Training the CSE sexual harassment officer: 2026 obligations

Every CSE (comité social et économique, the French works council) must appoint, from among its members, an officer for the fight against sexual harassment and sexist behaviour. An appointment that only means something if it comes with real skills: receiving a report, knowing the legal definitions, guiding a victim, taking part in an internal investigation cannot be improvised. Here are the appointment and training rules for the CSE sexual harassment officer in 2026 — and what a serious training programme must contain.

A mandatory officer in every CSE

Article L. 2314-1 of the Labour Code provides that the CSE appoints from among its members, by resolution, an officer for the fight against sexual harassment and sexist behaviour, for a term ending with the members’ mandate. This obligation applies to every CSE, with no headcount condition: from 11 employees, the body must have its officer.

Not to be confused with a second mechanism: in companies with at least 250 employees, the employer appoints its own officer tasked with guiding, informing and supporting employees on the fight against sexual harassment (article L. 1153-5-1). Two distinct roles, two reporting lines — the first attached to the elected body, the second to the employer — which may in practice attend joint training, but only the first falls under the CSE members’ training regime.

Their training: the SSCT training regime

The Labour Code does not create a stand-alone “harassment officer training”: article L. 2315-18 provides that the officer appointed by the CSE benefits, like the members of the staff delegation, from the training necessary to carry out their duties in health, safety and working conditions — SSCT training, whose regime applies:

• funded by the employer, covering course fees (within the cap of 36 times the hourly minimum wage per day and per trainee), travel and accommodation — the caps are detailed in our “who pays for what?” article;
• training time counted as paid working time;
• leave request sent to the employer at least 30 days before the course, with a reasoned refusal possible within eight days only for detrimental consequences to production, amounting to a postponement of six months at most.

In practice, since the officer is themselves an elected member, their training is most often articulated with the general SSCT course: either a dedicated harassment module within the SSCT pathway, or a complementary specific session. For the employer, funding specific officer training is consistent with the general duty to prevent sexual harassment — and, for training organisations, with Qualiopi’s indicator 12, which now expects prevention of violence, harassment and discrimination to be addressed within the services themselves.

What an officer training programme must cover

A credible programme articulates four blocks:

1. The legal framework: definitions of sexual harassment and sexist behaviour, the employer’s prevention obligations, applicable sanctions, how disciplinary procedure and criminal proceedings interact.
2. The CSE officer’s role: the exact scope of the mission, working with the employer, the company officer, occupational medicine and the labour inspectorate.
3. Receiving reports: conducting an interview with a person declaring themselves a victim, confidentiality, record-keeping, mistakes to avoid.
4. The internal investigation and what follows: the officer’s participation, protective measures, informing the CSE, follow-up of situations.

On the effectiveness of such training, the scientific literature calls for high standards. The interdisciplinary review by Mark Roehling and Jason Huang, published in 2018 in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, shows that the effectiveness of anti-harassment training is far from automatic and depends heavily on its design and the organisational context (see the study). Their subsequent meta-analysis, published in 2022 in Personnel Psychology, confirms that training produces real gains — knowledge and attitudes — but that transfer into behaviour depends on the features of the programme (see the study). Concrete translation: favour simulations (report-receiving interviews, investigation cases) over legal slide decks, and embed the training in an overall prevention policy rather than as a one-off.

Who may deliver this training in 2026?

Since the harassment officer follows the CSE members’ training regime, the answer changed in 2026: article 5 of law n° 2026-403 of 26 May 2026 on the simplification of economic life abolished the prefectoral accreditation required of providers. A valid NDA (registered activity declaration number) is now enough. The history of the accreditation scheme and its consequences are covered on our CSE / SSCT approval overview.

For a training provider, the “harassment officer” niche is an excellent complement to a CSE offer: same buyer, same funding circuit as SSCT, and demand driven by companies’ growing sensitivity to the issue. The evidence requirements remain the same: a detailed programme, legitimate trainers (employment-law specialists, internal-investigation practitioners), active pedagogy.

Take action

Training the CSE’s sexual harassment officer falls under the same framework as SSCT training: employer funding, working time, and since May 2026 a simple NDA for the provider delivering it. To place this training within the overall scheme of members’ training, see our complete CSE / SSCT approval overview — the free guide that comes with it helps you structure a compliant offer.