ivry, Vitry and Villejuif resist
The five other municipalities, for their part, benefited from a period of four months. “There are real refusal decisions, which (the judge in chambers) has suspended. Given the constraints surrounding the adoption of new measures for the organization of working time, he ordered the mayors to complete, within 4 months, the procedure for adopting provisional measures in accordance with the law.added the court statement.
In addition, some municipalities raised a priority question of constitutionality (QPC), considering that the law violated the constitutional principle of free administration of local authorities. This procedure has been transmitted to the Council of State, the only one able to assess whether the Constitutional Council can be seized.
The mayor of Bonneuil-sur-Marne, Denis Oztorun (PCF), welcomed the announcement of the transmission of the QPC to the Council of State for examination but on the other hand conceded that he was going to have to put agenda of a next municipal council the 1607 hours. “This is a first in the history of our institutions, in the legal battles for the defense of territorial public services and for the free administration of municipalities. However, while waiting for the Council of State to render its judgment on the merits, I am obliged to have the Municipal Council adopt the deliberations relating to working time and the application of the 1607 hours, within four month”.
“In a state governed by the rule of law, it is up to everyone and particularly to local authorities to comply with the law”, underlines the prefect for her part.
In mid-January, it was the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis who had assigned 5 towns in his department, giving rise to a decision by the court of Melun, on February 7, to give the city councilors 40 days to deliberate and to comply. Since then, four of the five concerned mayors of Seine-Saint-Denis have announced that they are appealing.
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