Labor law newsletter, October 2024
Case Law
The termination letter need not specify the date of the alleged misconduct
While the termination letter must state specific and objectively verifiable grounds, it is not necessary to specify the dates of the alleged incidents, and the employer is entitled, in the event of a dispute, to rely on all factual circumstances that support those grounds.
Cass.soc.11 septembre 2024, n°22-24.514 F-D
The Court of Cassation establishes three new cases of automatic damages:
Since 2016, the Court of Cassation has abandoned its so-called “necessary harm” doctrine, which allowed an employee to obtain damages solely on the basis of the employer’s breach of its obligations. The Court therefore requires the employee to provide proof of the harm they claim to have suffered.
The Court of Cassation nevertheless allows certain exceptions to this principle.
In three rulings dated September 4, 2024, the Court establishes three new cases in which the employee will be automatically compensated:
- Failure to provide the daily break (20 minutes every 6 hours of work) soc, September 4, 2024, No. 23-15.944 FS-B
- Requiring an employee to work while on sick leave soc, September 4, 2024, No. 23-15.944 FS-B
- Requiring a female employee to work during maternity leave, soc, September 4, 2024, No. 22-16.129 FS-B
Parental Leave: An Employer Cannot Deny a Request If the Employee Fails to Meet the Notice Period
The Court of Cassation has confirmed that an employer cannot deny an employee’s request for parental leave on the grounds that the employee failed to meet the statutory notice period. Thus, even if the request is not in compliance with the formal requirements, it is still admissible. An employer’s refusal may result in an order to pay damages.
Cass.soc.18 septembre 2024, n°23-18.021 F-D
Electronic Voting: Cancellation of Elections if Access to the Platform Is Impossible
The inability of employees to access the electronic voting platform, due to a vote cast without their knowledge by a third party, constitutes a flaw in the voting system. It constitutes a violation of the integrity and secrecy of the vote—a general principle of electoral law—and results in the cancellation of the elections.
Cass.soc.11 septembre 2024, n°23-16.209 F-D
The CSE’s use of expert opinions may be deemed abusive
A CSE had commissioned 14 expert opinions over a period of two and a half years, and the employer had successfully had the most recent one set aside. The Court of Cassation upheld the ruling of the presiding judge of the judicial court, who had determined that the expert opinion ordered in the context of an economic alert was unnecessary due to its abusive nature.
Cass.soc. 11 septembre 2024, n°23-12.500 F-D
Damages related to the loss of stock options following an unjustified dismissal
An employee was dismissed for serious misconduct four days before the date on which he would have become eligible for shares granted free of charge by the company. Since his dismissal was reclassified as dismissal without real and serious cause, he was awarded €200,000 on appeal to compensate for this loss of opportunity to receive free shares.
The employer contested this assessment of damages and argued that, based on the documents of the stock option plan and the extent to which the performance condition was met, the amount should be set at €40,000.
The Court of Cassation declined to review the assessment of damages made by the trial court judges and limited itself to verifying that the amount did not exceed the maximum sum to which the employee would have been entitled had the maximum performance level been achieved.
Cass.soc.11 septembre 2024, n°23-10.115 F-D
Employee on sick leave due to a work-related accident: the cessation of work constitutes a case of impossibility to maintain the contract, thereby allowing for the termination of the employment contract
Pursuant to Article L. 1226-9 of the Labor Code, an employer may terminate an employment contract suspended due to a work-related accident only in the event of serious misconduct or if it is impossible to maintain the contract for reasons unrelated to the accident.
The Court of Cassation holds that the total and definitive cessation of the company’s operations, which is factual and undisputed, constitutes an impossibility to maintain the contract and therefore authorizes the employee’s dismissal.
Cass.soc.11 sept.2024, n°22-18.409 F-B
Maternity leave: the legal provision for wage catch-up applies only after the leave ends
The provision guaranteeing wage progression set forth in Article L. 1225-26 of the Labor Code provides that following maternity leave, the employee’s pay shall be increased by the general raises as well as the average of the individual raises received during the leave period by employees in the same occupational category or, failing that, the average of the individual raises within the company.
The Court of Cassation confirms that this provision applies only upon the employee’s return to work and therefore does not entitle her to increases for the period of maternity leave, unless a more favorable agreement exists.
Cass.soc.2 octobre 2024, n°23-11.582 FS-B
