In each section, there is at least one conciliation board, one judgment board and one summary proceedings board.
Its purpose is to conciliate and adjudicate disputes arising from employment contracts and specific contracts (apprenticeship, professionalization, etc.). These may include dismissal or any other type of termination of the employment contract resulting from a dispute between the employee and the employer, disciplinary sanctions, payment of wages, accessories and supplements, working hours, rest days or vacations, health and safety conditions at the workstation, provision of the “attestation pôle emploi” or work certificate, a situation of harassment, a situation of discrimination, etc.

The employee cannot be penalized for having taken the initiative to bring the matter before the industrial tribunal. Failure to do so would constitute an infringement of a fundamental freedom of the employee (Article 6, § 1 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms).

Consequently, if the employee goes to the Conseil de Prud’hommes to contest a disciplinary sanction and his employer decides to dismiss him for this reason, the dismissal would be null and void (Cass. Soc. February 8, 2017, n°15-28.085). In practice, this means that the employee is entitled to be reinstated in the company if he or she so wishes.