Tag archives: termination

France: Le harcèlement sexuel susceptible d’être exclu en cas d’attitude ambigüe de la victime

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France
Le harcèlement sexuel est défini, dans le Code du travail, par « des propos ou comportements à connotation sexuelle répétés qui soit portent atteinte à [la] dignité [du salarié] en raison de leur caractère dégradant ou humiliant, soit créent à son encontre une situation intimidante, hostile ou offensante ». Le Code du travail prévoit également une … Continue reading

France: Provocative acts do not necessarily fall within the scope of sexual harassment if the victim’s behaviour is ambiguous

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France
The French employment Code defines sexual harassment as “repeated sexual comments or conduct that either violate the [employee’s] dignity because of their degrading or humiliating nature or create an intimidating, hostile or offensive situation against the employee“. The French employment Code also assimilates to sexual harassment “any form of serious pressure, even non-repeated, exercised for … Continue reading

France: The complex consequences of the occurrence of gross misconduct during the notice period

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Europe, France
The general rule under French law is that when employment contracts are terminated, employees are entitled to a prior notice period, the length of which depends on the status of the employee (executive or non-executive), their length of service, and in some cases their age. The applicable rules are generally set by the sector-wide collective … Continue reading

Plafonnement des dommages intérêts en cas de licenciement injustifié : la rébellion se poursuit

Laure JoncourBy Laure Joncour on Posted in France
La Cour de cassation vient de déclarer conforme aux engagements internationaux de la France, le « barème Macron » qui plafonne les indemnités attribuées par un juge en cas de licenciement sans cause réelle et sérieuse. Avant l’entrée en vigueur du « barème Macron », en cas de licenciement sans cause réelle et sérieuse , il appartenait au juge de fixer … Continue reading

The beginning of a revolution (by the French lower courts) ?

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Europe, France
French President Emmanuel Macron implemented a significant reform of the French employment code in late 2017, with the intention of providing employers greater flexibility and predictability in managing labour relations. One of the most controversial measures was the creation of a grid applicable to the amount of indemnities due to employees for unfair dismissal, setting … Continue reading

Singapore: “Watershed” Amendments to Employment Legislation

Mathias GohBy Mathias Goh on Posted in Asia Pacific, Singapore
Singapore’s employment laws are set to undergo watershed changes come April 2019. In summary, a greater number of employees – in particular, professionals, managers and executives (“PMEs”) – will soon be able to avail themselves of the statutory protections contained in Singapore’s Employment Act, the key employment legislation in Singapore. The single most significant legislative … Continue reading

Do managers typically think of personal liability when making decisions to dismiss? They perhaps should

Paul Griffin (UK)By Paul Griffin (UK) on Posted in General, UK, Whistleblowing
Directors and senior managers and their employers should consider the recent Court of Appeal decision in the Osipov whistleblowing case very carefully. Briefly, by way of scene-setting, Osipov had made a series of protected disclosures and he was ultimately dismissed as CEO of the employer company pursuant to a decision of two non-executive directors (NEDS) … Continue reading

Italian Constitutional Court partially repeals Jobs Act rules – What’s next?

Attilio PavoneBy Attilio Pavone on Posted in General
The Italian Constitutional Court (the “Court”) has partially repealed the “Jobs Act” reform of 2015 that introduced, among other things, a predictable calculation criteria for the monetary compensation to be paid in case of unlawful dismissal (2 months’ salary for each year of service, with a minimum threshold and a maximum cap). The full decision … Continue reading

Dismissal for misconduct cannot be based (solely) on anonymous reports

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France, Whistleblowing
Anonymous reports have been mistrusted for a number of years in France, for historical reasons. While anonymity enables individuals to raise their voice more openly, without being the targets of retaliation measures, it can also drift into slander. This explains a specificity of French law under which whistleblowers using ethicals lines are strongly encouraged to … Continue reading

Can a dismissal letter be signed by an individual belonging to a holding entity?

Marie-Thérèse EugénioBy Marie-Thérèse Eugénio on Posted in Europe, France
Dismissal procedures are highly regulated in France including with respect to the identity of the individual who is entitled to conduct the procedure and sign the dismissal letter; such person must -by definition- be the “employer” .  However, some flexibility has been introduced over the years by French case law, and a recent decision of … Continue reading

Tort liability: other grounds for bringing actions against a parent company in French employment litigation

Marie-Thérèse EugénioBy Marie-Thérèse Eugénio on Posted in Europe, France
It is a fact of life in French employer-employee relations that employees have no hesitation in bringing actions against their employer, in particular following termination of an employment, and that litigation is therefore not just a virtual weapon. Not only do employees sue their employer but, where the employer is a part of a group … Continue reading

