French Supreme Court reverses position on damages for employer breaches

On 13 April 2016, the French Supreme Court abandoned this reasoning.

In proceedings in the labour court, an employee sought payment of damages for the prejudice he suffered because of the late delivery of his payslip and certificate of employment. The labour court dismissed the employee’s claim on the ground that he had not established any prejudice due to the late delivery of the documents by the employer.

The employee appealed this decision to the Supreme Court. It was anticipated that the French Supreme Court would reaffirm the principle of systematic indemnification of the employee due to non-compliance by the employer with its labour obligations. However, the court instead confirmed the reasoning adopted by the lower labour court. The judges agreed that in the absence of any evidence of damage to the employee, the employee was not entitled to compensation.

The French Supreme Court strictly applied the general principles of civil liability. These principles require the applicant to an action for compensation to prove the prior existence of damage and a causal link between the operative event (in the present case, the employer’s failure) and the prejudice suffered.

The publication of this decision in the Annual Report of the French Supreme Court suggests that a similar approach will be taken in cases where, in the past, the courts would have held that the employee would have necessarily been entitled to be indemnified (e.g., lack of reference of the applicable collective bargaining agreement on a payslip). We expect that this approach could be extended to any breach by an employer.