Employees’ freedom of speech on the Internet is not without boundaries

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Europe, France
Books, hotels, restaurants, products: you can find reviews and rating websites for just about everything on the internet – even employers. However, employees posting internet reviews of their employer should be careful and measured in what they say, or risk being subjected to disciplinary measures  – or even dismissal – if they abuse their freedom … Continue reading

Lack of probity may provide grounds for dismissal for serious misconduct

Global Workplace InsiderFrançois GuillonBy Elodie Grangier and François Guillon on Posted in Europe, France
French employment courts generally subject alleged reasons for employee dismissal to close scrutiny, particularly where dismissals are based on a breach of the duty of loyalty or of probity. Such breaches only constitute valid grounds for dismissal if they are genuine and rely on objective facts and behaviour which are attributable to the employee concerned. … Continue reading

The fairness of a misconduct dismissal

Amanda Sanders (UK)By Amanda Sanders (UK) on Posted in UK
A recent case has considered whether a school was entitled to summarily dismiss a head teacher for her failure to disclose a personal relationship with a convicted sex offender. In the case of Reilly v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Mrs Reilly was dismissed after she failed to disclose her friendship with a convicted sex offender, … Continue reading

Information collected via Facebook cannot – always – be used as evidence against an employee

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Europe, France
Technology is ever-changing, and while in the past evidence of an employee’s misconduct was based mainly on “physical” witnesses and observations, employers might now be tempted to use data obtained through social media as evidence against their employees. At the present time the French Supreme Court has not had many occasions to clarify the manner … Continue reading

The never-ending search for fairness in a termination clause

Ryan FreemanBy Ryan Freeman on Posted in Canada
Over the course of this past year there have been several important decisions dealing with the enforceability of termination clauses in employment agreements, and how a court is to interpret a clause to determine the employer’s obligations to a departing employee.  The importance of these decisions can be seen by contrasting the financial consequences that … Continue reading

Un salarié protégé peut-il contester la rupture conventionnelle homologuée dont il a fait l’objet devant le juge judiciaire ?

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Discrimination and harassment, Europe, France
Les salariés protégés (représentants du personnel, délégués ou représentants syndicaux, salariés mandatés, etc.) bénéficient d’un statut particulier, eu égard à leur rôle dans l’entreprise. A ce titre, toute modification, et a fortiori, rupture de leur contrat de travail doit être autorisée par l’inspection du travail. La conclusion d’une rupture conventionnelle homologuée, quand bien même il … Continue reading

Recent developments in French employment law regarding financial institutions: How the French Government wants to enhance Paris’ attractiveness as a global financial place

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Europe, France
Apart from certain provisions which may be tailored to the relevant situations negotiated by companies or sectors of business through collective agreements (subject to compliance with a number of basic rules and principles), French employment law does not include any specificities in relation to certain sectors of business. In particular, financial institutions are subject to … Continue reading

La présomption d’innocence peut-elle s’opposer au licenciement d’un salarié fondé sur des faits visés par une procédure pénale ?

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Europe, France
La Cour de cassation a été saisie d’un dossier concernant un salarié de la société Euro Disney, qui avait été licencié à la suite de la découverte, par son employeur, et dans le cadre d’une enquête pénale, du fait que celui-ci avait acheté à l’un de ses collègues des stupéfiants. En effet, au printemps 2012, … Continue reading

What rights does an employer have to suspend an employee in France?

Global Workplace InsiderFrançois GuillonBy Elodie Grangier and François Guillon on Posted in Contracts, Europe, France
Under French labour law, there are limited circumstances under which employers may suspend employees. One of the main obligations imposed on employers is to provide employees with work to be performed  (and obviously to pay them in consideration for their work). Breach of this requirement may be considered as a ground for breach of contract, … Continue reading

French employment code reform: Focus on economic dismissals

Global Workplace InsiderFrançois GuillonBy Elodie Grangier and François Guillon on Posted in Contracts, Europe, France
French President Emmanuel Macron has signed five ordinances making important changes to several aspects of the French employment code. The ordinances, which were immediately published in the French Official Journal on September 23rd, 2017, are aimed in particular at providing employers more flexibility and predictability in labour-management relations. Several provisions of this ambitious reform (the … Continue reading

Significant changes to French employment code to enter into force no later than January 1st, 2018

Global Workplace InsiderBy Elodie Grangier on Posted in Contracts, Europe, France
French President Emmanuel Macron has signed five ordinances making important changes to several aspects of the French employment code. The ordinances, which were immediately published in the French Official Journal on September 23rd, 2017, are aimed in particular at providing employers more flexibility and predictability in labour-management relations. Several provisions of this ambitious reform – … Continue reading
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